him Hath your Nation said he the power to make those whom it pleaseth Gods Then first for example sake make one of your selues and when I shall have seene what good he shall have thereby I will then thanke you for your offer Oh sencelesse man who can not possibly make a worme and yet will make Gods by dozens Listen to Trismegistus when he praiseth our sufficiency For man to finde out divine nature and to make it hath surmounted the admiration of all admirable things Loe heere arguments out of Philosophies schooles it selfe Noscere cui Divos coelinumina soli Aut solinescire datum Only to whom heav'ns Deities to know Only to whom is giv'n them not to know If God be he is a living creature if he be a living creature he hath sense and if hee have sense he is subject to corruption If he be without a body he is without a soule and consequently without action and if he have a body he is corruptible Is not this brave we are incapable to have made the world then is there some more excellent nature that hath set hir helping hand vnto it Were it not a sottish arrogancy that wee should thinke our selves to be the perfectest thing of this Vniverse Then sure there is some better thing And that is God When you see a rich and stately Mansion house although you know not who is owner of it yet will you not say that it was built for Rats And this more then humane frame and divine composition which we see of heavens pallace must we not deeme it to be the mansion of some Lord greater then our selves Is not the highest ever the most worthy And we are seated in the lowest place Nothing that is without a soule and void of reason is able to bring forth a living soule capable of reason The world doth bring vs forth then the world hath both soule and reason Each part of vs is lesse then our selves we are part of the world then the world is stored with wisedome and with reason and that more plenteously then we are It is a goodly thing to have a great government Then the worlds government belongeth to some blessed and happy nature The starres annoy vs not then the starres are full of goodnesse We have neede of nourishment then so have the Gods and feede themselves with the vapours arising here below Worldly goods are not goods vnto God Then are not they goods vnto vs. To offend and to bee offended are equall witnesses of imbecilitie Then it is folly to feare God God is good by his owne nature man by his industry which is more Divine wisedome and mans wisedome have no other distinction but that the first is eternall Now lastingnesse it not an accession vnto wisedome Therefore are we fellowes We have life reason and libertie we esteeme goodnesse charitie and justice these qualities are then in him In conclusion the building and destroying the conditions of divinitie are forged by man according to the relation to himselfe Oh what a patterne and what a modell Let vs raise and let vs amplifie humane qualities as much as we please Puffe-vp thy selfe poore man yea swell and swell againe non si te ruperis inquit Swell till you breake you shall not be Equall to that great one quoth he Profectò non Deùm quem cogitare non possunt sed semetipsos pro illo cogitantes nonillum sed seipsos non ills sed sibi comparant Of a truth they conceiting not God whom they cannot conceive but themselves instead of God doe not compare him but themselves not to him but themselves In naturall things the effects doe but halfe referre their causes What this It is above natures order it's condition is to high to far out of reach and overswaying to endure that our conclusions should seize vpon or fetter the same It is not by our meanes we reach vnto it this traine is too low We are no nerer heaven on the top of Sina mount then in the bottome of the deepest Sea Consider of it that you may see with your Astrolabe They bring God even to the carnall acquaintance of women to a prefixed number of times and to how many generations Paulina wife vnto Saturninus a matron of great reputation in Rome supposing to lie with the God Serapis by the maquerelage of the Priests of that Temple found hiâ— selfe in the armes of a wanton lover of hirs Varro the most subtill and wisest Latine Author in his bookes of divinitie writeth that Hercules his Sextaine with one hand casting lottes for himselfe and with the other for Hercules gaged a supper and a wench against him if he won at the charge of his offerings but if he lost at his owne cost He lost and paid for a supper and a wench Hir name was Laurentina Who by night saw that God in hir armes saying moreover vnto hir that the next day the first man she met withall should heavenly pay hir hir wages It fortuned to be one Taruncius a very rich yong-man who tooke hir home with him and in time left hir absolute heire of all he had And she when it came to hir turne hoping to doe that God some acceptable service left the Romane people heire generall of all hir wealth And therefore had she divine honors attributed vnto hir As if it were not sufficient for Plato to descend originally from the Gods by a two-fold line and to have Neptune for the common Author of his race It was certainly beleeved at Athens that Ariston desiring to enjoy faire Perictyone he could not and that in his dreame he was warned by God Apollo to leave hir vntouch't and vnpolluted vntill such time as she were brought a bed And these were the father and mother of Plato How many such-like cuckoldries are there in histories procure be the Gods against seely mortal men And husbands most injuriously blazoned in favor of their children In Mahâ—mets religion by the easie beleefe of that people are many Merlins found That is to say fatherles children Spirituall children conceived and borne divinely in the wombs of virgins and that in their language beare names importing as much We must note that nothing is more deare and precious to any thing then it 's owne being the Lyon the Eagle and the Dolphin esteeme nothing above their kind each thing referreth the qualities of all other things vnto hir owne conditions which we may either amplifie or shorten but that is all for besides this principle and out of this reference our imagination cannot goe and guesse further and it is vnpossible it should exceede that or goe beyond it Whence arise these ancient conclusions Of all formes that of man is the fairest Then God is of this forme No man can be happie without vertue nor can vertue be without reason And no reason can lodge but in a humane shape God is then invested with a humane figure Ita est informatum
him Christian religion hath all the markes of extreame justice profit but none more apparant then the exact commendation of obedience due vnto magistrates and manutention of policies what wonderfull example hath divine wisedome left vs which to establish the well-fare of humane kinde and to conduct this glorious victorie of hers against death and sinne would not do it but at the mercy of our politik order and hath submitted the progresse of it and the conduct of so high and worthie effect to the blindnesse and injustice of our observations and customes suffering the innocentbloud of so many her favored elect to runne and allowing a long losse of yeares for the ripening of this inestimable fruit There is much difference betweene the cause of him that followeth the formes and lawes of his countrie and him that vndertaketh to governe and change them The first alleageth for his excuse simplicitie obedience and example whatsoever he doth cannot be malice at the most it is but ill lucke Quis est enim quem non moue at clarissimis monument is testata consignataque antiquita For who is he whom antiquitie will not move being witnessed signed with former monuments Besides that which Isocrates saith that defect hath more part in moderation then hath excesse The other is in much worse case For he that medleth with chusing and changing vsurpeth the authoritie of judging and must resolve himselfe to see the fault of what he hunteth for and the good of what he bringeth in This so vulgar consideration hath confirmed me in my state and restrained my youth that was more rash from burthening my shoulders with so filthie a burthen as to make my selfe respondent of so important a science And in this to dare what in sound judgement I durst not in the easiest of those wherein I had beene instructed and wherein the rashnes of judging is of no prejudice Seeming most impious to me to goe about to submit publike