the mutinous people being strucken and blinded with the bright splendor of this authoritie are quieted attending what he will say vnto them Veluti magno in populo cùm saepe coorta Seditio est saeuit que animis ignobile vulgus Iamque faces sax a volant furor arma ministrat Tum pietate grauem ac meritis si fortè virum quem Conspexêre silent arrectisque auribus astant Ille regit dictis animos pectora mulcet There is nothing greater in this world than authoritie which is an image of God a messenger from Heauen if it be souereigne it it is called maiestie if subalterne authoritie and by two things it is maintained admiration and feare mingled together Now this maiestie and authoritie is first and properly in the person of the soueraigne prince and lawmaker where it is liuely actuall and mouing afterwards in his commandements and ordinances that is to say in the law which is the head of the worke of the prince and the image of a liuely and originall maiestie By this are fooles reduced conducted and guided Behold then of what weight necessitie and vtilitie authoritie and the law is in the world The next authoritie and that which is likest to the law is custome which is another powerfull and Emperious mistris 2 Of Custome It seaseth vpon this power and vsurpeth it traiterously and violently for it planteth this authoritie by little and little by stealth as it were insensibly by a little pleasing and humble beginning hauing setled and established it selfe by the helpe of time it discouereth afterwards a furious and tyrannicall visage against which there is no more libertie or power left so much as to lift vp ones eies It taketh it authoritie from the possession and vse thereof it increaseth and ennobleth it selfe by continuance like a riuer it is dangerous to bring it back to his originall fountaine Law custome establish their authoritie diuersly custome by little and little with long time sweetly and without force 3 A comparison of them both by the common consent of all or the greater part and the authour thereof are the people The law springeth vp in a moment with authoritie and power and taketh his force from him that hath power to command all yea many times against the liking of the subiects whereupon some compare it to a tyrant and custome to a king Againe custome hath with it neither reward nor punishment the law hath them both at least punishment neuerthelesse they may mutuallie help and hinder one another For custome which is but of sufferance authorized by the soueraigne is better confirmed and the law likewise setleth it owne authoritie by possession and vse and contrariwise custome may be caschiered by a contrarie law and the law loseth the force thereof by suffering a contrarie custome but ordinarily they are together that is law and custome wise and spirituall men considering it as a law idiots and simple men as a custome There is not a thing more strange than the diuersitie and strangenes of some lawes and customes in the world Neither 4 Their diuersitie and strangenesse is there any opinion or imagination so variable so mad which is not established by lawes and customes in some place or other I am content to recite some of them to shew those Of lawes and customes in the world that are hard of beleefe heerein how farre this proposition doth go Yet omitting to speake of those things that belong to religion which is the subiect where the greatest wonderments and grossest impostures are but because it is without the commerce of men and that it is not properly a custome and where it is easie to be deceiued I will not meddle with it See then a brief of those that for the strangenes are best worth the noting To account it an office of pietie in a certaine age to kill their parents to eate them In Innes to pay the shot by yeelding their children wiues and daughters to the pleasure of the hoste publike brothelhouses of males old men lending their wiues vnto yong women common an honor to women to haue accompaned with many men and to cary their locks in the hembes of their garments daughters to go with their priuie parts vncouered and maried women carefullie to keepe them couered to leaue the daughters to their pleasures and being great with child to enforce an obort in the sight and knowledge of all men but maried women to keepe themselues chaste and faithfull to their husbands women the first night before they companie with their husbands to receiue all the males of the estate and profession of their husbands inuited to the mariage and euer after to be faithfull to their husbands yong maried women to present their virginitie to their prince before they he with their husbands mariages of males women to go to warre with their husbands to die and to kill themselues at the decease of their husbands or shortly after to permit widowes to marie againe if their husbands die a violent death and not otherwise husbands to be diuorced from their wiues without alledging any cause to sell them if they be barren to kill them for no other cause but because they are women and afterwards to borrow women of others at their neede women to be deliuered without paine or feare to kill their children because they are not faire well featured or without cause at meate to wipe their fingers vpon their priuities and their feete to liue with mans flesh to eate flesh and fish raw many men and women to lie together to the number of tenne or twelue to salute one another by putting the finger to the ground and afterwards lifting it towards heauen to turne the back when they salute and neuer to looke him on the face whom a man will honor to take into the hand the spittle of the prince not to speake to the king but at a peepe-hole in a mans whole life neuer to cut his haire nor nailes to cut the haire on one side and the nailes of one hand and not of the other men to pisse sitting women standing to make holes and pits in the flesh of the face and the dugs to hang rings and iewels in to contemne death to receiue it with ioy to sue for it to pleade in publike for the honor thereof as for a dignitie and fauour to account it an honorable buriall to be eaten with dogs birds to be boyled cut in peeces and pounded and the powder to be cast into their ordinarie drinke When we come to iudge of these customes that is the complaint and the trouble the vulgar sot and pedante are 5 ExaminatioÌ„ and iudgement not troubled heâ—ewith for euery seditious rout condemneth as barbarous and beastly whatsoeuer pleaseth not their palat that is to say the common vse and custome of their countrie And if a man shall tell them that others do speake and iudge the same of ours
owne willes and the more voluntarie it is the more honorable and there are a thousand waies vnto it We may want meanes whereby to liue but not to die Life may be taken away from euery man by euery man but not death vbique mors est optime hoc cauit deus eripere vitam nemo non homini potest at nemo mortem mille ad hanc aditus patent The most fauorable present that nature hath bestowed vpon vs and that taketh away from vs all meanes of complaint is that it hath left vnto vs the key of the closet libertie to die when we will Wherefore complainest thou in this world It holdeth thee not if thou liue in paine thy idlenes and feare is the cause for to die there is nothing necessarie but a will The other case is a liuely apprehension and desire of the life to come which maketh a man to thirst after death as after a great gaine the seed of a better life the bridge vnto paradise the way to all good and an earnest pennie of the resurrection A firme beleefe and hope of these things is incompatible with the feare and horror of death it perswadeth vs rather to be wearie of this life and to desire death vitam habere in patientia mortem in desiderio to haue life in affliction and death in affection their life is a crosse their death a comfort and therefore their vowes and their voices are cupio dissolui mihi mors lucrum quis me liberabit de corpore montis huius And for this cause those Philosophers and Christians haue been iustlie reproched which is to be vnderstood of those that are weake and idle and not of all that play the publike dissemblers and do not in veritie beleeue that which they do so much talke of and so highlie commend touching that happie immortalitie and those vnspeakable pleasures in the second life since they doubt and feare death so much the necessarie passage thereunto The fift and last is the execution of this precedent desire 18 To kill himselfe which is for a man to be his owne executioner and the authour of his owne death This seemeth to proceed from vertue and the greatnes of a mans courage hauing been ancientlie practised by the greatest and most excellent men and women of euerie nation and religion Greekes Romanes Egyptians Persians Medes French Indians Philosophers of all sects Iewes witnes that good old man Razis called the father of the Iewes for his vertue and his wiues who vnder Antiochus hauing circumcised their children cast themselues hedlong from the rock with them And Christians too witnes those two canonized Saints Pelagius and Sophronia whereof the first with his mother