against those meanes the which God hath appointed for the preseruation of life but I esteeme them only as helps and not causes of continuance All men in this life be subordinately gouerned we are naturally bodies and liue not by miracle but sustentation so that it is as ill to auoid those helpes as to trust to them It is a strange but vulgar error for men to say counsell or temper would haue preuented such a mans death might they not consider the seuerall sudden and strange accidents that leade to this end that there bee not more men then wayes that conduct to this condition Children die before Parents strong before weake sound before sickly which as often happen by small vnobserued chances as great diseases as a man goes well to bed and is smothered before morning is well at the beginning of a meale and dead before the end now in a serious discourse and dead in the midst of a word He that 's a friend to day proues a murtherer to morrow a pillow may stifle smoke may suffocate a Fly may choke This if it were to be illustrated by examples would plainely shew that there is no action nor instrument so small or vnobserued that is not master of our life Therefore to esteeme life aboue the price or to feare death beyond the rate be alike euill No man can bee in loue with this world that is not in some doubt of the next He that respects life expects little beyond death But then it may be demanded Are those the best men that be most weary of this life and therefore hasten death with their owne hands Certainely no. For euery act in that kinde shewes that it was not in respect they hated to liue but because of want feare punishment ignominie and diuers other causes that these examples do dayly publish and are notoriously knowne Man is created by God therefore not to be his own executioner but to wait for the time and expect the houre of his Call A mans Peregrination in this life should be employed but as a harbinger for Death nay rather life for whilst we liue we die but liue not till death Yet good men may in a sort religiously feare death in respect of the cause of it For the wages of sinne is death In respect of not knowing the place of our being after death wee our selues being altogether vnmeriting these and the like considerations may iustly make death seeme terrible But to goe on How can a man think himselfe happy in this world without the expectatiō of a better If a man enioy that his heart can wish if hee know not want haue plenty in abundance these things may sometimes make him glory in himselfe and in a kinde of scornefull pitie to commiserate those that be below him yet the consideration of Death and the little while hee hath to enioy these temporary happinesses turnes all his pleasures into melancholy his sweetnesse to gall This is the happiest condition that the happiest man can haue that thinkes there is no happinesse beyond this life But if you view other men and see what cares what hazzards what iealousies what sicknesse and what miseries they endure in all kindes onely to preserue and please themselues in this short troublesome dangerous suspitious and wearisome life you would think them rather dreames then substances fictions then men But so liue as neither the pleasures of this world may possesse nor the miseries confound you Boast of nothing in your selfe but that you are a liuely representation or Image of your Creator which you deforme if you look to earth or those things which bee below The benefits which God hath heere bestowed vpon you vse according to his direction but not contrarie to his command and feare not but welcome death as beeing the end of your vnhappinesse and beginning of your ioy Many men without the knowledge of Religion haue excellently expressed their contempt of Death but that may bee reduced some of these causes peraduenture they had a kinde of vncertaine opinion that some greater happinesse followed then accompanied this life or in respect of the dayly examples of their mortalitie custome extinguished feare or lastly to perpetuate their memories or publish their fame to succeeding ages haue for the liberation of their Country or Friends or Honour voluntarily exposed themselues to a certaine and present death There be few lingring diseases or sudden paines that be not more sensible and painfull then Death and the recouerie frō them is but as a short reprieue Therefore I see little reason why a man that liues wel should feare death much more then sicknesse Of a Country Life TO write of a Country Life in what respects it is necessary or vnfit for all degrees of men would too much lengthen this part in the resolution of sundry questions which I now doe purposely auoid I onely intending to write in the praise or discommendation of it so farre as it hath relation to men of great qualitie and estates So that in this description I banish all that may referre to any other kinde and rankes of men either for their vse or necessity of liuing in the Country This kinde of life hath beene more familiar with vs then other Nations so that we