constitutions and vnmoveable observances to the instabilitie of a private fantasie private reason is but a private jurisdiction and to vndertake that on devine-lawes which no policie would tolerate in civill law Wherein although mans reason have much more commerce yet are they soverainly judges of their judges and their extreame sufficiencie serveth to expound custome and extend the vse that of them is received and not to divert and innovate the same If at any time devine providence hath gone beyond the rules to which it hath necessary constrained vs it is not to give vs a dispensation from them They are blowes of lier divine hand which we ought not imitate but admire as extraordinarie examples markes of an expresse and particular avowing of the severall kinds of wonders which for a testimonie of hir omnipotencie it offereth vs beyond our orders and forces which it is follie and impictie to goe about to represent and which we ought not follow but contemplate with admiration and meditate with astonishment Acts of hir personage and not of ours Coâ—ta protesteth very opportunely Quum de religione agitur T. Coruncanum P. Seipionem P. Scaeuolam Pontifices maximos non Zenonem aut Cleanthem aut Chrysippum sequor When we talke of religion I follow Titus Coruncanus Publius Scipio P. Scaeuola and the professors of religion not Zeno Cleanthes or Chrysippus May God know it in our present quarell wherein are a hundred articles yea great and deepe articles to be removed and altered although many there are who may boast to have exactly survaid the reasons and foundations of one and other faction It is a number if it be a number that should have no great meane to trouble vs. But whither goeth all this other throng Vnder what colours doth it quarter it selfe It followeth of theirs as of other weake and ill applied medicines the humors that it would have purged in vs it hath enflamed exasperated and sharpned by hir conflict and still do remaine in our bodies It could not by reason of hir weaknesse purge vs but hath rather weakned vs so that we cannot now voide it and by her operation we reap nothing but long continuall and intestine griefes and aches yet is it that fortune ever reserving hir authoritie above our discourses doth somtimes present vs the vrgent necessitie that lawes must needes yeeld hir some place And when a man resisteth the increase of an innovation brought in by violence to keepe himselfe each-where and altogether in rule and bridle against those that have the keyes of fields to whom all things are lawfull that may in any sort advance their desseigne that have not law nor order but to follow their advantage it is a dangerous obligation and prejudiciall inequalitie Aditum nocendi perfido praestat fides Trust in th'vntrustie may To hurt make open way For so much as the ordinarie discipline of an estate that hath his perfect health doth not provide for these extraordinarie accidents it presupposeth a bodie holding it selfe in his principall members and offices and a common consent to observe and obey it Lawfull proceeding is a cold dull heauie and forced proceeding and is not like to hold out against a licentious and vnbridled proceeding It is yet as all men know a reproch to those two great personages Octavius and Cato in their civill warres the one of Scilla the other of Caesar because they rather suffered their countrie to incur all extremities then by hir lawes to aide hir or to innovate any thing For truely in these last necessities where nothing is left to take hould by it were peradventure better to shrug the shoulders stoope the head and somewhat yeeld to the strooke then beyond possibilitie to make head and resist and be nothing the better and give violence occasion to trample all vnder-foote and better were it to force the lawes to desire but what they may since they may not what they would So did he that ordained them to sleep foure and twentie houres And he who for a time removed one day from the Calender And another who of the moneth of Iune made a second May. The Lacedemonians themselues so strict obseruers of their countries ordinances being vrged by their Lawes which precisely forbad and inhibited to chuse one man twice to be their Admirall and on the other side their affaires necessarily requiring that Lysander should once more take that charge vpon him they created one Aracus Admirall but instituted Lysander superintendent of all maritine causes And with the same sutteltie one of their Ambassadors being sent to the Athenians for to obtaine the change of some ordinance Pericles alleadging that it was expresly forbid to remove the table wherein a law had once beene set downe perswaded him but to turne it for that was not forbidden It is that whereof Plutarke commendeth Philopaemen who being borne to commaund could not onely commaund according to the lawes but the lawes themselues whensoever publike necessitie required it The three and twentieth Chapter
and fantasticall name of small vse and lesse worth both in opinion and effect I thinke these Sophistries are the cause of it which have forestalled the waies to come vnto it They doe very ill that goe about to make it seeme as it were inaccessible for children to come vnto setting it foorth with a wrimpled gastlie and frowning visage who hath â—asked her with so counterfet pale and hideous a countenance There is nothing more beauteous nothing more delightfull nothing more gamesome and as I may say nothing more fondly wanton for she presenteth nothing to our eyes and preacheth nothing to our eares but sport and pastime A sad and lowring looke plainly declareth that that is not hir haunt Demetrius the Gramarian finding a companie of Philosophers sitting close together in the Temple of Delphos said vnto them Either I am deceived or by your plausible and pleasant lookes you are not in any serious and carnest discourse amongst your selves to whom one of them named Heracleon the Megarian answered That belongeth to them who busie themselves in seeking whether the future tense of the verbe 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 hath a double â— or that labour to find the derivation of the comparatives 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and of the superlatives 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 it is they that must chafe in intertaining themselves with their science as for discourses of Philosophie they are wont to glad reioyce and not to vexe and molest those that vse them Deprendas animi torment a latentis in aegro Corpore deprendas gaudia sumit vâ—rumquâ— Inde â—abitum facies You may perceive the torments of the mind Hid in sicke bodie you the joyes may find The face such habite takes in either kind That mind which harboureth Philosophie ought by reason of hir sound health make that bodie also sound and healthie it ought to make hir contentment to through-shine in all exteriour parts it ought to shapen and modell all outward demeanours to the modell of it and by consequence arme him that doth possesse it with a gracious stoutnesse and lively audacâ—tie with an active and pleasing gesture and with a setled and cheerefull countenance The most evident token and apparant signe of true wisedome is a constant and vnconstrained rejoicing whose estate is like vnto all things above the Moone that is ever cleare alwaies bright It is Baroco and Baralipâ—on that makes their followers proove so base and idle and not Philosophie they know hiâ—not but by heare-say what Is it not shee that cleereth all stormes of the mind And teacheth miserie samine and sicknesse to laugh Not by reason of some imaginarie Epicicles but by naturall and palpable reasons Shee aymeth at nothing but vertue it is vertue shee seekes after which as the schoole saith is not pitcht on the top of an high steepie or inaccessible hill for they that have come vnto hir affirme that cleane-contrarie shee keeps hir stand and holds hir mansion in a faire flourishing and pleasant plaine whence as from an high watch tower she survaieth all things to be subject vnto hir to whom any man may with great sacilitie come if he but know the way or entrance to hir pallace for the pathes that lead vnto hir are certaine fresh and shadie greene allies sweet and flowâ—â—e waies whose ascent is even easie and nothing wearisome like vnto that of heavens-vaults Forsomuch as they have not frequented this vertue who gloriously as in a throne of Majestie sits soveraigne goodly