and sisters cast himselfe into the riuer and the other killed hir selfe with a knife to auoid the violence of Maxentius the Emperour Yea witnes diuers people and whole cities as Capona in Italy Astupa Numantia in Spaine besieged by the Romans the Abideens enforced by Philip a citie in India besieged by Alexander But this resolution hath been likewise approued and authorized by many common-weales by lawes and rules established thereupon as at Marseilles in the I le of Cea in Nigropont and other nations as in the Hyperborean Ilands and iustified by many great reasons drawne from the precedent article which is of the iust desire of death For if it be permitted to desire to aske to seeke after death why should it be an ill acte to giue it vnto our selues If a mans owne death be iust in the will why should it not be as iust in the hand and the execution Why should I expect that from another which I can do my selfe and why should it not be better to giue it than to suffer another to giue it to meete than to attend it for the fairest death is the more voluntarie Finallie I offend not the law made against theeues and robbers when I take but my owne goods and cut but my owne purse neither am I guiltie of the lawes made against murtherers by taking away my owne life But this opinion is reproued by diuers not only Christians but Iewes as Iosephus disputeth against his captaines in the caue du Puis and Philosophers as Plato Scipio who held this proceeding not only for a vice of cowardlines and impatiencie for it is for a man to hide himselfe from the blowes of fortune Now a true and liuely vertue must neuer yeeld for euils and crosses are nourishments thereunto and it is greater constancie well to vse the chaine wherewith we are tied than to breake it and more setled resolution in Regulus than in Cato Rebus in aduersis facile est contemnere vitam Fortius ille facit qui miser esse potest Si fractus illabitur orbis Impauidum ferient ruinae But also for a fault of desertion for a man ought not to abandon his charge without the expresse commaundement of him that gaue it him we are not heere for our selues nor our owne masters This then is not a matter beyond all doubt or disputation It is first beyond all doubt that wee are not to attempt this last exploit without very great and iust cause nay I cannot see how any cause should be great and iust enough to the end that it be as they say 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 an honest and reasonable departure It must not then be for any light occasion whatsoeuer some say that a man may die for light causes since they that hold vs in life are not weightie It is ingratitude to nature not to accept and vse hir present it is a signe of lightnes to be too anxious and scrupulous to breake companie for matters of no moment and not for such as are iust and lawfull if there be any such And therefore they had not a sufficient excuse and iust cause of their death of whom I made mention before Pomponius Atticus Marcellinus and Cleantes who would not stay the course of their death for this only reason because they were alreadie neere vnto it The wiues of Petus of Scaurus of Labio of Fuluius the friend of Augustus of Seneca and diuers others who died only to accompanie their husbands in death or rather to encourage them therein Cato and others who died because their businesse succeeded not well and because they would not fall into the hands of their enemies notwithstanding they feared no ill vsage at their hands They that haue murthered themselues because they would not liue at the mercie and by the grace and fauor of those whom they hated as Grauius Siluanius and Statius Proximus being pardoned by Nero. They that die to recouer a shame and dishonor past as that Romane Lucretia Sparzapizes the sonne of Queene Tomyris Boges the Lieutenant of king Xerxes They that for no particular cause but only because they see the weale-publike in a bad and declining estate murther themselues as Nerua that great Lawyer Vibius Vircus Iubellius in the taking of Capona They that
are weary with liuing or for priuate causes loath to liue any longer Neither is it sufficient that the cause be great and iust but that it be necessarie and remedilesse and that all maner of meanes to preserue life be first put in practise For precipitation and anticipated despaire is very vitious as in Brutus and Cassius who killing themselues before the time and occasion lost the reliques of the Romane libertie whereof they were protectors A man saith Cleomenes must manage his life and make vse thereof to the vttermost for to take it away a man neuer wants time it is a remedie which he hath alwaies in his owne hands but the state of things may change and grow better Ioseph and diuers others haue to their great benefit practised this counsell things that seeme altogether desperate do many times change and haue a happie successe aliquis carnifici suo superstes fuit Multa dies variusque labor mutabilis aeui Retulit in melius A man must carie himselfe in his place and calling as a defendant against him that assaileth him cum moderamine inculpatae tutelae he must trie all maner of meanes before he come to this extremitie Secondly and without doubt it is farre better and more commendable to suffer and to continue constant and firme to the end than fearefullie cowardlie to flie or die but forasmuch as it is a gift not giuen vnto all no more than continencie is non omnes capiunt verbum istud vnde melius nubere quam vri the question is whether an insupportable and remedilesse euill hapning which may vtterlie vndoe and turne topsy-turuie our whole resolution and driue vs into despaire despite and murmuring against God it be more expedient or a lesse euill for a man couragiouslie to deliuer himselfe hauing his senses sound and setled than by standing to it for feare of failing in his dutie expose himselfe to the danger of sinking and being vtterly lost It is not a lesse euill to quit the place than to be obstinate and perish to flie than to be taken It is true that it seemeth by all humane and philosoph call reason to be practised as hath been said by so many famous people of all countries and climats But Christianitie doth no way approue it nor alloweth therein any dispensation Finally it is a great point of wisdome to learne to know the point and period to chuse a fit houre to die Euery man hath his time and season to die some preuent it others prolong it there is weakenesse and valour in them both but there is required discretion How many men haue suruiued their glorie and by a desire to lengthen their life but a little haue darkened it againe and liued to helpe bury their owne honour And that which lastly sticketh by them hath no relish or feeling of what is past but continueth like an old filthie clout sowed to the hemme of a rich and beautifull ornament There is a time to gather fruit from the tree which if it hang too long it rotteth and growes worse and worse and the losse is as great too if it bee gathered too soone Many saints and holy men haue fled from death because they are yet profitable to the church and weale-publike though in respect of their owne particular they could be content to die It is an act of charitie to desire to liue for the benefit of an other Si populo tuo sum necessarius non recuso laborem Death hath diuers formes some more easie than other and 21 Formes of deaths diuers taketh diuers qualities according to the fantasie of euery one Among those that are naturall they that proceed from weaknesse and a numnesse of the members are the sweetest and the easiest among those that are violent the best is the shortest the least premeditated Some desire to make an exemplarie and demonstratiue death of constancie and sufficiencie this is to consider another thing and to seeke their owne reputation but this is vanitie for this is no act of societie but of one only person who hath enough to doe with himselfe to minister to himselfe inward comfort and hath no neede to trouble himselfe with what belongeth to another especially all the interest hee hath in his reputation ceasing with his death That is the best death which is well recollected in it selfe quiet solitarie and attendeth wholly to that which at that time is fittest That great assistance of parents friends bringeth a thousand discommodities it oppresseth and smoothereth him that is dying one tormenteth his eares another his eies another his mouth their cries and complaints if they be true stifle the heart if fained afflict and torment it Many great personages haue sought to die farre from their friends to auoide this inconuenience accounting it a childish thing and a foolish humour to be willing by their miseries to moue sorrow and compassion in their friends wee commend constancie to suffer bad fortune wee accuse and hate it in our friends and when it is our owne case it is not sufficient that they suffer with vs but they must afflict themselues too A wise man that is sicke should content himselfe with the setled countenance of his assistants CHAP. XII To maintaine himselfe in true tranquillitie of spirit the fruit and crowne of wisedome