haue in a kinde appropriated it to our selues more Southernly people as rarely vsing the country for retirement or variety or ayre as our Country Nobility and Gentry were anciently vpon extraordinarie businesses driuen to the towne But different people haue seuerall formes of liuing and behauiour that which is necessarie in one place is ridiculous and pernicious in another In these cases therefore wee must not guide our selues by precedent It is as easie to introduce one common language and reuerse the confusion of tongues as to paralell all men in one kinde and fashion of life Rigidly to keepe vnseemly customes because we receiue them from antiquity and ancestors no man will defend Time as it hath a qualitie in some cases to degeneratè and corrupt so in others it hath to clense but to alter so good a custome as this whereof we haue had so long experience and benefit vpon pretence only of imitation appeares in my iudgement to be altogether void of reason And yet this taking it for a generall question I will at this time neither dispute nor resolue either by the numerousnesse of ancient precedents and example or force of reason and argument onely as the case stands with vs in the particular conclude That it is neither good nor safe to innouate or alter old and approued customes But as in the choyce of any indifferent action mens affections and fancies predominate and gouerne they haue equall power and worke the same effect in the election either of this or any other kinde of life but what reasons in this should induce vs either to the one or other that which fals accidētally by the way passing I will touch By a Country Life I do
which they be not branded Neuerthelesse anciently and in popular States the liberty of euil tongs hath been more tolerated then now it is when they haue not onely pointed at on the Stages but also vsually named with derision and taunts the men of greatest dignitie and that in presence of themselues so touched And indeede in manie Common-wealthes it hath beene a bridle to the licētiousnesse of Greatnesse in their morall conuersation though that were but an euill remedie But in a Monarchie the same would but haue beene as a spurre to seditions and tumults For it is not so much euery particular man that suffers by these mens rancor and malice as the whole Fabricke of the Republike The actions of great men their liues their orders be most seuerely and strictly viewed That which they do for the publike these will pretend to bee done for priuate ends If things according to former consultation succeed wel they wil take the praise wholly from them and bestowe it vpon chance if otherwise they will take it from chance and lay it wholly vpon their consultations In briefe they will misconstrue and mis-apply all manner of acts and whatsoeuer tends to the peace and good of the State they with their best subtilties will oppose but howsoeuer disapproue In which respect they iustly deserue the punishment that is layd vpon them Ecclesiasticus 28. verse 13 14. Curse the whisperer and double-tongued for such haue destroyed many that were at peace The backbiting tongue hath disquieted many and driuen them from Nation to Nation Strong Cities hath it pulled downe and ouerthrowne the houses of great men This so fully touches the danger that the greatest men and Nations fall into by suffering this kinde of people that I need not in this point further to illustrate it In the next place it will not bee amisse by way of example to shew that by this meanes the worst causes doe alwaies set themselues of in disgrace of the better which rule will neuer faile One instance I will giue The Separatists or Sanctified as they terme themselues what doctrine haue they more frequent what point more vrged then for the propagation as they say of the holy cause First with the Pharise to magnifie themselues and their own opinions then with termes vnfit to be heard talke of Ecclesiasticall functions Ceremonie and Gouernment with that disdaine and reproch that they graffe in their followers such an opinion against them that they thinke all of the contrary opinion children of Perdition in the state of Damnation sonnes of Belial vnsanctified lewd profane and vngodly persons But leauing this path that hath been so often beaten let vs view it in other colours Commonly if hee heare any man out of discontent or choller let slip a word to the derogation of another he presently takes his aduantage and his Exordium thence for some malicious Oration Which with that person confirmes the ill opinion already conceiued strengthens his malice increaseth his hate and makes him glory with himselfe that hee goes not alone but hand in hand with other company in his erroneous conceits and that which priuate respects made him formerly to dislike that now hee thinkes the others merits might as well prouoke By this artifice the Detractor would bee thought but a second in the point whereas hee is indeed the first or rather onely deprauer Sometimes hee will professe loue to a person whom notwithstanding for truth