triumphant lovely equally delicious and couragious protesting her-selfe to be a professed and irreconciliable enemie to all sharpnesse austeritie feare and compulsion having nature for hir guide fortune and voluptuousnesse for hir companions they according to their weaknesse have imaginarily fained hir to have a foolish sad grim quarelous spitefull threatning and disdainfull visage with an horride and vnpleasant looke and have placed hir vpon a craggie sharpe and vnfrequented rocke amidst desert cliffes and vncouth crags as a skar-crow or bug-beare to affright the common people with Now the tutour which ought to know that he should rather seek to fill the mind and store the will of his disciple as much or rather more with love and affection then with awe and reverence vnto vertue may shew and tell him that Poets follow common humours making him plainly to perceive and as it were palpably to feele that the Gods have rather placed labour and sweat at the entrances which lead to Vâ—nus chambers then at the doores that direct to Pallas cabinets And when he shall perceive his scholler to have a sensible feeling of himselfe presenting Bradamant or Angelica before him as a Mistresse to enjoy embelished with a natural active generous and vnspotted beautie not vglie or Giant-like but blithe and livelie in respect of a wanton soft affected and artificiall-flaring beautie the one attired like vnto a yong man coyfed with a bright-shining helmet the other disguised and drest about the head like vnto an impudent harlot with embroyderies frizelings and carcanets of pearles he will no doubt deeme his owne love to be a man and no woman if in his choice he differ from that effeminate shepheard of Phrigia In this new kind of lesson he shall declare vnto him that the prize the glorie and height of true vertue consisteth in the facilitie profit pleasure of his exercises so far from difficultie and incumbrances that children as well as men the simple as soone as the wise may come vnto hir Discretion and temperance not force or way-wardnesse are the instruments to bring him vnto hir Socrates vertues chiefe favorite that he might the better walke in the pleasant naturall and open path of hir progresies doth voluntarily and in good earnest quit all compulsion Shee is the nurse and softer-mother of all humane pleasures who in making them just and vpright she also makes them sure and sincere By moderating them she keepeth them in vre and breath In limiting and cutting them off whom she refuseth she whets-vs-on toward those she leaveth vnto vs and plenteouslie leaves-vs them which Nature pleaseth and like a kind mother giveth vs over vnto sacietie if not vnto wearisomnesse vnlesse we will peradventure say that the rule and bridle which stayeth the drunkard before drunkennesse the glutton before surfetting and the letâ—her before the loosing of his haire be the enemies of our pleasures If common fortune faile-hir it cleerely scapes hir or she cares not for hir or she frames another vnto hir-selfe altogether hir owne not so fleeting nor so rowling She knoweth the way how to be rich mightie and wise and how to lie in sweet-perfumed beds She loveth life she delights in beautie in glorie and in health But hir proper and particular office is first to know how to vse such goods temperately and how to loose them constantly An office much more noble then severe without which all course of life is vnnaturall turbulent and deformed to which one may lawfully
nihil tale apud Graecos pudori est ea deformaebat He imparts the matter to Ariston a Player of tragedies whose progenie and fortune were both honest nor did his profession disgrace them because no such matter is a disparagement amongst the Graecians And I have ever accused them of impertinencie that condemne and disalow such kindes of recreations and blamed those of injustice that refuse good and honest Comedians or as we call them Players to enter our good townes and grudge the common people such publike sports Politike and wel-ordered commonwealths endevor rather carefully to vnite and assemble their Citizens together as in serious offices of devotion so in honest exercises of recreation Common societie and loving friendship is thereby cherished and increased And besides they cannot have more formall and regular pastimes allowed them then such as are acted and represented in open view of all and in the presence of the magistrates themselves And if I might beare sway I would thinke it reasonable that Princes should sometimes at their proper charges gratifie the common people with them as an argument of a fatherly affection and loving goodnesse towards them and that in populous and frequented cities there should be Theatres places appointed for such spectacles as a diverting of worse inconveniences and secret actions But to come to my intended purpose there is no better way then to allure the affection and to entice the appetite otherwise a man shall breede but asses laden with Bookes With jerkes of roddes they have their satchels full of learning given them to keepe Which to do well one must not onely harbor in him-selfe but wed and mary the same with his minde The six and twentieth Chapter It is follie to referre Truth or Falsehood to our sufficiencie IT is not peradventure without reason that we ascribe the facilitie of beleeving and easines of perswasion vnto simplâ— câ—tie and ignorance For me semeth to have learn theretofore that beliefe was as it were an impression conceiued in our minde and according as the same was found either more soft or of leue resistance it was easier to imprint any thing therein Venecesse est lancem in libra poâ—deribus impositis deprimi sic animum perspicuis cedere As it is necessarie a scale must goe downe the ballaâ—â—c when weights are put into it so must a minde yeelde to things that are manifest Forasmuch therefore as the minde being most emptie and without counterpoize so much the more easily doth it yeeld vnder the burthen of the first perswasion And that 's the reason why children those of the common sort women and sickefolks are so subject to be nâ—is-led and so easie to swallow gudgeons Yet on the other side it is a sottish presumption to disdaine and condemn that for false which vnto vs seemeth to beare no shew of likelihood or truth which is an ordinarie fault in those who perswade themselves to be of more sufficiencâ—e than the vulgar sort So was I sometimes wont to doe and if I heard any body speake either of ghosts walking of foretelling future things of enchantments of witchcrafts or any other thing reported which I could not well conceive or that was beyond my reach Somnia terrores magicos miracula sagas Nocturnos lemures portentáque Thessali Dreames magike terrors witches vncouth-wonders Night-walking sprites Thessalian conjur'd thunders I could not but feele a kinde of compassion to see the poore and seely people abused with such follies And now I perceive that I was as much to be moaned my-selfe Not that experience hath since made me to discerne any thing beyond my former opinions yet was not my curiositie the cause of it but reason hath taught me that so resolutely to condemne a thing for false and impossible is to assume vnto himselfe the advantage to have the bounds and limits of Gods will and of the power of our common mother Nature tied to his sleeue And that there is no greater folly in the world then to reduce them to the measure of our capacitie and bounds of our sufficiencie If we terme those things monsters or miracles to which our reason cannot attaine how many such doe daily present themselves vnto our sight Let vs consider through what clowdes and how blinde-folde we are led to the knowledge of most things that passe our hands verily we shall finde it is rather custome than science that remooveth the strangenesse of them from-vs iam nemo fessus saturúsque videnâ—i Suspicere in caeli dignatur lucida templa Now no man tir'd with glut of contemplation Deignes to have heav'ns bright Church in admiration And that those things were they newly presented vnto vs wee should doubtlesse deeme them as much or more vnlikely and incredible then any other si nunc primùm mortalibus adsint Ex improviso ceu sint obiecta repentè Nil magis his rebus poterat mirabile dici Aut minus antè quod auderent fore credere gentes If now first on a sudden they were here Mongst mortal men object to eie or care Nothing than these things would more wondrous