and the conclusion of this booke THe tranquillitie of the spirit is the souereigne good of man This is that great and rich treasure which the wisest seeke by sea and by land on foote and a horsebacke all our care should tend thereunto it is the fruit of all our labors and studies the crowne of wisdome But lest a man should mistake himselfe heerein you must know that this tranquillitie is not a retrait or vacation from all affaires a delightfull solitarinesse and corporally pleasant or a profound carelesnesse of all things if it were so many women idle dissolute and voluptuous persons would at their pleasure enioy as great a good as the wisest can aspire vnto with all their studie Neither multitude nor scarsitie of businesse doth any thing heerein It is a beautifull sweete equall iust firme and pleasant estate of the soule which neither businesse nor idlenesse nor good accidents nor ill nor time can any way trouble alter mend or depresse Vera tranquillitas non concuti The meanes to attaine thereunto to get and preserue it are the points that I haue handled in this second booke whereof this is a briefe collection They consist in freeing and disfurnishing of a man from all lets and impediments and furnishing him with those things that entertaine and preserue it The things that doe most hinder and trouble the rest and tranquillitie of the spirit are common and vulgar opinions which for the most part are erroneous and secondly desires and passions which ingender in vs a kinde of delicacy and difficulty which are the cause that a man is neuer content and these are kindled and stirred in him by those
two contrary fortunes prosperity and aduerfity as with two violent and mighty winds and finally that vile and base captiuity wherwith the spirit that is to say the iudgement and will is enthralled like a beast vnder the yoke of certaine locall and particular rules and opinions Now he must emancipate and free himselfe from these stockes and vniust subiections and bring his spirit into libertie restore himselfe to himselfe free vniuersall open seeing into all and wandring through the beautifull and vniuersall circuit of the world and of nature In commune genitus mundum vt vnam domum spectans toti se inferens mundo in omnes eius actus contemplationem suam mittens The place being thus trimmed and made ready the first foundations that are to be laid are a true honesty and to liue in such an estate and vocation whereunto a man is fit The principall parts wherwith he must raise assure and settle this building are first true piety whereby with a soule not astonished but setled pure free deuout a man contemplateth God the great soueraigne and absolute work-master of all things who can neither be seene nor knowen but yet he must be knowen adored worshipped serued with the whole heart from whom he is to hope for all maner of good and to feare no euill afterwards he must walke roundly in simplicity and truth according to the lawes and customes liue with a heart open both to the eies of God and the world Conscientiam suam aperiens semperque tanquam in publico viuens se magis veritus quà m alios Againe hee must keepe in himselfe and with others and generally in all things in his thoughts speeches designments actions a moderation the mother or nurse of tranquillity laying aside all pompe and vanity rule his desires content himselfe with a mediocrity and sufficiency quod sit esse velit nihilque malit reioice in his fortunes A tempest hath a great deale lesse force and doth lesse hurt when the sailes are taken downe than when they are hoised vp and laid open to the windes He must bee constant against whatsoeuer may wound or hurt him raise himselfe aboue and beyond all feare contemning all the blowes of fortuen of death holding it as the end of all euils and not the cause of any contemptor omnium quibus torquetur vitae supra omnia quae contingunt acciduntque eminens Imperturbatus intrepidus And so hold himselfe firme vnto himselfe agree with himselfe liue at ease without any paine or inward contention full of ioy of peace of comfort and content in himselfe Sapiens plenus gaudio hilaris placidus cum dijs ex pari viuit Sapientiae effectus gaudij aequalitas solus sapiens gaudet He must I say entertaine himselfe and continue content in himselfe which is the proper fruit and effect of wisdome Nisi sapienti sua non placent omnis stultitia laborat fastidio sui Non est beatus esse se qui non put at To conclude to this tranquillitie of spirit two things are necessarie innocencie and a good conscience this is the first and principall part which doth maruellously arme and confirme him with assurance but this is not alwaies sufficient in the force of the tempest as it is many times seene in diuers that are troubled and lost Erit tanta tribulatio vt seducantur iusti And therefore the other is likewise necessarie which is force and constancie of courage as likewise this alone were not sufficient for the force and resistance of the conscience is maruellous it makes vs to betray to accuse our selues for want of other witnesses it is as a thousand witnesses against vs. Occultum quatiens animo tortore flagellum It frameth an enditement condemneth executeth vs there is no closet close enough for wicked men saith Epicurus because they neuer can assure themselues to be hid their owne conscience alwaies discouering them to themselues Prima est haec vltio quod se iudice nemo nocens absoluitur So likewise neither a weake fearefull soule be it neuer so holy nor a strong and couragious if it be not sound pure can neuer enioy this so rich happie tranquillitie but he that hath them all worketh wonders as Socrates Epaminondas Cato Scipio of whom ther are three admirable exploits touching this subiect These two Romanes being publikely accused made their accusers to blush woon the Iudges and the whole assemblie being strucken with an admiration He had a heart too great by nature saith Titus Liuius of Scipio to know how to be faultie and to debase himselfe so much as to defend his owne innocencie FINIS OF WISDOME THE THIRD BOOKE Wherein are handled the particular aduisements of Wisdome by the foure morall vertues THE PREFACE FOrasmuch as our purpose in this Booke is by peecemeale to instruct vnto wisedome and to giue the particular aduisements after the generall handled in the Second Booke that we may the better hold a certaine course and order therein we haue thought that we cannot do better than to follow the foure mistris and morall vertues Prudence Iustice Fortitude and Temperance for in these soure almost all the duties of our life are comprehended Prudence is as a generall guide and conduct of the other vertues and of our whole life though properlie it be exercised in the affaires that belong thereunto Iustice concerneth the persons of men for it is to giue vnto euery one that which belongeth vnto him Fortitude and Temperance concerneth all accidents good and euill pleasant and painefull good and ill fortune Now in these three persons affaires and accidents is conteined all our life and humane condition and the trafficke of this world Of Prudence the first vertue CHAP. I. Of Prudence in generall PRudence is with reason put in the first rancke as the generall Queene superintendent and guide of all other vertues 1 The excellencie thereof auriga virtutum without which there is nothing good beautifull fit and decent it is the salt of our life the lustre the ornament the sauce or seasoning of our actions the square and rule of our affaires and in a word the Arte of our life as Physicke the arte of our health It is the knowledge and choice of those things we must 2 The definition either desire or flie it is the iust estimation triall of things it is the eye that seeth all that directeth and ordaineth all It consisteth in three things which are all of one ranke to consult and deliberate well to iudge and resolue well to conduct and execute well It is a vniuersall vertue for it extendeth it selfe generally to all humane things not only in grosse but by peecemeale to 3 It is vniuersall euery particular thing is as infinite as are the indiuiduals It is very difficult both by reason of the aforesaid infinitnes for the particulars are without knowledge as without 4 Difficult Senec. number si qua finiri non possunt