and sincerities cause hee will pretend not to be able to praise and so fall into an inquisition of his life and manners like the fellow in Horace Me Capitolinus conuictore vsus amico-Que à puero est causaque mea permulta rogatus Fecit incolumis laetor quod viuit in vrbe Sed tamen admiror quo pacto Indicium illud Fugerit Hic nigrae succus loliginis haec est Aerugo mera c. Hee deales with a man as the stone in Nabuchadnezzars dreame mentioned in the second of Daniel did with the great Image which it ouerthrew But thus it medled not with the gold nor the siluer nor the brasse in the Statue but the lower parts the legges and feete which were of iron and clay those it brake in pieces and so ruined the rest In like manner the Detractor touches not the Gold that is a mans Vertue which shines like it nor the siluer which is a mans wisedome and iudgement and resembles it nor the brasse that is a mans Nobility which glisters like it but the iron and clay feete that is a mans infirmities weakenesses errours those with an vncleane tongue they wound and strike and by that meanes ouerthrow his Honor and Fame in all other parts and qualities though neuer so eminent in the meane time no body forcing him without cause to vtter that truth to the preiudice of another that charity would haue concealed Here it will be pertinent to enquire something touching the liberty of censuring with what cautions it is limitted and how farre to be allowed A Censurer is more thē any other obnoxious to Cēsure for he thrusteth himselfe into the office of a Iudge by which eminency he conuerteth mens eyes on himselfe and because hee is to be supposed lesse faulty then the reprehended they are therefore also inuited to a more strict consideration of his life and no lesse but rather much more to censure him then he another Yet vpon occasion giuen or vrged when a man is freely to speake his opinion the concealing or couering or blanching a knowne or publique errour in any man confirmes and strengthens him that is vicious and by this approuing or at least not blaming incourageth others to the like and withall greatly darkens our owne reputation for conniuency in this kinde makes men beleeue that we our selues bee subiect to the same fault But this liberty of censuring I do thus farre onely allow that it be amongst such as do particularly know that mans deformities and not others that be strangers vnto it For then we should encrease rumor and cause an ill opinion to be had of him Next the liberty of loue and respect will freely allow a man to doe it priuately to his friend but thē let not any foole be his friend lest he take the benefit for an iniury And it must be without any bitternesse or spleene which will rather gall then correct him that we so speake vnto If the particular errours of any one doe iudicially and pertinently to the cause come in question there is no doubt but the blemishes especially in Publique bee to be taxed with all manner of aggrauation but the man in charitie is not to bee triumphed ouer though this cannot but reflect vpon him Yet humane frailety which is cōmon to vs al is inducement enough so long as no preiudice follow by the example to make the best interpretation that so ill a cause so ill a man can deserue And certainly there is a great deale of caution and sparing to be
vsed in this kinde of ripping vp a mans life but if necessity bring such a man before you and that he cannot scape a censure yet vse no opprobrious or disdainfull words against him Sometimes such as haue receiued iniuries from a man and in that respect be dis-affected to him they will be often glad to take aduantage at his life and conuersation in heate and choller by that meanes to bee reuenged of him But though this be against the rule of Charitie yet in the strictest sense it cannot come within the bounds of Detraction For the one is impelled the other voluntary a certaine habit of doing mischiefe without cause giuen All truths be not to be spoken especially if we receiue them but by report but a man may bee forced to discouer such a truth as may preiudice another and yet be free from Detraction Sometimes a man may seeke into or discouer anothers infirmities either vpon his own or friends cause and yet not detract for these respects If such a man doe an iniury it cannot but accidentally fall in a mans Iustification to shew what a kinde of man he is from whom he hath receiued it Or suppose a man haue a cause iudicially depending and the most dangerous thing against him be the deposition of such a man the ciuill Law then allowes that a man may to weaken or take away his testimonie bring what he can possibly against him that may touch him in life or conuersation Againe though a man neede to haue a doore before his lips and to vse a great deale of discretion and moderation in whatsoeuer he shall say yet if he should chance to fall vpon a man a little too boldly in the way of censuring certainely if it proceede but from rashnesse and no will or purpose in himselfe to doe the other hurt I cannot aptly call it