bee Or that men durst lesse thinke ever to see He who had never seene a river before the first he saw he thought it to be the Ocean and things that are the greatest in our knowledge we judge them to be the extreamest that nature worketh in that kinde Scilicet fluvius qui non est maximus ei est Qui non antè aliquem maior em vidit ingens Arbor homóque videtur omnia de genere omni Maxima quae vidit quisque haec ingentia fingit A streame none of the greatest may so seeme To him that never saw a greater streame Trees men seeme huge and all things of all sorts The greatest one hath seene he huge reports Consuetudine oculorum assuescunt animi neque admirantur neque requirunt rationes carum rerum quas semper vident Mindes are acquainted by custâ—me of their eies nor doe they admire or enquire the reason of those things which they continually behold The noveltie of things doth more incite vs to search-out the causes than their greatnesse we must judge of this infinit power of nature with more reverence and with more acknowledgement of our owne ignorance and weakenesse How many things of small likelihood are there witnessed by men woorthie of credit whereof if we cannot be perswaded we should at least leave them insuspence For to deeme them impossible is by rash presumption to presume and know how farre possibilitie reacheth If a man did well vnderstand what difference there is betweene impossibilitie and that which is vnwonted and betweene that which is against the course of nature and the common opinion of men in not beleeving rashly and in not disbeleeving easily the rule of Nothing too-much commanded by Chilon should be observed When we finde in Froysard that the Earle of Foix being in Bearn had knowledge of the
exercise It is a wonderfull testimonie of our judgements imbecilitie that it should commend and allow of things either for their rarenesse or noveltie or for their difficultie though neither goodnesse or profit be joyned vnto them We come but now from my house where we have a while recreated our selves with devising who could find out most things that held by both extreame endes As for example Sire is in our tongue a title onely given to the most imminent person of our state which is the King and yet is commonly given to some of the vulgar sort as vnto Marchants and Pedlers and nothing concerneth those of the middle sort and that are betweene both Women of chiefest calling and qualitie are called Dames the meane sort Damoisels and those of the basest ranke are also entitled ` Dames The clothes of estate which we see set over tables and chaires are onely allowed in Princes houses yet we see them vsed in Tavernes Democritus was wont to say That Gods and beasts had quicker senses and sharper wiâ—s then men who are of the middle ranke The Romanes vsed to weare one selfe same garment on mourning and on festivall daies It is most certaine that both an extreame feare and an exceeding heat of courage do equally trouble and distemper the belly The nick-name of Iremblam wherewith Zanchiâ— the twelst King of Navarre was surnamed teacheth that boldnesse aswell as feare engender a startling and shaking of the limbs Those which armed either him or any other of like nature whose skin would quiver assa ed to re-assure him by diminishing the danger wherein he was like to fall you have no perfect knowledge of me said he for if my flesh knew how far my courage will ere-long carrie-it it would presently fall into a flat swoune That chilnesse or as I may terme it faintnesse which we feel after the exercises of Venus the same doth also proceede of an over vehement appetite and disordred heat Excessive heat and extreame cold doe both hoile and rost Aristotle saith That leaden vessels doc as well melt and consume away by an excessive cold and rigor of winter as by a vehement heat Both desire and satiâ—tie fill the seats with sorow both aboue and vnder voluptuousnesse Follie and wisedome meet in one point of feeling and resolution about the suffering of humane accidents The wiser sort doth gourmandise and command evill and others know it not The latter as a man would say short of accidents the other beyond Who after they have well weighed and considered their qualities and dulie measured and rightly judged what they are over-leap them by the power of a vigorous courage They disdaine and tread them vnder foote as having a strong and solide mind against which if fortunes darts chance to light they must of necessitie be blunted and abated meeting with so resisting a bodie as they cannot pierce or make any impression therein The ordinarie and meane condition of men abideth betweene these two extremities which are those that perceive and have a feeling of michiefes but can not endure them Both infancie and decrepitude meet with weaknesse of the braine Covetise and profusion in a like desire to acquire and hoard-vp It may with likelyhoode be spoken that there is a kind of Abecedarie ignorance preceding science an other doctorall following science an ignorance which science doth beget even as it spoileth the first Of simple lesse-curious and least-instructed spirits are made good christians who simplie beleeve through reverence and obedience and are kept in awe of the lawes In the meane vigor of spirits and slender capacitie is engendred the error of opinions They follow the apparance of the first sense and have some title to interpret-it foolishnesse and sottishnesse that we are confirmed in ancient waies respecting vs that are nothing therein instructed by studie The best most-setled and clearest-seeing spirits make another sort of well-beleevers who by long and religious investigation penetrate a more profound and find-out a more abstruse light in scriptures and discover the misterious and divine secrets of our ecclesiasticall pollicie And therefore see we some of them that have reached vnto this last ranke by the second with wonderfull fruit and confirmation as vnto the furthest bounds of christian intelligence and injoy their victorie with comfort thans-giving reformation of manners and great modestie In which ranke my purpose is not to place these others who to purge themselves from the suspicion of their forepassed errors and the better to assure vs of them become extreame indiscreet and vnjust in the conduct of our cause and taxe and taint the same with infinit reproches of violence The simple peasants are honest men so are Philosophers or as our time nameth them strong and cleare natures enriched with a large instruction of profitable sciences The mongrell sort of husband-men who have disdained the first forme of ignorance of letters and could never reach vnto the other as they that sit betweene two stooles of which besides so many others I am one are dangerous peevish foolish and importunate and they which trouble the world most Therefore do I as much as lieth in me with-draw my selfe into the first and naturall seat whence I never assaied to depart Popular and meerely naturall Poesie hath certaine graces and in-bred livelinesse whereby it concurreth and compareth it selfe vnto the principall beautie of perfect and artificiall Poesie as may plainly be seene in the Villannelles homely gigs and countrie songs of Gasconie which are brought vnto vs from Nations that have no knowledge at all either of any learning or so much as of writing Meane and indifferent Poesie and that consisteth betweene both is skorned and contemned and passeth without honour or esteeme But forasmuch as since the passage hath been opened vnto the spirit I have found as it commonly hapneth that we had apprehended that which is neither so nor so for a difficult exercise and of a rare subject And that since our invention hath been set on fire it discovereth an infinit number of like examples I will onely adde this one That if these Essayes were worthie to be judged-of it might in mine opinion happen that they would not greatly please the common and vulgar spirits and as little the singular and excellent The first will vnderstand but little of them the latter over-much they might perhaps live and rub out in the middle region The five and fiftieth Chapter Of Smels and Odors IT is reported of some namely of Alexander that their sweat through some rare and extraordinarie complexion yeelded a sweet-smelling savour whereof Plutarke and others seeke to find out the cause But the common sort of bodies are cleane contrarie and the best qualitie they have is to be cleare of any smel at all The sweetnesse of the purest breaths hath nothing more perfect in them then to be without savour that may offend-vs as are those of healthy-sound children And therefore saith Plautus Mulier tum benè