common saying tyrannicallie it is then also to be distinguished for it may be so three waies and euery one requireth particular consideration The Heerof see aboue Chap. 4. in Chap. of tyrannie and rebellion one is in violating the lawes of God and nature that is to say against the religion of the countrie the commaundement of God inforcing and constraining their consciences In this case he ought not to yeeld any dutie or obedience following those diuine axiomes That we ought rather obey God than men and feare him more that commaundeth the intire man than those that haue power but ouer the least part Yet he ought not to oppose himselfe against him by violence or sinister meanes which is another extremitie but to obserue the middle way which is either to flie or suffer fugere aut pati these two remedies named by the doctrine of veritie in the like extremities 2. The other lesse euill which concerneth not the consciences but only the bodies and the goods is an abuse to subiects denying them iustice imprisoning their persons and depriuing them of their goods In the which case he ought with patience and acknowledgement of the wrath of God yeeld these three duties following honor obedience vowes and prayers and to be mindfull of three things that all power and authoritie is from God and whosoeuer resisteth the power resisteth the ordinance of God principi summum rorum indicium dij dederunt Subditis obsequij gloria relicta est bonos principes voto expetere quale scunque tolerare And Tacit. he ought not to obey a superior because he is worthie and worthilie commaundeth but because he is a superior not for that he is good but because he is true and lawfull There is great difference betweene true and good euery one ought to obey the law not because it is good and iust but simplie because it is the law 2. That God causeth an hypocrite to raigne for the sinnes of the people though he reserue him for a day of his furie that the wicked prince is the instrument of his iustice the which we ought to indure as other euils which the heauens do send vs quomodo sterilitatem aut nimios imbres caetera naturae mala sic luxū auaritiam dominantium tolerare Tacit. 3. The examples of Saul Nabuchodonoser of many Emperours before Constantine and others since him as cruell tyrants as might be towards whom neuerthelesse these three duties haue been obserued by good men and enioined them by the Prophets and learned men of those daies according to the oracle of the great Doctour of truth which inferreth an obedience to them which sit in the seate of gouernment notwithstanding they oppresse vs with insupportable burthens and their gouernment be euill The third concerneth the whole state when he would change or ruinate it seeking to make it electiue hereditarie or of an Aristocracie or Democracie a Monarchie or otherwise And in this case he ought to withstand and hinder their proceedings either by way of iustice or otherwise for he is not master of the state but only a gardian and a suertie But these affaires belong not to all but to the tutours and mainteiners of the state or those that are interessed therein as Electours of electiue states or Princes apparent in hereditarie states or states generall that haue fundamentall lawes And this is the only case wherein it is lawfull to resist a tyrant And all this is said of subiects who are neuer permitted to attempt any thing against a soueraigne Prince for what cause L. Cogitationis ff de poen L. Si quis non dicam c. de sacros Eccles soeuer and the lawes say that he deserueth death who attempteth or giueth counsell and which intendeth or only thinketh it But it is honorable for a stranger yea it is most noble and heroicall in a prince by warlike means to defend a people vniustlie oppressed and to free them from tyrannie as Hercules did and afterward Dion Timoleon and Tamberlaine prince of the Tartars who ouercame Baiazeth the Turkish Emperour and besieged Constantinople These are the duties of subiects towards their liuing soueraignes 12 Examinations of Soueraignes after their death But it is a point of iustice to examine their life after they are dead This is a custome iust and very profitable which benefiteth much those nations where it is obserued and which all good Princes doe desire who haue cause to complaine that a man handleth the memorie of the wicked as well as theirs Soueraignes are companions if not masters of the lawes for seeing iustice cannot touch their liues there is reason it taketh hold of their reputation and the goods of their successours We owe reuerence and dutie equallie to all kings in respect of their dignitie and office but inward estimation and affection to their vertue We patientlie indure them though vnworthie as they are We conceale their vices for their authoritie and publike order where we liue hath neede of our common help but after they are gone there is no reason to reiect iustice and the libertie of expressing our true thoughts yea it is a very excellent and profitable example that we manifest to the posteritie faithfullie to obey a Master or Lord whose imperfections are well knowne They who for some priuat dutie commit a wicked prince to memorie do priuat iustice to the publike hurt O excellent lesson for a successour if it were well obserued CHAP. XVII The dutie of Magistrates GOod people in a common-wealth would loue better to 1 For what cause Magistrates are allowed of inioy ease of contentment which good and excellent spirits know how to giue themselues in consideration of the goods of nature and the effects of God than to vndertake publike charges were it not that they feare to be ill gouerned and by the wicked and therefore they consent to be magistrates but to hunt and follow publike charges especiallie the iudgement seat is base and vile and condemned by all good lawes yea euen of the heathen witnesse the law Iulia de ambitu vnworthie a person of honour and a man cannot better expresse his insufficiencie than by seeking for it But it is most base and vile by briberie or money to purchase them and there is no merchandize more hatefull and contemptible than it for it necessarily followeth that he which buieth in grosse selleth by retaile Whereupon the Emperour Seuerus speaking against the like inconuenience saith Lamprid. That a man can not iustly condemne him which selleth that he bought Euen as a man apparrelleth himselfe and putteth on his 2 How a magistrate ought to prepare himself before he take the charge best habit before he departeth his house to appeare in publike so before a man vndertake publike charge he ought priuately to examine himselfe to learne to rule his passions and well to settle and establish his minde A man bringeth not to the turney a raw
the means wherby to prouide for our affaires and with time it rusteth and fenoweth the soule it corrupteth the whole man brings his vertues asleepe euen then when he hath most need to keepe them awaked to withstand that euil which oppresseth them but we must discouer the foulnesse and follie the pernicious effects yea the iniustice that is in this cowardly base and feeble passion to the end wee may learne with all our might to flie and auoid it as most vnworthy the wisest men according to the doctrine of the Stoicks which is not so easy to be done because it excuseth and couereth it selfe with many beautifull colours of nature pietie goodnesse yea the greatest part of the world it drawes to honour and fauour it making it an ornament to wisedome vertue conscience First then it is so farre from being naturall as it would 2 Not naturall Publike mournings make men beleeue that it is formall and an enemie to nature as may easily be prooued Touching ceremonious sorrowes and publike mournings so much affected and practised in former times and likewise at this present my meaning is not to touch the honestie and moderation of obsequies and funeralls nor that sorrow that belongs to piety and religion what greater imposture or deceitfull cousenage can there be in any thing besides How many fained and artificiall counterfeit cousenages are there with no small cost and charges both in those whom it concerneth the authors of the sport and those whose offices they make vse of in that businesse For to giue the better credit to their iugling tricks they hire people to lament and to send vp their shreeking cries and lamentations which all men know to bee fained and extorted for mony teares that are not shed but to bee seene and so soone as they are out of sight are dried vp where is it that nature hath taught vs this Nay what is there that nature doth more abhorre and condemne It is a tyrannicall false and vulgar opinion the worst as hath beene said almost of all the passions that teacheth vs to weepe and lament in such a case And if a man cannot finde occasion of teares a heauy countenance in him selfe he must buy it at a deare price in another in such sort that to satisfie this opinion hee must enter into a great charge whereof nature if we would credit it would willingly discharge vs. Is not this willingly and publikely to betray reason to enforce and to corrupt nature to prostitute his owne manhood to mocke both the world and himselfe to satisfie the vulgar sort which produce nothing but errour and account of nothing that is not counterfeit and disguised Neither are those more particular sorrowes naturall as it seemes to many for if they did proceed from nature they should Particular bee common to all men and almost touch all men alike Now wee see that the selfe same things that are causes of sorrow to some giue occasion of ioy vnto others that one Prouince one person laugheth at that whereat another weepeth that they that are conuersant with those that lament exhort them to resolution and to quit themselues of their teares Yea the greatest part of those that thus torment themselues when you haue talked with them or that themselues haue had the leasure but to discourse vpon their owne passions they confesse that it is but a folly thus to afflict