Detraction There may bee named other particulars of this nature yet I cannot presently thinke of any very materiall that will not bee included within some of these But to goe forward to his description Hee inueigheth much against Flattery glories that he is free frō it making that a cloake to shrowd his calumniation And though it be commendable in euery man else to auoyd Flattery yet it is not so in him because it proceeds from a peruerse crookednesse of nature that cannot endure anothers praise though iust He likewise protests against dissimulation But if he discourse of any mans actions but his own you shall easily obserue him to dissemble that which makes most for his reputation For in reckoning vp persons expert in some faculty to leaue out one of the best and most marked in that kinde or in commending a mans smaller vertues to forget his better greater parts is a dissimulation as deprauing as the bitterest Inuectiue Also hee that giues willing eare to a Detractor Qui non defendit alio culpante solutos Qui captat risus hominū famamque dicacis Hor. or applaudes the Satyricall conceits of such a one is an Accessary to this crime if not a Principall For as the one hath the Diuell in his tongue so the other in his eares Heare but a Detractor willingly and you encourage him to speake whereas if you but shew an auersenesse to him he then learnes vnwillingly to speake that which he knowes you doe not willingly heare So that though his teeth seem placed only in his tongue yet he hath diuers wayes of biting as Dauid complaines Psal 57. verse 4. My soule is amongst Lyons and I lye euen amongst them that are set on fire euen the sonnes of men whose teeth are speares and arrowes and their tongue a sharpe sword The persons that bee the Detractors obiects are commonly greater then himselfe and therefore though hee may darken their Fame yet he can neuer totally eclipse it Yet his endeuour is especially against such because their brightnesse darkeneth and obscureth his Like as the Moone in coniunction with the Sunne cannot shew her owne light but can oft hide from vs part of his Some delight so much in speaking euill that they will detract from the dead though neuer offended by them Such spirits as these if they haue neuer spoken ill of God himselfe haue onely this excuse that they neuer knew him The scope of them is commonly the disgrace of another but sometimes also the shewing of the acuity of their owne iudgements in discerning of mens actions or sayings as if they had beene placed here as a Chorus on the Stage to censure comment or were the generall Inquisitors of the world But it fals not out as they expect for they discouer not acutenesse but acrimony nor are esteemed sharpe apprehenders but bitter reprehenders Sometimes by depression of anothers merit they ayme at the aduancement of their owne finding themselues absolutely worthlesse and nothing but contending to be somewhat by comparison Lastly the Detractor though he sow but words oftentimes reapes seuerer requitals or at least a plentifull haruest of his owne graine Dehinc vt quiescant porro moneo definant maledicere malefacta ne noscant sua Terent. For he shall be sure to heare as much euil as he speakes and howsoeuer hee put his faults behinde himselfe yet they hang before on the shoulder of another Of Selfe-will WHereas in euery man there bee two faculties of the reasonable Soule namely the Vnderstanding and the Will this Vice will admit but one giuing the whole administration of mans life into the hands of the latter which doth so much tyrannize ouer our reason that it makes vs wholly incapable of apprehending when we heare good counsell so resolued we be in our owne opinions though neuer so bad that we leaue no space for maturer directions neuer calling to minde the possibility of the rule that Standers by oftentimes see more then those that play the game And as this so opinionated conceit of our owne resolutions continues the mist before our vnderstanding making vs impatient to receiue any good counsell so consequently it deterres our friends from giuing it as an vnnecessary and thanklesse office they being out of hope that their endeuours shall preuaile and also in feare to hazard the ill opinions of those they desire to continue for friends as hauing in themselues altered the receiued definition of man who being Animal ratione praeditum should this way be Animal voluntate praeditum Self-willed men being alwayes violent and impatient if one endeuour to alter or crosse their resolutions which though grounded vpon little consideration and sudden rashnesse yet they be generally so obstinate and wel-conceited of themselues that whatsoeuer they conceiue and purpose must be peremptorie and without alteration For Selfe-will is nothing but a kinde of will that vsurpes the place and office of reason giuing Antecedence to her actions before those of the Vnderstanding as to Resolution before Deliberation Execution before Counsell and the like For it is not reason that guides this wil because they
