could not miscarry since he knew so well how to command 'T is rather answered he because the people know so well how to obey As Women succeeding to Peerages had notwithstanding their sex the priviledge to assist and give in their Votes in the Causes that appertained to the jurisdiction of Peers So the Ecclesiastical Peers notwithstanding their profession were obliged to assist our Kings in their Wars not only with their friends and servants but in their own persons As the Bishop of Beauvais did who being with Philip Augustus at the Battel of Bouvines had a notable share in that action but he did not think it fit for him to participate in the Fruit and Glory of that violent and Bloody Trade He with his own Hand reduc'd several of the Enemy that day to his mercy whom he delivered to the first Gentleman he met either to kill or receive them to Quarter referring the execution to another hand As also did William Earl of Salisbury to Messire Jean de Nesle with a like subtlety of conscience to the other we named before he would Kill but not wound him and for that reason ever fought with a Mace And a certain person of my time being reproacht by the King that he had laid hands on a Priest stiffly and positively deny'd he had done any such thing the meaning of which was he had cudgell'd and kick'd him CHAP. XLII Of the Inequality amongst us PLutarch says somewhere that he does not find so great a difference betwixt Beast and Beast as he does betwixt Man and Man Which is said in reference to the internal Qualities and Perfections of the Soul And in truth I find according to my poor Judgment so vast a distance betwixt Epaminondas and some that I know who are yet Men of common sense that I could willingly enhance upon Plutarch and say that there is more difference betwixt such and such a Man than there is betwixt such a Man and such a Beast Hem vir viro quid praestat How much alass One Man another doth surpass And that there are as many and innumerable degrees of Wits as there are Cubits betwixt this and Heaven But as touching the Estimate of Men 't is strange that our selves excepted no other Creature is esteem'd beyond its proper Qualities we commend a Horse for his Strength and sureness of Foot Volucrem Sic laudamus equum facili cui plurima palma Fervet exultat rauco victoria circo So we commend the Horse for being fleet Who many Palms by Breath and Speed does get And which the Trumpets in the Circle grace With their hoarse Levets for his well run Race and not for his Rich Caparisons a Greyhound for his share of Heels not for his fine Collar a Hawk for her Wing not for her Gests and Bells Why in like manner do we not value a Man for what is properly his own He has a great Train a beautiful Palace so much Credit so many Thousand Pounds a Year and all these are about him but not in him You will not buy a Pig in a Poke if you cheapen a Horse you will see him stript of his Housing-cloaths you will see him naked and open to your Eye or if he be Cloath'd as they anciently were wont to present them to Princes to Sell 't is only on the less important parts that you may not so much consider the beaty of his Colour or the breadth of his Crupper as principally to examine his Limbs Eyes and Feet which are the Members of greatest use Regibus hic mos est ubi equos mercantur opertos Juspiciunt ne si facies ut saepe decora Molli fulta pede est emptorem inducat hiantem Quod pulchrae clunes breve quod caput ardua cervix When Kings Steeds Cloath'd as 't is their manner Buy They straight examine very Curiously Lest a short Head a thin and well rais'd Crest A broad spread Buttock and an ample Chest Should all be propt with an old beaten Hoof To gull the Buyer when they come to proof Why in giving your Estimate of a Man do you Prize him wrapt and muffled up in Cloaths He then discovers nothing to you but such parts as are not in the least his own and conceals those by which alone one may rightly judg of his Value 'T is the price of the Blade that you enquire into and not of the Scabbard You would not peradventure bid a Farthing for him if you saw him stripp'd You are to judg him by himself and not by what he wears And as one of the Ancients very pleasantly said do you know why you repute him Tall You reckon withal the heighth of his Chepines whereas the Pedestal is no part of the Statue Measure him him without his Stilts let him lay aside his Revenues and his Titles let him present himself in his Shirt then examine if his Body be sound and spritely active and dispos'd to perform its Functions What Soul has he Is it Beautiful capable and happily provided of all her Faculties Is she Rich of what is her own or of what she has Borrowed Has Fortune no hand in the Affair Can she without winking stand the lightning of Swords is she indifferent whether her Life expire by the Mouth or through the Throat Is she Settled Even and Content This is what is to be examin'd and by that you are to judg of the vast differences betwixt Man and Man Is he Sapiens sibique imperiosus Quem neque pauperies neque mors neque vincula terrent Responsare cupidinibus contemnere honores Fortis in seipso totus teres atque rotundus Externi ne quid valeat per laeve morari In quem manta ruit semper fortuna Wife and commanding o're his Appetite One whom nor Want nor Death nor Bonds can Fright To check his Lusts and Honours scorn so stout And in himself so round and clear throughout That no External thing can stop his course And on whom Fortune vainly tries her force such a Man is rais'd Five Hundred Fathoms above Kingdoms and Dutchies he is an Absolute Monarch in and to himself Sapens Pol ipse fingit fortunam sibi The Wise Man his own Fortune makes What remains for him to Covet or Desire Nonne videmus Nil aliud sibi naturam latrare nisi ut quoi Corpore sejunctus dolor absit mente fruatur Jucundo sensu cura semotus metuque We see that Nature to no more aspires Nor to her self a greater good requires Than that whose Body is from Dolours free He should his Mind with more Serenity And a more pleasing Sense enjoy quite clear From those two grand Disturbers Grief and Fear Compare with such a one the common Rabble of Mankind stupid and mean Spirited Servile Instable and continually floating with the Tempest of various Passions that tosses and tumbles them to and fro and all depending upon others and you will find a greater distance