without any teaching to be vnderstoode nay which is more it is a language common and publike to all whereby it followeth seeing the varietie and severall vse it hath from others that this must rather be deemed the proper and peculiar speech of humane nature I omit that which necessitie in time of neede doth particularly instruct and sodainely teach such as neede it and the alphabets vpon fingers and grammars by jestures and the sciences which are onely exercised and expressed by them and the nations Plinie reporteth to have no other speech An Ambassador of the Citie of Abdera after he had talked a long time vnto Agis King of Sparta said thus vnto him O King what answere wilt thou that I beare backe vnto our citizens Thus answered he that I have suffered thee to speake all thou wouldest and as long as thou pleasedst without ever speaking one word Is not this a kinde of speaking silence and easie to be vnderstoode And as for other matters what sufficiencie is there in vs that we must not acknowledge from the industrie and labors of beasts Can there be a more formall and better ordred policie divided into so severall charges and offices more constantly entertained and better maintained then that of Bees Shall we imagine their so orderly disposing of their actions and mannaging of their vacations have so proporcioned and formall a conduct without discourse reason and forecast His quidam signis atque haec exempla sequuti Esse apibus partem divinae mentis haustus Aethereos dixere Some by these signes by these examples moved Said that in Bees there is and may be proved Some taste of heav'nly kinde Part of celestiall minde The Swallows which at the approch of spring-time we see to prie to search and ferret all the corners of our houses is it without judgement they seeke or without discretion they chuse from out a thousand places that which is fittest for them to build their nests and lodgeing And in that pretie-cunning contexture and admirable framing of their houses would birds rather fit themselves with a round then a square figure with an obtuse then a right angle except they knew both the commodities and effects of them Would they suppose you first take water and then clay vnlesse they guessed that the hardnes of the one is softned by the moistnes of the other Would they floore their palace with mosse or downe except they fore-saw that the tender parts of their yong-ons shall thereby lie more soft and easie Would they shroud and shelter themselves from stormie weather and builde their cabbins toward the East vnlesse they knew the different conditions of windes and considered that some are more healthfull and safe for them then some others Why doth the Spider spin hir artificiall webbe thicke in one place and thin in another And now vseth one and then another knot except she had an imaginarie kinde of deliberation fore-thought and conclusion We perceive by the greater part of their workes what excellencie beasts have over-vs and how weake our-arte and short our cunning-is if we goe about to imitate them We see notwithstanding even in our grosest workes what faculties we employ in them and how our minde employeth the vttermost of hir skill and forces in them why should we not thinke as much of them Wherefore doe we attribute the workes which excell what ever we can performe either by nature or by arte vnto a kinde of vnknowen naturall and servill inclination Wherein vnawars we give them a great advantage over-vs to inferre that nature led by a certaine loving kindnes leadeth and accompanieth them as it were by the hand vnto all the actions and commodities of their life and that she forsaketh and leaveth vs to the hazard of fortune And by arte to quest and finde-out those things that are behoâ—uefull and necessarie for our preservation and therewithall denieth vs the meanes to attaine by any institution and contention of spirit to the naturall sufficiencie of brute beasts So that their brutish stupiditie doth in all commodities exceede whatsoever our divine intelligence can effect Verely by this accoumpt we might have just cause and great reason to terme hir a most injust and partiall stepdame But there is no such thing our policy is not so deformed and disordered Nature hath generally imbraced all hir creatures And there is not any but she hath amply stored with all necessary meanes for the preservation of their being For the daily plaints which I often heare men make when the licence of their conceits doth somtimes raise them above the clouds and then head-long tumbling them downe even to the Antipodes exclayming that man is the onely forsaken and out cast creature naked on the bare earth fast bound and swathed having nothing to cover and arme himself withall but the spoile of others whereas Nature hath clad and mantled all other creatures some with shels some with huskes with â—â—ndes with haire with wooll with stings with bristles with hides with mosse with fethers with skales with fleâ—ces and with â—â—ke according as their quality might neede or their condition require And hath fenced and aâ—â—ed them with clawes with nailes with talents with hoofes with teeth with stings and with hornes both to assaile others and to defend themselves And hath more-over instructed them in every thing fit and requisit for them as to swim to runne to creepe to flie to roare to bellow and to sing where as man onely Oh silly-wretched man can neither goe nor speake nor shift nor feed himselefe vnlesse it be to whine and weepe onely except he be taught Tum porro puer vt saevis proiectus ab vndis Navita nudus humi iacet infans indigus omni Vitali auxilio cùm primùm in luminis oras Nexibus ex alvo matris natura profudit Vagitúque locum lugubri complet vt aequum est Cui tantùm in vita restet transire malorum At variae crescunt pecudes armenta feraeque Nec crepitacula eis opus est nec cuiquam adhibenda est Alma nutricis blanda atque infracta loquela Nec varias quaerunt vestes pro tempore caeli Denique non armis opus est non moenibus altis Queis sua tutentur quando omnibus omnia large Tellus ipsaparit natur à que daedalarerum An infant like a shipwracke ship-boy cast from seas Lies naked on the ground and speechlesse wanting all The helpes of vitall spirit when nature with small ease Of throw's to see first light from hir wombe lets him fall Then as is meete with morn'full cries he fils the place For whom so many ils remaine in his lives race But divers heards of tame and wilde beasts foreward spring Nor neede they rattles nor of Nurces cockring-kinde The flattering broken speech their lulluby neede sing Nor seeke they divers coates as divers seasons binde Lastly no armour neede they nor high-reared wall Whereby to guard their owne since all things vnto all
immortall by the creators decree Now if there be divers Worldes as Democritus Epicurus and well-neere all Phylosophie hath thought what know wee whether the principles and the rules of this one concerne or touch likewise the others Happily they have another semblance and another policie Epicurus imagineth them either like or vnlike We see an infinite difference and varietie in this world only by the distance of places There is neyther Corne nor Wine no nor any of our beastes seene in that new Corner of the World which our fathers have lately discovered All things differ from ours And in the old time marke but in how many parts of the world they had never knowledge nor of Bacchus nor of Ceres If any credit may be given vnto Plinie or to Herodotus there is in some places a kind of men that have very little or no resemblance at all with ours And there be mungrell and ambiguous shapes betweene a humane and brutish Nature Some Cuntries there are where men are borne headlesse with eyes and mouthes in their breasts where al are Hermaphrodites where they creep on all foure Where they have but one eie in their forehead and heads more like vnto a dog than ours Where from the Navill downewards they are halfe fish and live in the water Where women are brought a bed at five yeares of age and live but eight Where their heads and the skinne of their browes are so hard that no yron can pierce them but wil rather turne edge Where men never have beardes Other Nations there are that