then either Agrippa or Tiberius For Liberty they had no hope at all but yet that was also talked of for men haue generally this infirmity that when they would fall into consideration of their hopes they mistake and enter into a fruitlesse discourse of their wishes such impression doe pleasing things make in mans imagination As for warre it was both feared and desired by many according as their fortunes required it for without doubt those whose estates were whole would bee afraid though such as had not a fortune able to sustaine their inordinate expence thereby to seaze the wealth of other men would much wish for it Lastly touching a Monarch as it was most credible to come to passe so which of the two it should be was now become the coÌ„mon talke of the greatest part of men who censuring their persons gathered arguments thence of their succession and of the wel-fare of the estate vnder them and vsed liberty in their speech of them more boldly though neuerthelesse priuately then in the times that came next after they could safely haue done Thus farre the state of those times wherein Augustus was come to the last Scene and ready to quit the Stage of this great Empire And now Tacitus comes to the opinion conceiued of those that were next to enter Trucem Agrippam atque ignominia accensum non aetate neque rerum experientia tantae moli parem That Agrippa was cruell and kindled with his disgrace and neither of age nor experience sufficient for so great a burthen By the weight of these censures I should hardly thinke they proceeded from the common people but rather that they sprung out of the Authors owne meditation or else that he means by pars multo maxima the greatest part of the Nobility and men of knowledge in great affaires Age and experience are necessary for the gouernment of a great Empire therefore the want of these in Agrippa was of much importance against him so also was the fiercenesse of his disposition the absence of which fault is more desired by subiects in their Prince then of any other vice whatsoeuer that concerneth onely morality But that other note giuen to Agrippa that hee was ignominia accensus is a farre greater exception against him then all the rest The great men had most of them no doubt approued his banishment and he liued thereby in contempt of them all so that he could not choose but hold himselfe generally iniuried though his ignominie proceeded but from a few and opinion of contempt is a frequent cause of cruelty and tyranny If now therefore they had chosen him for their Prince they had then giuen him full power to make his reuenge according to his owne cruell inclination and done contrary to the custome of humane nature for men more willingly trust him with their liues and fortunes that hath done them iniury then one that hath beene or holds himselfe iniuried by them for from these they can expect nothing but reuenge from the other they may hope for amends But this is not alwayes the best course considering on the other side another generall disposition of mankinde which is apter to remit to such as are vnder their power an iniury receiued then to make satisfacton to them for one committed because for the first they shall haue thanks and the second is held but for a debt After the censure of Agrippa falleth in that of Tiberius Tiberium Neronem maturum annis spectatum bello sed vetere atque insita Claudiae familiae superbia multaque inditia saeuitiae quanquam premantur erumpere That Tiberiê° Nero was of ripe years and of reputation in the warres but he had in him the old hereditary pride of the ClaudiaÌ„ family many signes of cruelty brake forth in him though he stroue to smother them Ability to gouerne is not all that is to be wisht for in a Gouernour Tiberius was heere thought too able that is likely to hold the reynes of gouernmeÌ„t too hard especially ouer a people so lately weaned from liberty for such are euer more sensible of euery restraint and pressure of Monarchicall rule then others are that haue beene so accustomed There are not two more tyrannicall qualities in the world then pride and cruelty whereof the former imposeth intolerable commands the later exacteth immoderate punishments They argued Tiberius his pride both from his ancestors and education and of cruelty himselfe made demonstration Men deriue their vertues and vices from their ancestors two wayes either by nature or imitation By the former are deriued all that depend on the temper of the body the rest are by imitation and do seldome faile For the reuerence that naturally men doe beare to the qualities of their ancestors begetteth a liuely imitation of theÌ„ in their posterity And so pride may passe thorow a Stock by imitation not that men would imitate that but by error vnder the name of Magnanimity Then for his cruelty by how much the more he endeuoured to hide it and could not by so much the more it was feared and abhorred in him For a passion that can be mastered is nothing so dangerous as one that caÌ„not especially in Tiberiê° that knew best of all men how to dissemble his vices