themselues and praise those who in the like aduersities haue made head against fortune and with a manly and generous courage haue withstood their afflictions And it is certaine that men do not accommodate their mourning to their cause of sorrow but the opinion of those with whom they liue And if a man marke them well he shall finde that it is opinion which the more to annoy vs presenteth the things vnto vs which torment vs either more than they should or by anticipation feare and preuention of that which is to come sooner than they should But it is against nature inasmuch as it polluteth and defaceth 3 Against nature whatsoeuer nature hath made beautifull and amiable in vs which is drowned by the force of this passion as the beautie of a pearle is dissolued in vineger Wee make our selues heerby spectacles of pity we go with our heads hanging our eies fastned on the earth our mouthes tonguelesse our members immooueable our eies serue for no other vse than to weepe that you may say wee are nothing but sweating statues turned as the Poets faine like Niobe into a stone by the power of this passion Now it is not only contrary and an enemy vnto nature but 4 Iniust and impious God himselfe for what other thing is it but a rash and outragious complaint against the Lord and common law of the whole world which hath made all things vnder the Moone changeable and corruptible If we know this law why do we torment our selues If we know it not whereof doe we complaine but of our owne ignorance in that we know not that which Nature hath written in all the corners and creatures of the world We are heere not to giue a law but to receiue it and to follow that which we find established for to torment our selues by contradicting it doth but double our paine Besides all this it is pernicious and hurtfull vnto man and by so much the more dangerous because it killeth when we 5 Pernitican thinke it comforts hurteth vnder the colour of doing good vnder a false pretence of plucking the iron out of the wound it driues it to the heart and the blowes thereof are so much the more hardly auoided and the enterprises broken because it is a domesticall enemy brought vp with vs which we haue engendred for our owne punishment Outwardly by a deformed and new countenance wholly 6 Outwardly altered and counterfeited it dishonoreth and defameth man Doe but consider when it entreth into vs it filleth vs with shame in such sort that wee dare not to shew our selues in publike place no not priuatly to our dearest friends and after we are once possessed of this passion we doe nothing but seeke corners to hide our selues from the sight of men What is this to say but that it condemneth it selfe and acknowledgeth how indecent it is For it is for a woman that is taken in her wantonnesse to hide herselfe and to feare to be knowen Againe do but consider the vestments and habits of sorrow how strange and effeminate they are which sheweth that it taketh away whatsoeuer is manly and generous in vs and puts vpon vs the countenances and infirmities of women and therfore the Thratians adorned those men that mourned like women And some say that sorow makes men eunuches The first and more manly and generous lawes of the Romans forbad these effeminate lamentations finding it an horrible thing that men should so degenerate from their owne natures and do things contrary to manhood allowing only of those
fained to be such as not to be aduanced in honour greatnes riches as cuckoldship sterility death for to say the truth there is nothing but griefe it selfe that is euill and which is felt And though some wise men seem to feare these things yet it is not for their owne sakes but because of that griefe which sometimes doth accompany them afterwards for many times it is a fore-runner of death and sometimes followeth the losse of goods of credit of honour But take from these things grief the rest is nothing but fantasie which hath no other lodging but in the head of man which quits it selfe of other businesse to be miserable and imagineth within it owne bounds false euils besides the true employing and extending his miserie in stead of lessening and contracting it Beasts feele not these euils but are exempted from them because nature iudgeth them not to be such As for sorrow which is the only true euill man is wholly borne thereunto and it is his naturall propertie The Mexicanes 5 He is borne to sorrow thus salute their infants comming forth of the wombe of their mother Infant thou art come into the world to suffer endure suffer and hold thy peace That sorrow is naturall vnto man and contrariwise pleasure but a stranger it appeareth by these three reasons All the parts of man are capable of sorrow very few of delight The parts capable of pleasure can not receiue more than one or two sorts but all can receiue the greatest number of griefs all different heat colde pricking rubbing trampling fleaing beating boiling languishing extension oppression relaxation and infinite others which haue no proper name to omit those of the soule in such sort that man is better able to suffer them than to expresse them Man hath no long continuance in pleasure for that of the bodie is like a fire of straw and if it should continue it would bring with it much enuie and displeasure but sorrowes are more permanent and haue not their certaine seasons as pleasures haue Againe the empire and command of sorrow is farre more great more vniuersall more powerfull more durable and in a word more naturall than that of pleasure To these three a man may adde other three Sorrow and griefe is more frequent and falles out often Pleasure is rare Euil comes easily of it selfe without seeking Pleasure neuer comes willingly it must be sought after and many times we pay more for it than it is woorth Pleasure is neuer pure but alwayes distempered and mingled with some bitternesse and there is alwayes some thing wanting but sorrow and griefe is many times entire and pure After all this the worst of our market and that which doth euidently shew the miserie of our condition is that the greatest pleasures touch vs not so neere as the lightest griefs Segnius homines bona quà m mala sentiunt we feele not so much our soundest health as the least maladie that is pung it in cute vix summa violatum plagula corpus quando valere nil quenquam monet It is not enough that man be indeede and by nature miserable 6 By memorie and anticipation and besides true and substantiall euills he faine forge false and fantasticall as hath beene saide but hee must likewise extend and lengthen them and cause both the true and false to endure and to liue longer than they can so amarous is he of iniserie which he doth diuers waies First by the remembrance of what is past and the anticipation of what is to come so that we cannot faile to be miserable since that those things which are principally good in vs and whereof wee glorie most are instruments of miserie futuro torquemur praeterito mult a bona nostra nobis nocent timoris tormentum memoria reducit prouidentia anticipat nemo praesentibus tantùm miser est It is not enough to be miserable but wee must encrease it by a continual expectation before it come nay seeke it and prouoke it to come like those that kill themselues with the feare of death that is to say either by curiositie or imbecillitie and vaine apprehension to preoccupate euils and inconueniences and to attend them with so much paine ado euen those which peraduenture will neuer come neere vs These kinde of people will be miserable before their time and double miserable both by a reall sense or feeling of their miserie and by a long premeditation therof which many times is a hundred times worse than the euils themselues Minùs afficit sensus fatigatio quà m cogitatio The essence or being of miserie endureth not long but the minde of man must lengthen and extend it and entertaine it before hand Plùs dolet quà m necesse est qui antè dolet quà m necesse est Quaedam magis quaedam antequam debeant quaedam cùm omninò non debeant nos torquent Aut augemus dolorem aut fugimus aut praecipimus Beasts do well defend themselues from this follie and miserie and are much bound to thanke nature that they want that spirit that memorie that prouidence that man hath Caesar said well that the best death was that which was least premeditated And to say the truth the preparation before death hath beene to many a greater torment than the execution it selfe My meaning is not here to speake of that vertuous and philosophicall premeditation which is that temper whereby the soule is made inuincible is fortified to the proofe against all assaults and accidents whereof we shall speake heerafter but Lib. 2. ca 7. of that fearefull and sometimes false and vaine apprehension of euils that may come which afflicteth and darkeneth as it were with smoke all the beauty and serenity of the soule troubleth all the rest and ioy thereof insomuch that it were better to suffer it selfe to be wholly surprised It is more easie and more naturall not to thinke thereof at all But let vs leaue this anticipation of euill for simply euery care and painfull thought bleating after things to come by hope desire feare is a very great misery For besides that we haue not any power ouer that which is to come much lesse ouer what is past and so it is vanity as it hath been said there doth stil remain vnto vs that euill and dammage Calamitosus est animus futuri anxius which robbeth our vnderstanding and taketh from vs the peaceable comfort of our present good and will not suffer vs to settle and content our selues therein But this is not yet enough For to the end man may neuer want matter of misery yea that he may alwaies haue his 7 By vnquiet search full he neuer ceaseth searching and seeking with great study the causes and aliments of misery He thrusteth himselfe into businesse euen with ioy of heart euen such as when they are offered vnto him he should turne his backe towards them and either out of a miserable disquiet of mind or to the end