never have vse of fire Others whose sperme is of a blacke colour What shall we speake of them who naturally change themselves into Woolves into Coults and then into Men againe And if it bee as Plutark saith that in some part of the Indiaes there are men without mouthes and who live only by the smell of certaine sweete odours how many of our descriptions be then false Hee is no more riâ—ible nor perhappes capable of reason and societie The direction and cause of our inward frame should for the most part be to no purpose Moreover how many things are there in our knowledge that oppugne these goodly rules which we have allotted and prescribed vnto Nature And we vndertake to joyne GOD himselfe vnto hir How manie things doe we name miraculous and against Nature Each man and every Nation doth it according to the measure of his ignorance How many hidden proprieties and quintessences doe we dayly discover For vs to goe according to Nature is but to follow according to our vnderstanding as farre as it can follow and asmuch as we can perceive in it Whatsoever is beyond it is monstrous and disordred By this accoumpt all shall then be monstrous to the wisest and most sufficient for even to such humane reason hath perswaded that she had neither ground nor footing no not so much as to warrant snow to be white And Anaxagoras said it was blacke Whether there be any thing or nothing Whether there be knowledge or ignorance Which Metrodorus Chius denyed that any man might say Or whether we live as Euripides seemeth to doubt and call in question whether the life we live be a life or no or whether that which we call death be a life 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Who knowes if thus to live be called death And if it be to die thus to draw breath And not without apparance For wherefore doe we from that instant take a title of being which is but a twinckling in the infinit course of an eternall night and so short an interruption of our perpetuall and naturall condition Death possessing what-ever is before and behind this moment and also a good part of this moment Some others affirme there is no motion and that nothing stirreth namely those which follow Melissus For if there be but 〈…〉 this sphericall motion serve him nor the mooving from one place to another as Plato prooveth that there is neither generation nor corruption in nature Protagoras saith there is nothing in Nature but doubt That a man may equally dispute of all things and of that also whether all things may equally be disputed of Mansiphanes said that of things which seeme to be no one thing is no more then it is not That nothing is certaine but vncertainty Parmenides that of that which seemeth there is no one thing in Generall That there is but one Zeno that one selfe same is not And that there is nothing If one were he should either be in another or in himselfe if he be in another then are they two If he be in himselfe they are also two the comprizing and the comprized According to these rules or doctrines the Nature of things is but a false or vaine shadow I have ever thought this manner of speech in a Christian is full of indiscretion and irreverence God cannot die God cannot gaine-say himselfe God cannot doe this or that I cannot allow a man should so bound Gods heavenly power vnder the Lawes of our word And that apparance which in these propositions offers it selfe vnto vs ought to be represented more reverently and more religiously Our speech hath his infirmities and defects as all things else have Most of the occasions of this worlds troubles are Grammaticall Our sutes and processes proceed but from the canvasing and debating the interpretation of the Lawes and most of our warres from the want of knowledge in State-counsellors that could not cleerely distinguish and fully expresse the Covenants and Conditions of accords betweene Prince and Prince How many weighty strifes and important quarrels bath the doubt of this one silable Hoc brought forth in the world examine the plainest sentence that Logike it selfe can present vnto vs. If you say it is faire Weather and in so saying say true it is faire Weather then Is not thie a certaine forme of speech Yet will it deceive vs That it is so Let vs follow the example If you say I lie and that you should say true you lie then The Arte the reason the force of the conclusion of this last are like vnto the other notwithstanding we are entangled I see the Pyrhonian Phylosophers who can by no manner of speech expresse their General conceit for they had neede of a new language Ours is altogether composed of affirmative propositions which are directly against them So that when they say I doubt you have them fast by the throte to make them a vow that at least you are assured and know that they doubt So have they been compelled to save themselves by this comparison of Physicke without which their conceite would be inexplicable and intricate When they pronounce I know not or I doubt they say that this proposition transportes it selfe together with the rest even as the Rewbarbe doeth which scowred ill humours away and therewith is carryed away himselfe This conceipt is more certainly conceived by an interrogation What can I
confusion of prescriptions what other end or effect workes it but to evacuate the belly which a thousand home-simples will doe as well And I knowe not whether it be as profitable as they say and whether our nature require the residents of her exâ—rements vntill a certaine measure as wine doth his lees for his preservation You see often men very healthy by some strange accidents to fall into violent vomiâ—es and fluxes and voyde great store of excrements without any praecedent neede or succeeding benefite yea with some empairing and prejudice I learn't of Plato not long since that of three motions which belong to vs the last and worst is that of purgations and that no man except hee be a foole ought to vndertake it vnlesse it be in great extreamitie The evill is troubled and stirred vp by contrary oppositions It is the forme of life that gently must diminish consume and bring it to an end Since the violent twinges of the drug and maladie are ever to our losse since the quarrell is cleared in vs and the drug a trustlesse helpe by it 's owne nature an enemie to our health and but by trouble hath no accesse in our state Let 's give them leave to go on That order which provideth for Fleas and Moles doth also provide for men who have the same patience to suffer themselves to be governed that Fleas and Moles have We may fairely cry bo-bo-boe it may well make vs hoarse but it will nothing advaunce it It is a prowd and impetuous order Our feare and our despaire in liew of enviting the same vnto it doth distaste and delay it out of our helpe he oweth his course to evill as well as to sickenesse To suffer himselfe to be corrupted in favour of one to the prejudice of the others rights he will not doe it so should they fall into disorder Let vs goe on in the name of God let vs follow He leadeth-on such as follow him those that follow him not he haleth-on both with their rage and phisicke together Cause a purgation to be prepared for your braine it will bee better employed vnto it then to your stomacke A Lacedemonian being asked what had made him live so long in health answered The ignorance of physicke And Adrian the Emperour as he was dying ceased not to crie out that the number of Physitions had killed him A bad wrestler became a Physition Courage saide Diogenes to him thou hast reason to doe so for now shalt thou helpe to put them into the ground who have heeretofore ayded to lay thee on it But according to Nicoles they have this happe That the Sunne doth manifest their successe and the earth doth cover their fault And besides they have a very advantageous fashion among themselves to make vse of all manner of events for whatsoever either Fortune or Nature or any otherstrange cause whereof the number is infinite produceth in vs or good or healthfull it is the priviledge of Physicke to ascribe it vnto herselfe All the fortunate successes that come to the patient which is vnder their government it is from nature he hath them The occasions that have cured me and which heale a thousand others who never send or call for Physitions to helpe them they vsurpe them in their subjects And touching ill accidents either they vtterly disavow them in imputing the blame of them to the patient by some vaine reasons