the persecutor of the Law of God having sent his Souldiers to seize upon the good old man Razis sirnam'd in honor of his vertue the Father of the Jews the good man seeing no other remedy his Gates burnt down and the Enemies ready to seize him choosing rather to dye generously than to fall into the hands of his wicked adversaries and suffer himself to be cruelly butcher'd by them contrary to the honor of his ranck and quality he stabb'd himself with his own sword but the blow for hast not having been given home he ran and threw himself from the top of a wall headlong among them who separating themselves and making room he pitcht directly upon his head Notwithstanding which feeling yet in himself some remains of life he renu'd his courage and starting up upon his feet all bloody and wounded as he was and making his way through the Crowd through one of his wounds drew out his bowells which tearing and pulling to pieces with both his hands he threw amongst his pursuers all the while attesting and invoking the Divine vengeance upon them for their cruelty and injustice Of violences offer'd to the conscience that against the chastity of woman is in my opinion most to be evaded for as much as there is a certain pleasure naturally mixt with it and for that reason the dissent cannot therein be sufficiently perfect and entire so that the violence seems to bee mix't with a little consent of the forc't party The Ecclesiastical History has several examples of devout persons who have embrac't death to secure them from the outrages prepar'd by Tyrants against their Religion and honor Pelagia and Sophronia both Canoniz'd the first of these precipitated herself with her mother and sisters into the river to avoid being forc't by some Souldiers and the last also kill'd herself to evade being ravish't by the Emperor Maxentius It may peradventure be an honor to us in future Ages that a learned Author of this present time and a Parisian takes a great deal of pains to persuade the Ladies of our age rather to take any other course than to enter into the horrid meditation of such a despaire I am sorry he had never heard that he might have inserted it amongst his others stories the saying of a woman which was told me at Tholouze who had past thorough the handling of some Souldiers God be prais'd said she that once at least in my life I have had my fill without sin I must confess these cruelties are very unworthy the French sweetness and good nature and also God be thanked the air is very well purg'd of it since this good advice 't is enough that they say no in doing it according to the Rule of the good Marot History is every where full of such as after a thousand ways have for death exchanged a painful and irksome Life Lucius Arruntius kill'd himself to fly he said both the future and the past Granius Silvanus and Statius Proximus after having been pardoned by Nero kill'â— themselves either disdaining to live by the favour of so Wicked a man or that they might not be troubled at some other time to obtain 〈◊〉 second Pardon considering the proclivity and faculties of his Nature to suspect and credit accusations against worthy men Spargapize's the 〈◊〉 of Queen Tomyris being a Prisoner of War 〈◊〉 Cyrus made use of the first favour Cyrus shew'â— him in commanding him to be unbound to kill himself having pretended to no other beâ—nefit of liberty but only to be reveng'd of himselâ— for the disgrace of being taken Bogez Governor in Eion for King Xerxes being beseigeâ—â— by the Athenian Arms under the conduct 〈◊〉 Cimon refused the conditions offered that 〈◊〉 might safe return into Asia with all his wealthâ— impatient to survive the loss of a place his Masteâ— had given him to keep wherefore having defended the City to the last extremity nothinâ— being left to eat he first threw all the Gold and what ever else the Enemy could make bootâ— of into the River Strymon and after causing 〈◊〉 great pile to be set on fire and the throats 〈◊〉 all the Women Children Concubines and Serâ—vants to be cut he threw their Bodies into thâ— fire and at last leapt into it himself Ninacheâ—tuen an Indian Lord so soon as he heard thâ— first whisper of the Portugal Vice-Roy's determiâ—nation to dispossess him without any apparent cause of the Command in Malaca to transâ—fer it to the King of Campar he took this resoâ—lution with himself He caus'd a scaffold more long than broad to be erected supported by Columns royally adorn'd with tapestry and strewd with flowers and abundance of perfumes All which being thus prepar'd in a Robe of cloth of Gold set full of Jewels of great value he came out into the street and mounted the Steps to the Scaffold at one corner of which he had a pile lighted of Aromatick wood Every body ran to the novelty to see to what end these unusual preparations were made When Ninachetuen with a manly but discontented countenance began to remonstrate how much he had oblig'd the Portuguese Nation and with how unspotted fidelity he had carried himself in his Charge that having so often with his sword in his hand manifested in the behalf of others that honor was much more