Those things that Tiberius would dissemble were euil and those euils he could not dissemble were great ones therefore for such cruelty as himselfe was not able to couer hee was iustly to be feared And yet it is no easie thing to dissemble ones vices I mean if the dissimulatioÌ„ must be of long coÌ„tinuance for for once a man may ouercome the most violent passion that euer was but difficile fictam ferre personam diu Seneca Trag. Hunc prima ab infantia eductuÌ„ in domo regnatrice congestos iuueni consulatus triumphos That the same man was brought vp from his infancy in the house of Soueraignty that be had CoÌ„sulships triumphs heaped on him while he was yet but a youth This is another argument of the haughtines of Tiberius drawn from his education Honors somtimes be of great power to change a mans manners and behauiour into the worse because men coÌ„monly measure their own vertues rather by the acceptance that their persons find in the world them by the iudgement which their own coÌ„science maketh of theÌ„ neuer do or think they neuer need to examine those things in theÌ„selues which hath once found approbation abroad and for which they haue receiued honor Also honor many times coÌ„firmeth in men that intention wherwith they did those things which gained honor which intentioÌ„ is as often vicious as vertuous For there is almost no ciuil action but may proceed as well froÌ„ euill as froÌ„ good they are the circuÌ„stances of it which be onely in the mind and coÌ„sequently not seen honoured that make vertue Out of all these things I suppose may be gathered that honor nourisheth in light and vain men a wrong opinion of
money to get one of them away they hold them in so great estimation Neuerthelesse euery day amongst their Vineyards and in the ruines of old Rome they finde more which in whose ground soeuer they be found at a certaine price doe now belong to the Popes who distribute them in their own Palaces to their fauorites or kinsmen and somtimes as presents to Princes And this is the cause that the houscs of such as haue beene Nephewes or fauorites of the Popes bee best furnished with these ornaments If a man should make an exact relation of the Anticaglie in this kinde he must haue seuen yeares time to view and two mens liues to write them But for a tast and so away At the Popes Palace at Saint Peters the Statues of Commodus and Antoninus the Statue of Laocoon which is written of by Virgil in the second booke of his Aeneads and they say that his very seeing of that Statue was the cause of those verses the Statue of Apollo and in the middest of this place the thigh of a man done in Marble which the best workmen haue iudged admirable in the true proportions and they say that Michael Angelo stood two dayes by it in contemplation and the artifice was so excellent and beyond his apprehension that he had like to haue gone mad with the consideration of it In this place there bee many more Antiquities the great Pine Apple of brasse wherein were found Adrians ashes At the Popes other Palace vpon Mons Quirinalis before the Gate there be two other Statues done in full proportion of Alexander taming Bucephalus made by those two famous men Phydias and Praxiteles one in emulation of the other And from these two Statues being set heere this place is called Monte Caualli In the Garden of Cardinall Borghese without Porta Pinciana there is a Tombe which is said to be Alexanders In the Palace of Cardinall Fernese amongst an infinite number of other Antiquities there be the Statues of the twelue first Emperours two Tables of the Grecians Lawes which the Romanes brought from thence one of the gods which is said to haue giuen answers in the Pantheon a Statue of the two sonnes of a King of Thebes after the death of their father tying his Concubine to a Bull in reuenge of those wrongs shee had done their mother this Story is said to bee related by Propertius and Pliny brought to this City by the ancient Romans out of Rhodes found in the time of Paulus III. of the Fernesian family and by him left as a relique to this house Heere are besides the ancient Statues of the Horatij and Curiatij such another of Neroes Mother as I haue mentioned to be in the Capitoll but better expressed In one of the Palaces of Cardinall Borghese which in former times hath beene the Kings of England and giuen by Henry the 8. to Cardinall Campeio at his being heere now enriched by the best hands of Painters and the most ancient Statues you shall see amongst the rest a Gladiatore or Fencer admirably described in Marble and a Statue of Seneca in brasse bleeding in his bath to death with whom this part also of the Romane Antiquities shall dye Now from these ancient ruines of Temples Trophies Statues Arches Columnes Pyramides the rest there would be required in a curious pen a particular obseruatiō but I will only prescribe vnto my selfe some generall notes How venerable Antiquities both bee and haue been in all mens esteem is so generally known and receiued as I will not enter into a Laudatory thereof further then