the line thirtie on that that is to say all that part which is betwixt the two tropicks or somewhat more where are the hot and Southerne countries Africke and Aethiope in the middle betwixt the East and the West Arabia Calicut the Moluques Ianes Taprobana towards the Orient Peru and the great Seas towards the Occident The other middle part hath thirtie degrees beyond the Tropicks both on this side the line and on that towards the Poles where are the middle and temperate regions all Europe with the Mediterrane Sea in the middle betwixt the East and West all Asia both the lesse and the greater which is towards the East with China Iapan and America towards the West The third which is the thirtie degrees which are next to the two Poles on both sides which are the cold and Icie countries the Septentrionall people Tartary Muscony Estotilan Magelan which is not yet throughly discouered Following this generall partition of the world the natures of men are likewise different in euery thing body soule religion 3 Their natures maners as wee may see in this little Table For the  Northerne people are Middle are Southerne are 1 In their Bodies High and great phlegmaticke sanguin white and yellow sociable the voyce strong the skin soft and hairie great eaters and drinkers puissant Indifferent and temperate in all those things as neuters or partakers a little of those two extremities participating most of that region to which they are nearest neighbours Little melancholicke cold and dry blacke Solitary the voyce shrill the skin hard with little haire and curled abstinent feeble 2 Spirit Heauy obtuse stupid sottish facill light inconstant Ingenious wise subtile opinatiue 3 Religion Little religious and deuout Superstitious contemplatiue 4 Manners Warriers valiant painfull chast free from iealousie cruell and inhumane No warriers idle vnchast iealous cruell and inhumane All these differences are easily prooued As for those of the bodie they are knowne by the eye and if there be any exceptions 4 The proofes of these differences of the Body they are rare and proceed from the mixture of the people or from the winds the waters and particular situation of the place whereby a mountaine is a notable difference in the selfe-same degree yea the selfe-same countrie and citie They of the higher part of the citie of Athens were of a quite contrary humor as Plutarke affirmeth to those that dwelt about the gate of Pyreus and they that dwell in the North side of a mountaine differ as much from those that dwell on the South side as they do both differ from those in the valley As for the differences of the spirit we know that mechanicall 2 The spirit and manuall artes belong to the North where men are made for labour Speculatiue sciences came from the South Caesar and other ancients of those times called the Aegyptians ingenious and subtile Moyses is said to be instructed in their wisdome and Philosophie came from thence into Greece Greatnesse began rather with them because of their spirit and subtiltie The gards of Princes yea in the Southerne partes are Northerne men as hauing more strength and lesse subtiltie and malice So likewise the Southerne people are indued with great vertues and subiect to great vices as it is said of Hannibal The Northerne haue goodnes and simplicitie The lesser and middle sciences as policies lawes and eloquence are in the middle nations wherein the greatest Empires and policies haue flourished As touching the third point religions haue come from the South Egypt Arabia Chaldea more superstition in 3 Religion Africke than the whole world besides witnesse their vowes so frequent their temples so magnificent The Northerne people saith Caesar haue little care of religion being whollie giuen to the warres and to hunting As for manners and first touching warres it is certaine that the greatest armies artes military instruments and inuentions 4 Manners haue come from the North. The Scythians Gothes Vandals Huns Tartarians Turks Germanes haue beaten and conquered all other nations and ransaked the whole world and therefore it is a common saying that all euill comes from the North. Single combats came from them The Northerne people adore a sword fastned in the earth saith Solinus To other nations they are inuincible yea to the Romans who hauing conquered the rest of the world were vtterly destroyed by them They grow weake and languish with the Southerne winds and going towards the South as the Southerne men comming into the North redouble their forces By reason of their warlike fiercenes they will not endure to be commanded by authority they loue their libertie at leastwise electiue commanders Touching chastitie and iealousie in the North saith Tacitus one woman to one man yea one woman sufficeth many men saith Caesar There is no iealousie saith Munster where men and women bathe themselues together with strangers In the South Polygamie is altogether receiued All Africke adoreth Venus saith Solinus The Southerns die with iealousie and therefore they keepe Eunuches as gardians to their wiues which their great Lords haue in great number as they haue stables of horses Touching crueltie the two extreames are alike cruell but the causes are diuers as we shall see anon when we come to speake of the causes Those tortures of the wheele and staking of men aliue came from the North The inhumanities of the Moscouites and Tartars are too well knowne The Almanes saith Tacitus punish not their offenders by lawe but cruelly murther them as enemies The Southerns flea their offenders aliue and their desire of reuenge is so great that they become furious if they be not glutted therewith In the middle regions they are mercifull and humane The Romans punished their greatest offenders with banishment The Greeks vsed to put their offenders to death with a sweet drugge made of a kinde of Hemlocke which they gaue them to drinke And Cicero saith that humanitie and courtesie were the conditions of Asia minor and from thence deriued to the rest of the world The cause of all these corporall and spirituall differences is the inequalitie and difference of the inward naturall heate 5 The cause of the aforesaid differences which is in those countries and peoples that is to say strong and vehement in the Northerns by reason of the great outward cold which incloseth and driueth the heate into the inward parts as caues and deepe places are hot in winter so mens stomacks ventres hieme culidiores Weake and feeble is the Southerns the inward heate being dispersed and drawne into the outward parts by the vehemencie of the outward heate as in Sommer vaults and places vnder the earth are cold Meane and temperate in the middle regions From this diuersitie I say and inequalitie of naturall heat proceed these differences not only corporall which are easie to note but also spirituall for the Southerns by reason of their cold temperature are melancholike and therefore staied constant