dear to him than life he was not to abandon the concern of it for himself that Fortune denying him all means of opposing the affront was design'd to be put upon him his courage at least enjoyn'd him to free himself from the sence of it and not to serve for a fable to the People nor for a tryumph to Men less deserving than himself which having said he leapt into the Fire Sextilia the wife of Scaurus and Praxea the wife of Labeo to encourage their husbands to evade the dangers that prest upon them wherein they had no other share than meer conjugal affection voluntarily expos'd their own lives to serve them in this extream necessity for company and example What they did for their husbands Cocceius Nerva did for his Country with less utility though with equal affection This great Lawyer flourishing in health riches reputation and favour with the Emperor had no other cause to kill himself but the sole compassion of the miserable Estate of the Roman Republick Nothing can be added to the nicety of the death of the wife of Fulvius a familiar favourite of Augustus Augustus having discover'd that he had vented an important secret he had intrusted him withal one morning that he came to make his Court receiv'd him very coldly and lookt frowningly upon him He returns home full of despaire where he sorrowfully told his wife that being fall'n into this misfortune he was resolv'd to kill himself To which she roundly replied 't is but reason you should seeing that having so often experimented the incontinency of my tongue you could not learn nor take warning but let me kill my self first and without
of every novel Argument nor abandon it to all the Rhetorick in the World We should withstand the fury of these Waves with an immote and unyielding Constancy Illisos fluctus rupes ut vasta refundit Et varias circùm latrantes dissipat undas Mcle sua As a vast Rock repels the rowling Tides That foam and bark about her Marble Sides From the Strong Mole If we were but touch'd with this Ray of Divinity it would appear throughout not only our Words but our Works also would carry its Brightness and Lustre whatever proceeded from us would be seen illuminated with this noble Light We ought to be ashamed that in all the Human Sects there never was any of the Faction what Difficulty and strange Novelty soever his Doctrine impos'd upon him that did not in some measure conform his Life and Deportments to it whereas so Divine and Heavenly an Institution does only distinguish Christians by the Name Will you see the Proof of this Compare our Manners to those of a Mahometan or Pagan you will still find that we fall very short whereas out of regard to the Reputation and Advantage of our Religion we ought to shine in Vertue and that it should be said of us Are they so Just so Charitable so Good Then they are Christians All other Signs are common to all Religions Hope Trust Events Ceremonies Penance and Martyrs The peculiar Mark of our Truth ought to be our Vertue as it is also the most heavenly and difficult and the most Worthy Product of Truth For this our good St. Lewis was in the right when the King of the Tartars who was become Christian designed to come to Lyons to kiss the Pope's Feet and there to be an Eye-witness of the Sanctity he hoped to find in our Manners immediately to divert him from his purpose for fear lest our inordinate way of Living should on the contrary put him out of conceit with so holy a Belief And yet it hapned quite otherwise since to this other who going to Rome to the same End and there seeing the Dissolution of the Prelates and people of that time settled himself so much the more firmly in our Religion considering how great the Force and Divinity of it must necessarily be that could maintain its Dignity and Splendor amongst so much Corruption and in so Vicious Hands If we had but one single Grain of Faith we should remove Mountains from their places says the Sacred Word our Actions that would then be directed and accompanied by the Divinity would not be mearly Human they would have in them something of Miraculous as well as our Belief Brevis est institutio vitae honestae beataeque si credas Some impose upon the World that they believe that which they do not others more in Number make themselves believe that they believe not being able to penetrate into what it is to believe We think it strange if in the Civil War which at this time disorders our State we see Events float and vary after a common and ordinary manner which is because we bring nothing to it but our own Justice which is in one Party is only there for Ornament and Palliation it is indeed pretended but 't is not there received settled and espous'd It is there as in the Mouth of an Advocat not as in the Heart and Affection of the Party God owes his extraordinary Assistance to Faith and Religion but not to our Passions Men there are the Conductors and therein serve themselves of Religion which ought to be quite contrary Observe if it be not by our own Hands that we guide and train it and draw it like Wax into so many contrary Figures from a Rule in it self so direct and firm When and where was this manifest than in France in our days They who have taken it on the Left-hand they who have taken it on the Right they who call it black they who call it white a like employ it to their Violent and Ambitious Designs conduct it with a Progress so conform in Ryot and Injustice that they render the Diversity they pretended in their Opinions in a thing whereon the Conduct and Rule of our Life depends doubtful and hard to believe Can a Man see even from the same School and Discipline Manners more united and more the same Do but observe with what horrid Impudence we toss Divine Arguments to and fro and how