to shew the singular vse and profit that may bee gathered from the knowledge of them First they much illustrate Story and in some cases illuminate the vnderstanding of the Reader and serue as a confirmation of that he hath read When actions of note bee registred the bare after-reading of them without seeing the place whence they proceeded is by many men not so constantly retained in memory For euery man knowes that if in reading an History onely by a Mappe the place bee obserued as well as the action ones iudgement is better strengthened and consequently much more when a man sees that which others haue but by description They that haue read of Antoninus Traian and Vespasian and finde their acts which they haue read engrauen in Arches Pillers and the like it is hard to expresse what credit they giue to the History and satisfaction to the Reader And if in this respect any place in the world deserue seeing none can sooner claime it then Rome Secondly the ancient Statues of the Romanes do strangely immortalize their fame and it is certaine that the men of those times were infinitely ambitious to haue their memories in this kind recorded such was the benignity of that people that they willingly yeelded to honour their acts by publique expression and in a kind to Deifie the persons of their worthiest men which industry of theirs may bee gathered by the numbers of Statues of Cicero Seneca Brutus Cassius the Horatij and Curiatij Cato and many more whose vertue more then their greatnesse made them famous Otherwise if I had onely seen the Statues of the most powerfull men and ancient Emperours I should haue thought there had been in those times as great Time-seruers as there be now where power authority is more esteemed of then vertue or valour Yet I think if euer men of any place in any time desired to haue their names and actions to continue to Posterity not knowing any farther immortalitie these were they and this one consideration produced better effects of vertue and valour then Religion and all other respects doe in our dayes Certainly therefore if they had been as well instructed in Diuine as Morall precepts no man of any age had euer exceeded them Thirdly the multitude and riches of these Statues and other Antiquities do wonderfully argue the magnificence of those times wherin they haue exceeded all that went before or followed after them and yet this sumptuousnesse nothing diuerted their minds from a generous and actiue life but rather instigated them which now we most commonly finde contrary For greatnesse and goodnesse doe not alwayes agree together Fourthly the Architecture of many ancient Temples and Statues is so singular and rare that they that euer since haue beene esteemed the best durst neuer assume or vndertake to equalize them in that kinde of singularitie especially of the Statues which are so done that neuer any could come neere the originall for exquisitenesse in taking the Copie so that a man cannot but gather that in this place and those times there were conioyned all singularities together best workmen best wits best Souldiers and so in euery kinde Superlatiue But it may be there are some who will drawe ill conclusions from these Antiquities either tending to Atheisme or Superstition For Atheisme thus If men desire to immortalize their memories in this kind after their death it may seeme the
for the most part is neuer in the Morning and especially on Sundayes because it is the best day in the weeke all that while they bee building themselues and viewing their owne proportions feeding in stead of a breakfast vpon how braue they shall appeare in the afternoone And thē they go to the most publique and most receiued places of entertainment which be sundry and therefore they stay not long in a place but after they haue asked you how you doe and told some old or fabulous newes laught twice or thrice in your face and censured those they know you loue not when peraduenture the next place they goe to is to them where they will be as courteous to you spoke a few words of fashions and alterations whispered some lasciuious motion that shall be practised the next day falne into discourse of liberty and how it agrees with humanitie for women to haue seruants besides their husbands made legges and postures of the last edition with three or foure new and diminutiue oathes and protestations of their seruice and obseruance they then retire to their Coach and so prepare for another company and continue in this vocation till the beginning of the next day that is till past midnight and so home when betimes in the morning the Decorum is if it bee a Lady visiter to send her Gentleman Vsher to see if all those be well that shee saw in perfect health but the night before This hath beene more to shew the Deformitie of it then the Danger which I would rather auoid then vnmaske because it touches too many particulars but in generall this It is the Index of an idle and vnprofitable disposition a taker vp of time that may be better disposed and such a spender of time that in