yong actiue the ordinarie view of so many accidents and spectacles libertie and conuersation without arte a manly fashion of life without ceremonie the varietie of diuers actions a couragious harmonie of warlike musike which entertaines vs and stirres our blood our eares our soule those warlike commotions which rauish vs with their horror and feare that confused tempest of sounds and cries that fearefull ordering of so many thousands of men with so much furie ardour and courage But on the other side a man may say that the arte and experience of vndoing one another of killing ruinating destroying 2 The dispraise our owne proper kinde seemes to be vnnaturall and to proceed from an alienation of our sense and vnderstanding it is a great testimonie of our weaknesse and imperfection and it is not found in beasts themselues in whom the image of nature continueth farre more entire What follie what rage is it to make such commotions to torment so many people to runne thorow so many dangers and hazzards both by sea and land for a thing so vncertaine and doubtfull as the issue of warre to runne with such greedinesse and fiercenesse after death which is easily found euery where and without hope of sepulture to kill those he hates not nor euer saw But whence proceedeth this great furie and ardor for it is not for any offence committed What frensie and madnesse is this for a man to abandon his owne bodie his time his rest his life his libertie and to leaue it to the mercie of another to expose himselfe to the losse of his owne members and to that which is a thousand times worse than death fire and sword to be troden to be pinched with hot iron to be cut to be torne in pieces broken and put to the gallies for euer And all this to serue the passion of another for a cause which a man knowes not to be iust and which is commonly vniust for warres are commonly vniust and for him whom a man knowes not who takes so little care for him that fights for him that he will be content to mount vpon his dead bodie to helpe his owne stature that he may see the farther I speake not heere of the dutie of subiects towards their Prince and countrey but of voluntaries and mercenarie souldiers The fift and last distinction and difference of men drawen from the fauors and disfauors of Nature and Fortune THE PREFACE THis last distinction and difference is apparent enough and sufficiently knowen and hath many members and considerations but may all be reduced to two heads which a man may call with the vulgar sort Felicitie or good fortune and Infelicitie or ill fortune Greatnesse or littlenesse To Felicitie and greatnesse belong health beautie and the other goods of the bodie libertie nobilitie honor dignitie science riches credit friends To Infelicitie or littlenesse belong all the contraries which are priuations of the other good things From these things doth arise a very great difference because a man is happie in one of these or in two or in three and not in the rest and that more or lesse by infinite degrees few or none at all are happie or vnhappie in them all He that hath the greatest part of these goods and especially three Nobilitie Dignitie or Authoritie and riches is accounted great he that hath not any of these three little But many haue but one or two and are accounted midlings betwixt the great and the little We must speake a little of them all Of Health beautie and other naturall goods of the bodie Chap. 11. hath been spoken before as likewise of their contraries Chap. 6. Sicknesse Griefe CHAP. LVIII Of Libertie and Seruitude LIbertie is accounted by some a souereigne good and Seruitude an extreame euill insomuch that many haue chosen rather to die a cruell death than to be made slaues or to see either the publike good or their owne priuate indangered But of this there may be too much and of these too manie as of all other things There is a twofolde libertie the true which is of the minde or spirit and is in the power of euery one and can not be taken away nor indamaged by another nor by Fortune it selfe contrariwise the seruitude of the spirit is the most miserable of all others to serue our owne affections to suffer our selues to be deuoured by our owne passions to be led by opinions ô pitifull captiuitie The corporall libertie is a good greatly to be esteemed but subiect to Fortune and it is neither iust nor reasonable if it be not by reason of some other circumstance that it should be preferred before life it selfe as some of the ancients haue done who haue rather made choice of death than to lose it and it was accounted a great vertue in them so great an euill was seruitude thought to be Seruitus obedientia est fracti animi abiecti arbitrio carentis suo Many great and wise men haue serued Regulus Valerianus Plato Diogenes euen those that were wicked and yet dishonoured not their owne condition but continued in effect and truth more free than their masters CHAP. LIX Nobilitie NObilitie is a qualitie euery where not common but honourable brought in and established with great reason and for publike vtilitie It is diuers diuersly taken and vnderstood and according to diuers nations and iudgements it hath diuers kindes According The description of nobilitie to the generall and common opinion and custome it is a qualitie of a race or stocke Aristotle saith that it is the antiquitie of a race and of riches Plutarch calleth it the vertue of a race 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 meaning thereby a certaine habit and qualitie continued in the linage What this qualitie or vertue is all are not wholly of one accord sauing in this that it is profitable to the weale-publike For to some and the greater part this qualitie is militarie to others it is politike literarie of those that are wise palatine of the officers of the Prince But the militarie hath the aduantage aboue the rest for besides the seruice which it yeeldeth to the weale-publike as the rest do it is painfull laborious dangerous whereby it is accounted more worthy and commendable So hath it caried with vs by excellencie the honourable title of Valour There must then according to this opinion be two things in true and perfect nobilitie profession of this vertue and qualitie profitable to the common-weale which is as the forme and the race as the subiect and matter that is to say a long continuance of this qualitie by many degrees and races and time out of mind whereby they are called in our language Gentlemen that is to say of a race house familie carying of long time the same name and the same profession For he is truely and entirely noble who maketh a singular profession of publick vertue seruing his Prince and Countrie and being descended of parents and ancestors
caeli latus totam lucem suo loco propè totus aspicies quam nunc per angustissimas oculorum vias procul intueris miraris To conclude it taketh vs from that death which began in the wombe of our mother and now endeth to bring vs to that life which shall neuer end Dies iste quem tanquam extremum reformidas aeterni natalis est The second maner of the cariage of man in this matter of 12 2 To attend death it is good death is of a good sweete and moderate soule and is iustly practised in a common and peaceable life by those that with reason account of this condition of life and content themselues to indure it but gouerning themselues according to reason and accepting of death when it commeth This is a well tempered mediocritie sutable to such a condition of life betweene the extremities which are to desire and feare to seeke and to flie vitious and faultie summum ne metuas diem nec optes mortem concupiscentes timentes aequè obiurgat Epicurus if they be not couered and excused by some reason not common and ordinarie as shall be said in his place To seeke and desire death is ill it is iniustice to desire death without a cause and to be out of charitie with the world which our liues may be beneficiall vnto It is to be vnthankfull to nature to contemne it and not to make the best vse thereof to be ouer anxious and scrupulous and not to endure that estate that is not burthensome and wee are called vnto To flie and feare death on the other side is against nature reason iustice and all dutie For to die is a thing naturall necessarie and ineuitable iust 13 Death is naturall and reasonable Naturall for it is a part of the order of the whole Vniuerse of the life of the world wilt thou then that the world be ruinated and a new made for thy selfe Death holdeth a high place in the policie great common-wealth of the world and it is very profitable for the succession and continuance of the workes of nature the fading or corruption of one life is the passage to a thousand others Sicrerum summa nouatur And it is not only a part of this great whole Vniuerse but of our particular essence not lesse essential than to liue to be borne In flying death thou fliest thy selfe thy essence is equally parted into these two life and death it is the condition of thy creation If it grieueth thee to die why wert thou borne Men come not into the world with any other purpose but to goe foorth againe and therefore he that is not willing to goe foorth let him not come in The first day of thy birth bindeth thee and setteth thee as well in the way to deat as to life Naseentes morimur sinisque ab origine pendet Sola mors ius aequum est generis humani viuere noluit qui mori non vult vita cum exceptione mortis data est tam stultus qui timet mortem quà m qui senectutem To be vnwilling to die is to be vnwilling to be a man for all men are mortall and therefore a wise man said and that without passion hauing receiued newes of the death of his sonne I knew I begot and bred him vp a mortall man Death being then a thing so naturall and essentiall both for the world in grosse and forthy self in particular why should it be horrible vnto thee Thou goest against nature the feare of griefe and paine is naturall but not of death for being so seruiceable to nature and nature hauing instituted it to what end should it imprint in vs a hatred and horror thereof Children and beasts feare not death yea many times they suffer it cheerefully it is not then nature that teacheth vs to feare it but rather to attend and receiue it as being sent by it Secondly it is necessarie fatale ineuitable and this thou knowest that fearest and weepest What greater follie can 14 Necessarie there be than for a man to torment himselfe for nothing and that willingly and of purpose to pray and