irreligiously we have both rejected and retaken them according as Fortune has shifted our Places in these Intestine Storms This so solemn Proposition Whether it be Lawful for a Subject to Rebel and take up Arms against his Prince for the Defence of his Religion Do you remember in whose Mouths the last year the Affirmative of it was the Prop of one Party and the Negative the Pillar of another And hearken now from what Quarter comes the Vote and Instruction of both the one and the other and if Arms makes less noise and rattle for this Cause than for that We condemn those to the Fire who say That Truth must be made to bear the Yoak of our Necessity and how much more does France than say it Let us confess the Truth whoever should draw out the Army lawfully rais'd by the Kings Authority those who take up Arms out of pure Zeal to Religion and also those who only do it to protect the Laws of their Country or for the Service of their Prince could hardly out of both these put together make one compleat Company of Gens-d'armes Whence does this proceed that there are so few to be found who have maintained the same Will and the same Progress in our Civil Commotions and that we see them one while move but a Foot-pace and another run Full-speed And the same Men one while endamage our Affairs by their violent Heat and Austerity and another by their Coldness Gentleness and Slowness but that they are pushed on by particular and causal Considerations according to the Variety whereof they move I evidently perceive that we do not willingly afford Devotion any other Offices but those that best suit with our own Passions There is no Hostility so admirable as the Christian. Our Zeal performs Wonders when it seconds our Inclinations to Hatred Cruelty Ambition Avarice Detraction and Rebellion But when it moves against the Hair towards Bounty Benignity and Temperance unless by Miracle some rare and vertuous Disposition prompt us to it we stir neither hand nor foot Our Religion is intended to extirpate Vices Whereas it skreens nourishes and incites them We must not mock God If we did believe in him I do not say by Faith but with a simple belief that is to say and I speak it to our great shame if we did believe him as we do any other History or as we would do one of our Companions we should love him above all other things for the infinite Bounty and Beauty that shines in him at least he
of the Holy Ghost do so clearly and lively express that which I would maintain that I should need no other proof against Men who would with all Humility and Obedience submit to his Authority But these will be whipt at their own Expence and will not suffer that a Man oppose their Reason but by it self Let us then for once consider a Man alone without foreign Assistance arm'd only with his own proper Arms and unfurnished of the Divine Grace and Wisdom which is all his Honour Strength and the Foundation of his Being Let us see what certainty he has in this fine Equipage Let him make me understand by the force of his Reason upon what Foundations he has built those great Advantages he thinks he has over other Creatures Who has made him believe that this admirable Motion of the Celestial Arch the Eternal Light of those Tapers that roll over his Head the wonderful Motions of that infinite Ocean should be established and continue so many Ages for his Service and Convenience Can any thing be imagined so ridiculous that this miserable and wretched Creature who is not so much as Master of himself but subject to the Injuries of all things should call himself Master and Emperour of the World of which he has not power to know the least part much less to command the whole And this Priviledge which he attributes to himself of being the only Creature in this vast Fabrick that has the Understanding to discover the Beauty and the Parts of it the only one who can return thanks to the Architect and keep account of the Revenues and Disbursements of the World Who I wonder seal'd him this Patent Let us see his Commission for this great Employment Was it granted in favour of the Wise only Few people will be concerned in it Are Fools and Wicked persons worthy so extraordinary a Favour And being the worst part of the World to be preferred before the rest Shall we believe Cicero Quorum igitur causa quis dixerit effectum esse mundum Eorum cilicet animantium quae ratione utuntur Hi sunt Dii Homines quibus profectò nihil est melius For whose sake shall we therefore conclude that the World was made For theirs who have the use of Reason These are Gods and Men than whom certainly nothing can be better We can never sufficiently decry the Impudence of this Conjunction But wretched Creature what has he in himself worthy of such an Advantage To consider the incorruptible Existency of the Celestial Bodies their Beauty Magnitude and continual Revolution by so exact a Rule Cum suspicimus magna Caelestia mundi Templa super stellisque micantibus Aethera fixum Et venit in mentem Lunae Solisque viarum When we above the Heavn'ly Arch behold And the vast Roof studded with Stars of Gold And call to mind the Courses that the Sun And Moon in their alternate Office run To consider the Dominion and Influence those Bodies have not only over our Lives and Fortunes Facta etenim vitas hominum suspendit ab astris Men's Lives and Actions on the Stars depend But even over our Inclinations our Thoughts and Wills which they govern incite and agitate at the Mercy of their Influences Speculataque longè Deprendit tacitis dominantia legibus astra Et totum alterna mundum ratione moveri Fatorùmque vices certis discernere signis Contemplating the Stars he find thaa they Rule by a secret and a silent sway And that th' ennamel'd Sphears which rule above Do ever