whereof they never misse to finde a great number as he lay with his armes out of the bed he hath heard the noyse of a coach rhedarum transitus arcto Vicorum inflexu Coaches could hardly passe The lane so crooked was His Window was left open all night Hee hath laine vpon the left side or troubled his head with some heavie thought In some a word a dreame or a looke is of them deemed a sufficient excuse to free themselves from all imputation Or if they please they will also make vse of this emparing and thereby make vp their businesse and as a meane which can never faile them when by their applications the disease is growne desperate to pay vs with the assurance that if their remedies had not beene it would have beene much woorse He whom but from a colde they have brought to a Cotidian Ague without them shoulde have had a continuall feaver They must needes thrive in their businesse since all ills redownd to their profit Truely they have reason to require of the pacient an application of favourable confidence in them which must necessarily be in good earnest and yeelding to apply itselfe vnto imaginations over-hardly to be believed Plato said very well and to the purpose that freely to lie belonged onely to Physitions since our health dependeth on their vanitie and falsehood of promises Aesope an Authour of exceeding rare excellence and whose graces few discover is very pleasant in representing this kinde of tyrannicall authoritie vnto vs. which they vsurpe vpon poore soules weakened by sickenesse and over-whelmed through feare for he reporteth how a sicke man being demaunded by his Physition what operation hee felt by the Physicke he had given him I have sweate much answered he that is good replied the Physition Another time he asked him againe how he had done since I have had a great colde and quivered much said he that is very well quoth the Physition againe The third time he demaunded of him how he felt himselfe He answered I swell and puffe-vp as it were with the dropsie That 's not amisse saide the Physition A familiar friend of his comming afterward to visite him and to know how hee did Verely said hee my friend I die with being too too well There was a more equall Law in Aegypt by which for the first three dayes the Phisition tooke the patient in hand vpon the patients perrill and fortune but the three dayes expired it was at his owne For What reason is there that Aesculapius their patrone must have beene strucken with Thunder forsomuch as hee recovered Hippolitus from death to life Nampater omnipotens aliquem indignatus ab vmbris Mortalem infernis ad lumina surgere vitae Ipse repertorem medicinae talis artis Fuâ—mine Phoebigenam slygias detrusit advndas Iove scorning that from shades infernall night A mortall man should rise to lifes new light Apolloes sonne to hell he thunder-threw Who such an arte found out such med'cine knew and his followers must be absolved that send so many soules from life to death A Phisitian boasted vnto Nicocles that his Arte was of exceeding great authoritie It is true quoth Nicocles for it may kill so many people without feare of punishment by Law As for the rest had I beene of their counsel I would surely have made my discipline more sacred and mysterious They had begunne very well but the end hath not answered the beginning It was a good ground to have made Gods and Doemons Authors of their Science to have affiâ—med a peculiar
reason why those which trauell by sea doe sometimes feele such quaâ—mes and risings of the stomacke saying that it proceedeth of a kinde of feare hauing found-out some reason by which hee prooveth that feare may cause such an effect My selfe who am much subiect vnto it knowe well that this cause doth nothing concerne me And I know it not by argument but by necessarie experience without alleaging what some haue tolde mee that the like doth often happen vnto beasts namely vnto swine when they are farthest from apprehending any danger and what an acquaintance of mine hath assured mee of himselfe and who is greatly subiect vnto it that twice or thrice in a tempestuous storme being surprised with execeeding feare all manner of desire or inclination to vomit had left him As to that ancient good fellow Peius vexabar quà m vt periculum mihi succurreret I was worse vexed then that danger covld helpe me I never apprehended feare vpon the water nor any where else yet haue I often had â—â—st cause offred me if death it selfe may give it which eyther might trouble or astonie mee It proceedeth sometimes as well from want of iudgement as from lacke of courage All the dangers I haue had have beene when mine eyes were wide-open and my sight cleare sound and perfect For even to feare courage is required It hath sometimes steaded me in respect of others to direct and keepe my flight in order that so it might be if not without feare at least without dismay and astonishment Indeede it was mooued but not amazed nor distracted Vndanted mindes marche further and represent flight not onely temperate setled and sound but also fierce and bolde Report we that which Alcibiades relateth of Socrates his companion in armes I found saith he after the route and discomfiture of our armie both him and Lachez in the last ranke of those that ranne away and with all safetie and leasure considered him for I was mounted vpon an excellent good horse and he on foote and so had we combatted all day I noted first how in respect of Lachez he shewed both discrâ—â—te iudgement and â—ndanted resolution then I obserued the vndismaide brauery of his marche nothing different from his ordinarie pace his looke orderly and constant duly obsâ—â—uing and â—eedily iudging what euer passed round about him sometimes viewing the one and sometimes looking on the other both friendes and enemies with so composed a manner that he seemed to encourage the one and menace the other signifying that whosoever should attempt his life must purchase the same or his blood at a high-valued rate and thus they both saued themselues for men doe not willingly graple with these but follow such as shew or feare or dismay Loe heare the testimonie of that renowâ—ed Captaine who teacheth vs what wee daily finde by experience that there is nothing doth sooner cast vs into dangers then an inconsiderate greedinesse to aâ—â—â—de them Quo timoris minus est eo minus fermè periculi est The lesse feare there is most commonly the lesse danger there is Our people is to blame to say such a one feareth death when it would signifie that he thinkes on it and doth foresee the same Foresight doth equally belong as well to that which concerneth vs in good as touche vs in euill To consider and iudge danger is in some sort not to bee danted at it I doe not finde my selfe sufficiently strong to withstand the blow and violence of this passion of feare or of any other impetuosity were I once therewith vanquished and deterred I could never safely recouer my selfe Hee that should make my minde forgoe hir footing could never bring her vnto her place againe She doth ouer liuely sound and ouer deepely search into hirselfe And therefore neuer suffers the wound which pierced the same to be throughly cured and consolidated It hath beene happy for me that no infirmity could euer yet displace her I oppose and present my selfe in the best warde I have against all charges and assaults that beset mee Thus the first that should beare mee away would make mee vnrecouerable I encounter not two which way soeuer spoile should enter my holde there am I open and remedilesly drowned Epicurus saith that a wise man can neuer passe from one state to its contrary I have some opinion answering his sentence that hee who hath once beene a very foole shall at no time prooue very wise God sends my colde answerable to my clothes and passions answering the meanes I haue to indure them Nature hauing discouered me on one side hath couered me one the other Hauing disarmed me of strength she hath armed me with insensibility and a regular or soft apprehension I cannot long endure and lesse could in my youth to ride either in coach or litter or to go in a boate and both in the Citty and country I hate all manner of riding but a horse-back And can lesse endure a litter then a coach and by the same reason more easily a rough agitation vpon the water whence commonly proceedeth feare then the soft stirring a man shall feele in calme weather By the same easie gentle motion which the oares giue