importune him whom he knowes to bee inexorable to knocke at that dore that cannot be opened What is there more inexorable and deafe than death Wee must therefore feare things vncertaine doe our best endeuours in things that are not remedilesse but such as are certaine as death we must attend and grow resolute in things past remedie The sot feareth and flieth death the foole seekes it and runs after it the wise man attendeth it It is follie to grieue at that that cannot be mended to feare that that cannot be auoided Feras non culpes quod vitari non potest The example of Dauid is excellent who vnderstanding of the death of his deare childe put on his best apparell and made himselfe merry saying to those that wondered at this kinde of carriage that whilest his son liued he importuned God for his recouerie but being dead that care was ended and there was no remedie The foole thinks he maketh a better answer to say that that is the cause of his griefe and that he tormenteth himselfe because there is no remedie but he doubleth and perfecteth his owne follie thereby Scienter frustra niti extremae dementiae est Now death being so necessarie and ineuitable it is not only to no purpose to feare but making of necessitie a vertue wee must welcome it and receiue it kindely for it is better for vs to goe to death than that death should come to vs to catch that before that catch vs. Thirdly to die is a thing reasonable and iust it is reason to 15 Iust and râ—asonable ariue to that place towards which we are alwaies walking and if a man feare to come thither let him not walke but stay himselfe or turne backe againe which is impossible to doe It is reason that thou giue place to others since others haue giuen place to thee If thou haue made thy commoditie of this life thou must be satisfied and be gone as he that is inuited to a banquet takes his refection and departeth If thou haue not knowen how to make vse and profit thereof what needest thou care if thou lose it or to what end wouldest thou keepe it It is a debt that must be paid a pawne that must bee restored whensoeuer it is demanded Why pleadest thou against thy own schedule thy faith thy duty It is then against reason to spurne against death since that thereby thou acquitest thy selfe of so much and dischargest thy selfe of so great an account It is a thing generall and common to all to die why then troublest thou thy selfe Wilt thou haue a new priuiledge that was yet neuer seene and bee a lone man by thy selfe Why fearest thou to goe whither all the world goeth where so many millions are gone before thee and so many millions shall follow thee Death is equally
by chance for no man goeth to it warily and with such deliberation and disposition of body as hee ought and nature doth require Since then men are made at aduenture and by chance it is no maruell if they seldome fall out to bee beautifull good sound wise and well composed Behold then briefly according to Philosophy the particular aduisements touching this first point that is to say the begetting of male children sound wise and iudicious for that which serueth for the one of these qualities serues for the other 1. A man must not couple himselfe with a woman that is of a vile base and dissolute condition or of a naughty and vitious composition of body 2. He must abstaine from this action and copulation seuen or eight daies 3. During which time hee is to nourish himselfe with wholsome victuals more hot and drie than otherwise and such as may concoct well in the stomacke 4. He must vse a more than moderate exercise All this tendeth to this end and purpose that the seed may be wel concocted and seasoned hot and drie fit and proper for a masculine sound and wise temperature Vagabounds idle and lazie people great drinkers who haue commonly an ill concoction euer beget effeminate idle and dissolute children as Hippocrates recounteth of the Scythians Againe a man must applie himselfe to this encounter after one maner a long time after his repast that is to say his bellie being empty and he fasting for a full panch performes nothing good either for the mind or for the body and therefore Diogenes reproched a licentious yong man for that his father had begotten him being drunke And the law of the Carthaginians is commended by Plato which enioined a man to abstaine from L. 2. de leg wine that day that he lay with his wife 6. And not neere the monthly tearmes of a woman but six or seuen daies before or as much after them 7. And vpon the point of conception and retention of the seed the woman turning and gathering hirselfe together vpon the right side let hir so rest for a time 8. This direction touching the viands and exercise must be continued during the time of hir burthen To come to the second point of this office after the birth of the infant these foure points are to be obserued 1. The infant must be washed in warme water somewhat brinish to make The second part of the office of parents Ezech. 16. the members supple and firme to cleanse and drie the flesh the braine to strengthen the sinewes a very good custome in the Easterne parts among the Iewes 2. The nurse if she be to be chosen let hir be young of a temperature or complexion the least cold and moist that may be brought vp in labour hard lodging slender diet hardned against cold and heate I say if she be to be chosen because according to reason and the opinion of the wisest it should be the mother and therefore they crie out against hir when she refuseth this charge being inuited and as it were bound thereunto by nature who to that end hath giuen hir milke and dugs by the example of beasts and that loue and iealousie that she ought to haue of hir little ones who receiue a very great hurt by the change of their aliment now accustomed in a stranger and perhaps a bad one too of a constitution quite contrarie to the former whereby they are not to be accounted mothers but by halfes Quod est hoc contra naturam imperfectum ac dimidiatum matris genus peperisse staim ab se abiecisse aluisse in vtero Aul. Gell. L. 12. c. 1. sanguine suo nescio quid quod non videret non alere autem nunc suo lacte quod videat iam viuentem iam hominem iam matris officia implorantem 3. The nourishment besides the dugge should be goates milke or rather creame the most subtile and aerie part of the milke sod with honie and a little salt These are things very fit for the bodie and the mind by the aduice of all the wise and great Physitians Greeks and Hebrews Galen multis locis Homer 10. Iliad I say 7. Butyrum mel comedet vt sciat reprobare malum eligere bonum The qualitie of milke or creame is very temperate and full of good nourishment the drinesse of the honie and salt consumeth the too great humiditie of the braine and disposeth it vnto wisdome 4. The infant must by little and little be accustomed and hardned to the aire to heate and cold and we are not to be fearefull thereof for in the Northerne parts of the world they wash their children so soone as they come out of the womb of their mothers in cold water and are neuer the worse The two first parts of the office of parents we haue soone dispatched whereby it appeareth that they are not true fathers that haue not that care affection and diligence in these matters that is fit for they are the cause and occasion either by carelesnesse or otherwise of the death and vntimely birth of their children and when they are borne they care not for them but expose them to their own fortunes for which cause they are depriued by law of that fatherlie power ouer them that is due vnto them and the children to the shame of their parents are made slaues by those that haue nourished them and brought them vp who are farre from taking care to preserue them from fire and water and all other crosses and afflictions that may light vpon them The third part which concerneth the instruction of children 6 The third part of the office of parents we are to handle more seriouslie So soone as this infant is able to goe and to speake and shall begin to employ his mind and his bodie and that the faculties thereof shall be awakened and shew themselues the memorie imagination reason which begin at the fourth or fift yeare there must be An instruction very important a great care and diligence vsed in the well forming thereof for this first tincture and liquor wherewith the mind must be seasoned hath a very great power It cannot be expressed how much this first impression and formation of youth preuaileth euen to the conquering of nature it selfe Nourture saith one excelleth nature Lycurgus made it plaine to all the world by two little dogs of one litter but diuerslie brought vp to whom presenting before them in an open place a pot of pottage and a hare that which was brought vp tenderlie in the house fell to the pottage the other that had beene euer trained vp in hunting forsooke the pottage andranne after the hare The force of this instruction proceeds from this that it entreth easily and departeth with difficultie for being the first that entreth it taketh such place and winneth such Quint Senec. credit as a man will there being no other precedent matter to contest with it