by alternate Causes move And studying these he also can forsee By certain Signs the turns of Destiny To see that there is not so much as a Man no not a King exempt from this Dominion but that Monarchies Empires and all this lower World follow the Brawl of these Celestial Motions Quantaque quà m parvi faciant discrimina motus Tantum est hoc regnum quod Regibus imperat ipsis How great a change each little motion brings So great the Kingdom is that governs Kings If our Vertue our Vices our Knowledge and this very Discourse we are upon of the power of the Stars and the Comparison we are making betwixt them and us proceed as our Reason supposes from their Favour Furit alter amore Et pontum tranare potest vertere Trojam Alterius sors est scribendis legibus apta Ecce patrem nati perimunt natósque parentes Mutuáque armati coeunt in vulnera fratres Non nostrum hoc bellum est coguntur tanta movere Inque suas ferri paenas lacerandà que membra One Mad in Love may cross the Raging Seas T'oreturn proud Ilium's lofty Palaces Another's Fate inclines him more by far To spend his time at the litigious Bar. Sons kill their Fathers Father kill their Sons And one arm'd Brother 'gainst another runs This War 's not theirs but Fates that spurs them on To shed the Blood which shed they must bemoan If we derive this little Portion of Reason we have from the Bounty of Heaven how is it possible that Reason should ever make us equal to it How subject its Essence and Conditions to our Knowledge Whatever we see in that Body does astonish us quae molitio quae ferramenta qui vectes quae machinae qui ministri tanti operis fuerunt What Contrivance what Tools what Timber what Engines were employed about so stupendious a Work Why do we deprive it of Soul of Life and Discourse Have we discovered in it any immote or insensible Stupidity we who have no Commerce with the Heavens but by Obedience Shall we say that we have discovered in no other Creature but Man the use of a reasonable Soul What have we seen any thing like the Sun Does he cease to be because we have seen nothing like him And do his Motions cease because there are no other like them If what we have not seen is not our Knowledge is wonderfully contracted Quae sunt tantae animi angustiae How narrow are our Vnderstandings Are they not Dreams of Human Vanity to make the Moon a Celestial Earth There to fancy Mountains and Vales as Anaxagoras did There to fix Habitations and Human Abodes and plant Colonies for our convenience as Plato and Plutarch have done Of our Earth to make a beautiful and resplendent Star Inter caetera mortalitatis incommoda hoc est caligo mentium Nec tantùm necessitas errandi sed errorum amor Corruptibile corpus aggravat animam deprimit terrena inhabitatio sensum multa cogitantem Amongst the other inconveniencies of Mortality this is one to have the Vnderstanding clouded and not only a Necessity of Erring but a Love of Error The corruptible Body stupifies the Soul and the Earthly Habition dulls the Faculties of the imagination Presumption is our Natural and Original Disease The most wretched and frail of all Creatures is Man and withal the Proudest He feels and sees himself lodg'd here
Trouble so that I throw out all sorts of injurious words at random and without choice and never consider pertinently to dart my Language where I think it will deepest wound for I commonly make use of no other Weapon in my Anger than my Tongue My Servants have a better bargain of me in great Occasions than in little the little ones surprize me and the mischief on 't is that when you are once upon the Precipice 't is no matter who gave you the push for you always go to the bottom the fall urges moves and makes haste of it self In great Occasions this satisfies me that they are so just every one expects a warrantable Indignation and then I glorifie my self in deceiving their Expectation against these I fortifie and prepare my self they disturb my Head and threaten to transport me very far should I follow them I can easily contain my self from entring into one of these Passions and am strong enough when I expect them to repell their Violence be the Cause never so great but if a Passion once prepossess and seize me it carries me away be it never so small which makes me indent with those who may contend me when you see me first moved let me alone right or wrong I 'll do the same for you The storm is only begot by a concurrence of Anger 's which easily spring from one another and are not born together Let every one have his own way and we shall be always at Peace A profitable Advice but hard to execute Sometimes also it falls out that I put on a seeming Anger for the better governing of my House without any real Emotion As Age renders my Humours more sharp I study to oppose them and will if I can order it so that for the Future I may be so much the less peevish and hard to please as I have more excuse and inclination to be so although I have heretofore been reckoned amongst those that have the greatest Patience A Word more to conclude this Chapter Aristotle says that Anger sometimes serves for Arms to Virtue and Valour 'T is likely it may be so nevertheless they who contradict him pleasantly Answer that 't is a Weapon of novel Use for we move all other Arms this moves us our Hands guide it not 't is it that guides our Hands it holds us we hold not it CHAP. XXXII Defence of Seneca and Plutarch THE familiarity I have had with these two Authors and the assistance they have lent to my Age and Book wholly compil'd of what I have borrowed from them obliges me to espouse their Quarrel and to stand up for their Honour As to Seneca amongst a million of little Pamphlets that those of the Reformed Religion disperse abroad for the defence of