conuaying the boate vnder vs I wot not how I feele both my head intoxicated and my stomacke distempered as I cannot likewise abide a shaking stoole vnder me When as either the saile or the gliding course of the water doth equally carry vs away or that wee are but towed that gently gliding and euen agitation doth no whit distemper or hurte mee It is an interrupted and broken motion that offendes mee and more when it is languishing I am not able to displaye it's forme Phisitions haue taught mee to binde and gird my selfe with a napkin or swath round about the lower part of my belly as a remedy for this accident which as yet I haue not tride being accustomed to wrestle and with stand such defects as are in me and tame them by my selfe Were my memory sufficientlye informed of them I would not thinke my time lost heere to set downe the infinite variety which histories present vnto vs of the vse of coaches in the seruice of warre diuers according to the nations and different according to the ages to my seeming of great effect and necessitye So that it is wondrouslye strange how wee haue lost all true knowledge of them I will onely aleadge this that euen lately in our fathers time the Hungarians did very auailefully bring them into fashion and profitablie set them a worke against the Turkes euery one of them containing a Targattier and a Muskettier with a certaine number of harquebusâ—s or caliuers ready charged and so ranged that they might make good vse of them and all ouer couered with a pauesado after the manner of a Galliotte They made the front of their battaile with three thousand such coaches and after the Cannon had playde caused them to discharge and shoote off volie of smale shotte vppon their
women and to children As a voluntary Souldier or adventurous knight you enter the lists the bands or particular hazards according as your selfe judge of their successes or importance and you see when your life may therein be excusably employed pulchrúmque morisuccurrit in armis And nobly it doth come in minde To die in armes may honor finde Basely to feare common dangers that concerneso numberlesse a multitude and not to dare whatso many sortes of men dare yea whole nations together is onely incident to base craven and milke-sop-hearts Company and good fellowship doth harten and encourage children If some chance to exceede and outgoe you in knowledge in experience in grace in strength in fortune you have third and collateral causes to blame and take hold-of but to yeeld to them in constancie of minde and resolution of courage you have none but yourselfe to find fault with Death is much more abiect languishing grisly and painefull in a downe-bed then in a field-combate and agues catarres or apoplexies as painefull and mortall as an harquebusado He that should be made vndantedly to beare the accidents of common life should not neede to bumbast his courage to become a man at armes Vivere mi Lucilli milis are est Friend mine to live is to goe onwarre-fare I can not remember that ever I was scabbed yet is itching one of natures sweetest gratifications and as readie at hand But repentance doth over-importunately attend on it I exercise the same in mine eares and by fits which within doe often itch I was borne with all my senses sound almost in perfection My stomake is commodiously good and so is my head both which together with my winde maintaine them selves athwart my agues I have outlived that age to which some nations have not without some reason prescribed for a just end vnto life that they allowed not a man to exceede the same I have notwithstanding some remyses or intermissions yet though vnconstant and short so sound and neate that there is little difference betweene them and the health and indolencie of my youth I speake not of youthly vigor and chearefull blithnesse there is noreason they should follow mee beyond their limites Non haec amplius est liminis aut aquae Coelestis patiens latus These sides cannot still sustaine Lying without dores showring raine My visage and eyes doe presently discover me Thence beginne all my changes and somewhat sharper then they are in effect I often moove my friends to pitty ere I feele the cause of it My looking glasse doth not amaze me for even in my youth it hath diverse times befalne me so to put-on a duskie looke a wanne colour a troubled behaviour and of ill presage without any great accident so that Phisitions perceiving no inward cause to answer this outward alteration ascribed the same to the secret minde or some concealed passion which inwardly gnawed and consumed mee They were deceived were my body directly by mee as is my minde we should march a little more at our ease I had it then not onely exempted from all trouble but also full of satisfaction and blithenesse as it is most commonly partly by it's owne complexion and partly by it's owne desseigne Nec vitiant art us aegrae contagia mentis Nor doth sicke mindes infection Pollute strong joynts complexion I am of opinion that this her temperature hath often raised my body from his fallings he is often suppressed whereas she if not lasciviously wanton at least in quiet and reposed estate I had a quartan ague which held me foure or five moneths and had altogether disvisaged and altered my countenance yet my minde held ever out not onely peaceably but pleasantly So I feele no paine ot smarte weaknesse and languishing doe not greatly perplex me I see divers corporall defailances the only naming of which breede a kind of horror and which I would feare lesse then a thousand passions and agitations of the mind which I see in vse I resolve to runne no more it sufficeth me to goe-on faire and softly nor doe I complaine of their naturall decadence or empairing that possesseth me Quis tumidum guttur miratur in Alpibus Who wonders a swolne throate to see In those about the Alpes that be No more then I grieve that my continuance is not as long and sound as that of an oske I have no cause to finde fault with my imagination I have in my life had very few thoughts or cares that have so much as interrupted the course of my sleepe except of desire to awaken without dismay or afflicting me I seldome dreame and when I doe it is of extravagant things and chymeras commonly produced of pleasant conceits rather ridiculous then sorrowfull And thinke it true that dreames are the true interpretors of our inclinations but great skill is required to sort and vnderstand them Res quae in vit a vsurpant homines cogitant curant vident Quaeque agunt vigilantes agitánt que ea sicut insomno accidunt Minus mirandum est It is no wonder if the things which we Care-for vse thinke doe oft or waking see Vnto vs sleeping represented be Plato saith moreover that is the office of wisedome to draw divining instructions from them against future times Wherein I see nothing but the wonderfull experience that Socrates Xenophon and Aristotle relate of them men of vnreproovable authority Histories reporte that the inhabitants of the Atlantique Iles never dreame who feede on nothing that hath beene slaine Which I adde because it is peradventure the occasion the dreame not Pythagoras ordained therefore a certaine methode of feeding that dreames might bee sorted of some purpose Mine are tender and cause no agitation of body or expression of voice in mee I have in my dayes seene many strangely stirred with them Theon the Philosopher walked in dreaming and Pericles his boy went vpon the tiles and top of houses I stand not much on nice choice of meates at the table and commonly beginne with the first and neerest dish and leape not willingly from one taste to another Multitude of dishes and varietie of services displease mee as much as any other throng I am easily pleased with few messes and hate the opinion of Favorinus that at a banquet you must have that dish whereon you feede hungerly taken from you and ever have a new one set in the place And that it is a niggardly supper if all the guests be not glutted with pinions and rumps of divers kindes of fowle and that onely the daintie bird heccafico or snapfig deserveth to bee eaten whole at one morsell I feede much vpon salte cates and love to have my bread somewhat fresh And mine own Baker makes none other for my bord against the fashion of my countrie In my youth my overseers had much adoe to reforme the refusall I made of such meats as youth doth commonly love best as sweete-meates confets and marchpanes My Tutor was wont