few actions it can be worse employed Many an vnlawfull bargaine is concluded vpon this exchange contrarie purposes bee concealed vnder this vizzard and few bee practique in this art whose manners and liues bee not corrupted Besides this vaine custome once begunne induceth a habit not easily lost therefore not good to begin and once practised it is not so safely left for begunne and not continued makes the leauing of it off esteemed a neglect which otherwise would bee neuer claimed as a due There be of this Family or Sect that are so punctuall and methodicall in their art that they turne Critiques and censure those that be not as pertinent in impertinencies and spit not with as good a grace or speake not to as good a tune for all their words be but sound and no sense as themselues when such as are truely intelligent thinke this scorne their praise for no man that hath any thoughts worthy consideration will bestowe the labour to speake or to entertaine argument in such a case vpon so barren and worthlesse an occasion And these kinde of ceremonies be equally tedious to the Complementer and Complementee if they reciprocally respect not this fond and dissimulate kinde of conuersation and though it often happen that in some places where they visit their tedious society be well accepted which then must onely be allowed to such as are of the same occupation are euen with them in the same kinde yet somtimes it fals out they thus running ouer all kinde of company they be to many so vnwelcome and troublesome in distracting or diuerting their better employments that oftentimes those they come to conceale themselues vpon purpose or suppose some necessary businesse that cals them away with intention onely to get rid of them From which tediousnesse if no better employment of their owne can diuert them yet the consideration of the vnseasonable trouble they put those to whom they visit should euen shame them from frequenting so bad a custome Yet custome hath so farre preuailed that I dare not prescribe a totall neglect but counsaile to auoid frequent and assiduall practice of so superfluous though receiued a fashion Those that duty loue respect businesse or familiaritie bind vs to wee must obserue and visit lest they interpret our absence to be either in contempt of their persons or a carelesnesse and dis-esteeme of their fauour and friendship And howsoeuer with a non obstante I doe not by this seclude society and conuersation for such a solitary vnsociable disposition I hold to be worse then this Gadder Of Death NOthing is more certaine then Death and nothing more vncertaine then the the time Euery man is to pay this debt though few bee ready at the day life is but lent vs and the condition of the obligation is Death yet not without a penalty if in this wandring and vncertaine state wee make no preparation Life then being so short Death so certaine a man should not confine his thoughts within the small circle of the present being but dilate them to more high and worthy considerations and one is the immortality of the soule which without comparison is the chiefe and only happinesse the next is perpetuating of a good name which according to the actions of our life good or bad continue in memory and fame after wee bee dead and surely a man that hath any affinity with Vertue or goodnesse and is not only borne for but buried in himselfe as he should desire an honest report and memory to continue of him so he should feare the contrary Euery man naturally desires to haue his name continued by children and posteritie and certainely it is a great blessing yet surely the actions of a great mans life if they be good make his name when dead more durable Beatitude is neuer seene in this life but by a false light wee must bee dissolued transformed and changed before wee arriue to fulnesse and fruition which cannot be confer'd in this but a higher habitation Many examples especially if common or vsuall conuert into precept yet these which bee most visible least auaile for though wee daily see our acquaintance friends and children taken from vs yet wee prouide and prepare for this life as if we were irremouable and thinke of death no otherwise then as a tale that is reported to fright vs till the stroke come home to our owne dores So fond so vnsettled be our cogitations For a man in nothing more shewes the goodnesse and greatnesse of his spirit then in contemning and not fearing Death for it must come and feare cannot preuent it And me thinks therefore the certainty of it should abate timidity therfore relie not so much vpon so vncertaine and transitory an estate And the continuall passing away of our children and kindred and friends by this gate are but so many guides and forerunners to vs and the neerer one is either in affection or alliance the application should bee more particular to our selues Some thinke to deceiue or preuent or delay this blow and attribute the cause of it rather to accident then prouidence as if the rules of dyet or Physicke were able to oppose fate though I dispute not