their Cause and which sometimes proceeds from so good a Hand that 't is pitty his Pen is not employ'd in a better Subject I have formerly seen one that to make up the Parallel he would fain find out betwixt the Government of our late poor King Charles the Ninth and that of Nero compares the late Cardinal of Lorrain with Seneca their Fortunes to have both of them been the prime Ministers in the Goverment of their Princes and their Manners Conditions and Deportments to have been very near alike Wherein in my Opinion he does the said Cardinal a very great Honour for though I am one of those who have a very great esteem for his Wit Eloquence and Zeal to Religion and the Service of his King and think it was a happiness in an Age wherein he was so new so rare and also so necessary for the Publick to have an Ecclesiastical Person of so high Birth and Dignity and so sufficient and capable of his Place yet to confess the Truth I do not think his Capacity by many degrees near to the other nor his Virtue either so clean entire or steady as that of Seneca Now the Book whereof I speak to bring about his design gives a very injurious Description of Seneca having borrowed his Reproaches from Dion the Historian whose Testimony I do not at all believe For besides that he is inconstant who after having call'd Seneca one while very wise and again a mortal enemy to Nero's Vices makes him elsewhere Avaricious an Usurer Ambitious Effeminate Voluptuous and a false Pretender to Philosophy his own Virtue does appear so lively and vigorous in his Writings and his Vindication is so clear from any of these imputations of Riches and any extraordinary expensive way of living that I cannot believe any Testimony to the contrary And besides it is much more reasonable to believe the Roman Historians in such things than Greeks and Strangers Now Tacitus and the rest speak very honourably both of his Life and Death and represent him to us a very excellent and virtuous Person in all things and I will alledge no other Reproach against Dion's Report but this which I cannot avoid namely that he has so sickly a Judgment in the Roman Affairs that he dares to maintain Julius Caesars Cause against Pompey and that of Anthony against Cicero Let us now come to Plutarch John Bodinus is a good Author of our times and a Writer of much greater Judgment than the rout of Scriblers of his Age and that deserves to be carefully read and consider'd I find him though a little bold in this passage of his Method of History where he accuses Plutarch not only of ignorance wherein I would have let him alone for that is above my reprehension but that he oft writes things incredible and absolutely fabulous which are his own Words If he had simply said that he had deliver'd things otherwise than they really are it had been no great reproach for what we have not seen we are forc'd to receive from other hands and take upon trust and I see he purposely sometimes variously relates the same Story as the Judgment of the three best Captains that ever were given by Hannibal 't is one way in the Life of Flaminius and another in that of Pyrrhus But to charge him with having taken incredible and impossible things for current pay is to accuse the most judicious Author in the World of want of Judgment And this is his Example as says he when he relates that a Lacedemonian Boy suffer'd his Bowels to be torn out by a Fox-cub he had stoln and kept it still conceal'd under his Coat till he fell down dead rather than he would discover his theft I find in this first place this Example ill chosen forasmuch as it is very hard to limit the Power of the Faculties of the Soul whereas we have better Authority to limit and know the force of the bodily Limbs and therefore if I had been as he I should rather have chosen an Example of this second sort and there are that are less credible and amongst others that which he relates of Pyrrhus that all wounded as he was he struck
Country If they take a hatred against an Advocate he will not be allow'd the next day to be eloquent I have elsewhere spoke of the Zeal that push'd on worthy men to the like Faults For my part I can say such a one does this thing ill and another thing virtuously and well They will likewise that in the Prognosticks or Sinister Events of Affairs every one should in his Party be blind or a Block-head and that our Perswasion and Judgment should be subservient not to Truth but to the project of our desires I should rather incline towards the other extream so much I fear being suborn'd by my desire To which may be added that I am a little tenderly distrustful of things that I wish I have in my time seen wonders in the indiscreet and prodigious facility of People in suffering their hopes and belief to be led and govern'd which way has best pleas'd and serv'd their Leaders above an hundred mistakes one upon another and above Dreams and Phantasms I no more wonder at those who have been blinded and seduc'd by the â—ooleries of Apollonius and Mahomet Their Sence and Understanding is absolutely taken away by their Passion their Discretion has no more any other choice than that which smiles upon them and relieves their Cause I had principally observ'd this in the beginning of our intestine Distempers thâ—â— other which is sprung since in imitating has surpass'd it by which I am satisfied that it is a quality inseparable from popular Errors After the first that rouls Opinions drive on one another like Waves with the Wind. A man is not a member of the Body if it be in his Power to forsake it and if he do not roul the common way but doubtless they wrong the just side when they go about to assist it with Fraud I have ever been against that Practice They are only fit to work upon weak heads for the found there are surer and more honest ways to keep up their Courages and to excuse adverse Accidents Heaven never saw a greater Animosity than that betwixt Caesar and Pompey nor â—ver shall and yet I observe methinks in those brave Souls a great moderation towards one another It was a jealousie of Honour and Command which did not transport them to a furious and indiscreet hatred and that was though hatred without Malignity and Detraction In their briskest and hoâ—test Encounters and Exploits upon one another I discover some remains of respect and good will and am therefore of Opinion that had it been possible each of them would rather have done his Business without the ruine of the other than with it Take notice how much otherwise Matters went with Marius and Sylla We must not precipitate our selves so head-long after our Affections and Interest As when I was young I oppos'd my self to the progress of Love which I perceiv'd to advance too fast upon me and had a care lest it should at last become so pleasing as to force captivate and wholly reduce me to his Mercy so I do the same upon all other Occasions where my Will is running on with too warm an Appetite I lean opposite to the side it inclines to as I find it going to plunge and make it self drunk with its own wine I evade nourishing its Pleasure so far that I cannot recover it without infinite loss Souls that through their own Stupidity only discern things by halves have this happiness that they smart least with hurtful things 'T is a spiritual Leprosie that has some show of Health and such a Health as Philosophy does not altogether contemn but yet we have no Reason to call it Wisdom as we often do And after this manner some one anciently mock'd Diogenes who in the depth of Winter and stark naked went hugging an Image of Snow for a Tryal of his Patience this other meeting him in this Equipage Art thou now very cold said he not at all reply'd Diogenes Why then said the other What great and exemplary thing can'st thou think thou do'st in imbracing that Snow A man to take a true measure of Constancy must necessarily know what suffering is but Souls that are to meet with adverse Events and the Injuries of Fortune in their depth and sharpness that are to weigh and taste them according to their natural weight and sharpness let such shew their skill in avoiding the Causes and diverting the Blow What did King Cotys do He pay'd liberally for the rich and beautiful Vessel that had been presented him but being it was exceeding brittle he immediately broke it betimes to prevent so easie a matter of displeasure against his Servants In like manner I have willingly avoided all confusion in my Affairs and never coveted to have my estate contiguous to those of my Relation and such with whom I coveted a strict Friendship whence Matters of Unkindness and falling out do oft proceed I have formerly lov'd Cards and Dice but have long since left them off only for this Reason that though I carried my losses as handsomly as another I was not well satisfied and quiet within Let a man of Honour who ought to be sensible of the Lye and who is not to take a scurvy excuse for Satisfaction avoid Occasions of dispute I shun melancholick and sour natur'd men as I would do the Plague And in Matters I cannot talk of without Emotion and Concern I never meddle if not compell'd by my Duty Melius non incipient quam desinent A man had better never to have begun than to desist The surest way therefore is to prepare a mans self before hand for Occasions I know very well that some wise men have taken another way and have not fear'd to grapple and engage to the utmost upon several Subjects Such are confident of their own Strength under which they protect themselves in all ill Successes making their Patience wrestle and contend with disaster velut rupes vastum quae prodit in aequor Obvia ventorum furiis expostaque ponto Vim cunctam atque minas perfert coelique marisque Ipsa immota manens He as a Rock amongst vast Billows stood Scorning loud Winds and raging of the Flood And fixt remaining all the force defies Mustred from threatning Seas and thundring Skies Let us never attempt these Examples we shall never come up to them They set themselves resolutely and without trouble to behold the ruine of their Country to which all the good they can contrive or perform is due This is too much and too rude for our common Souls to undergo Cato indeed gave up the noblest Life that ever was upon this account but it is for us meaner spirited men to fly from the storm as far as we can we ought to make provision of Resentment not of Patience and evade the Blows we cannot put by Zeno seeing Chremonidez a young man whom he lov'd draw near to sit down by him suddenly start up and Cleanthes demanding of
What have our Legislators got by culling out a hundred thousand particular Cases and for those by having added a hundred thousand Laws This number holds no manner of proportion with the infinite diversity of humane Actions the multiplication of our Inventions will never arrive at the variety of Exampleâ— Add to them a hundred times as many more it will not nevertheless ever happen that of events to come there shall any one fall out that in this great number of millions of events so chosen and recorded shall jump with any one to which it can be so exactly coupled and compar'd that there will not remain some Circumstances and Diversity which will require a variety of Judgment There is little relation betwixt our Actions that are in perpetual mutation and fixt and immobile Laws the most to be desir'd are those that are the most rare the most simple and general and I am further of Opinion that we were better to have none at all than to have them in so prodigious number as we have Nature always gives them better and more pure than those are we make our selves witness the Picture of the Golden-Age and the sâ—â—ate wherein we see Nations live who have no other Some there are who for their only Judge takes the first passer by that travels along their Mountains to determine their Cause And others who on their Market day choose out some one amongst them upon the place to decide all their Controversies What danger would there be that the wisest should so determine ours according to occurrences and by sight without obligation of Example and Consequence Every Shooe to his own Foot King Ferdinand sent Colonies to the Indies and wisely provided that they should not carry along with them any Students of the Long-Robe for fear lest Suits should get footing in that new World as being a Science in its own Nature the Mother of altercation and decision judging with Plato that Lawyers and Physicians are the Pests of a Country Whence does it come to pass that our common Languages so easie for all other uses become obscure and are intelligible in Wills and Contracts And that he who so clearly expresses himself whatever he speaks or writes cannot find in this any way of declaring himself that does not fall into doubt and contradiction If it be not that these Princes of that Art applying themselves with a peculiar attention to invent and cull out hard words and contrive artificial Clauses have so weigh'd every Syllable and so thoroughly sifted every sort of quirk that they are now confounded and intangled in the infinity of Figures and so many minute Divisions that they can no more fall into any Rule or prescription nor any certain intelligence Confusum est quidquid usque in pulvere in sectum est Whatever is beaten into Powder is confus'd As you have Children trying to bring a mass of Quick-silver to a certain number of parts the more they press and work it and endeavour to reduce it to their own will the more they irritate the liberty of this generous Metal it mocks and evades their endeavour and sparkles it self into so many separate Bodies as frustrates all account so is it here for in subdividing these subtilties we teach men to increase their doubts they pull us into a way of stretching and diversifying difficulties they lengthen and disperse them In sowing and retailing of Questions they make the World to fructifie and increase in uncertainties and disputes As the Earth is made fertile by being crumbled and husbanded deep Difficultatem facit Doctrina Doctrine begets Difficulty We doubted of Vlpian and are now more perplex'd with Bartolus and Baldus We should put out the trace of this innumerable diversity of Opinions not adorn our selves with it and fill Posterity with Crotchets I know not what to say to it but Experience makes it manifest that so many interpretations dissipate Truth and break it Aristotle writ to be understood which if he could not be much less will another that is not so good at it and a third than he who express'd his own Thoughts We open the matter and spill it in pouring out Of one Subject we make a thousand and in multiplying and subdividing them fall again into the infinity of Atoms of Epicurus Never did two men make the same Judgment of the same thing and 't is impossible to find two Opinions exactly alike not only in several men but in the same men at diverse hours I oft find matter of doubt of things which the Commentary disdains to take notice of I am most apt to stumble in an even Country like some Horses that I have known who make most trips in the smoothest way Who will not say that Glosses augment Doubts and Ignorance since there 's no one Book to be found either Humane or Divine which the World busies it self about the Difficulties of which are clear'd by Interpretation The hundredth Commentator still referrs you to the next more knotty and perplext than he When were we ever agreed amongst our selves that a Book had enow and that there was now no more to be said This is most apparent in the Law We give the Authority of Law to infinite Doctors infinite Arrests and as many Interpretations Yet do we find any end of the need of interpreting Is there for all that any progress or advancement towards Peace or do we stand in need of any fewer Advocates and Judges than when this great Mass of Law was yet in its first Infancy We on the contrary darken and bury all Intelligence We can no more discover it but at the mercy of so many fences and barriers Men do not know the natural Disease of the Mind it does nothing but ferret and enquire and is eternally wheeling jugling and perplexing it self and like Silk-worms suffocates it self with its own Web. Mus in pice A Mouse in a pitch Barrel It thinks it discovers at a great distance I know not what glimps of light and imaginary Truth but whilst running to it so many Difficulties Hindrances and new Inquisitions crosses its way that it loses its way and is made drunk with the motion Not much unlike Aesops Dogs that seeing something like a dead Body floating in the Sea and not being able to approach it attempted to drink the Water to lay the passage dry and so drown'd themselves To which what one Crates said of the Writings of Heraclitus falls pat enough that they required a Reader who could swim well that the depth and weight of his Doctrine might not overwhelm and choak him 'T is nothing but particular weakness that makes us content our selves with what others or our selves have found out in this choice of Knowledge one of better understanding would not rest so content there is always room for one to succeed nay even for our selves and every where else throughout there is no end of our Inquisitions our end is in the other World 'T is a