Selected quad for the lemma: cause_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
cause_n	effect_n	nature_n	power_n	3,155	5	5.1866	4	true

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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A28200	The essays, or councils, civil and moral, of Sir Francis Bacon, Lord Verulam, Viscount St. Alban with a table of the colours of good and evil, and a discourse of The wisdom of the ancients : to this edition is added The character of Queen Elizabeth, never before printed in English.; Essays. Selections	Bacon, Francis, 1561-1626.; Gorges, Arthur, Sir, 1557?-1625.; Bacon, Francis, 1561-1626. Of the colours of good and evil.; Bacon, Francis, 1561-1626. Character of Queen Elizabeth.; Bacon, Francis, 1561-1626. De sapientia veterum. English.	1696 (1696)	Wing B296; ESTC R15973	195,963	328

else There are four things attributed to him perpetual Infancy Blindness Nakedness and an Archery There was also another Love which was the youngest of the Gods and he they say was the Son of Venus On this also they bestow the Attributes of the elder Love as in some sort we 'll apply unto him This Fable tends and looks to the Cradle of Nature Love seeming to be the appetite or desire of the first Matter or to speak more plain the natural motion of the Atom which is that Ancient and only Power that Forms and Fashions all things out of Matter of which there is no Parent that is to say no Cause seeing every Cause is as a Parent to its effect Of this power or virtue there can be no Cause in Nature as for God we always except him for nothing was before it and therefore no efficient Cause of it Neither was there any thing better known to Nature and therefore neither Genus nor Form Wherefore whatsoever it is positive it is and but inexpressible Moreover if the manner and proceeding of it were to be conceived yet could it not be by any Cause seeing that next unto God it is the Cause of Causes it self only without any Cause And perchance there is no likelihood that the manner of it may be contained or comprehended within the narrow compass of humane search Not without reason therefore it is feign●d to come of an Egg which was laid by Nox Certainly the Divine Philosopher grants so much Eccl. 3. 11. Cuncta fecit tempestatibus suis pulchra mundum tradidit disputationibus eorum ita tamen ut non inveniat homo opus quod operatus est Deus principio ad finem That is he hath made every thing beautiful in their Seasons also he hath set the World in their Meditations yet Man cannot find the Work that God hath wrought from the beginning even to the end For the principal Law of Nature or Power of this Desire created by God in these parcels of things for concurring and meeting together from whose Repetitions and Multiplications all Variety of Creatures proceeded and were composed may dazle the Eyes of Men's Understandings and comprehended it can hardly be The Greek Philosophers are observed to be very acute and diligent in searching out the material Principles of things but in the beginnings of motion wherein consists all the efficacy of operation they are negligent and weak and in this that we handle they seem to be altogether blind and stammering for the Opinion of the Peripatericks concerning the appetite of Matter caused by privation is in a manner nothing else but Words which rather sound than signifie any Reality And those that refer it unto God do very well but then they leap up they ascend not by degrees for doubtless there is one chief Law subordinate to God in which all natural things concur and meet the same that in the fore-cited Scripture is demonstrated in these Words Opus quod operatus est Deus à principio usque ad finem the Work that God hath wrought from the beginning even to the end But Democritus which entred more deeply into the consideration of this point after he had conceived an Atom with some small dimension and form he attributed unto it one only desire or first motion simply or absolutely and another comparatively or in respect for he thought that all things did properly tend to the Centre of the World whereof those Bodies which were more material descend with swifter motion and those that had less Matter did on the contrary tend upward But this Meditation was very shallow containing less than was expedient for neither the turning of the Celestial Bodies in a round nor shutting and opening of things may seem to be reduced or applied to this beginning And as for that opinion of Epicurus concerning the casual declination and agitation of the Atom it is but a mere Toy and a plain evidence that he was ignorant of that Point It is therefore more apparent than we could wish that this Cupid or Love remains as yet clouded under the shades of Night Now as concerning his Attributes He is elegantly described with perpetual Infancy or Childhood because compound Bodies they seem greater and more stricken in years Whereas the first Seeds of things or Atoms they are little and diminute and also in their Infancy He is also well feigned to be naked because all compound Bodies to a Man rightly judging seem to be apparelled and cloathed and nothing to be properly naked but the first Particles of things Concerning his Blindness the Allegory is full of Wisdom for this Love or Desire whatsoever it be seems to have but little Providence as directing his pace and motion by that which it perceives nearest not unlike blind men that go by feeling More admirable then must that chief divine Providence be which from things empty and destitute of Providence and as it were blind by a constant and fatal Law produceth so excellent an Order and Beauty of Things The last Thing which is attributed to Love is Archery by which is meant that his Virtue is such as that it works upon a distant Object because that whatsoever operates afar off seems to shoot as it were an Arrow Wherefore whosoever holds the Being both of Atoms and Vacuity must needs infer that the Virtue of the Atom reacheth to a distant Object for if it were not so there could be no motion at all by reason of the interposition of Vacuity but all things would stand stone still and remain immoveable Now as touching that other Cupid or Love he may well be termed the youngest of the Gods because he could have no being before the constitution of Species And in his description the Allegory may be applied and traduced to manners Nevertheless he holds some kind of conformity with the Elder for Venus doth generally stir up a desire of Conjunction and Procreation and Cupid her Son doth apply this desire to some individual Nature so that the general disposition comes from Venus the more exact sympathy from Cupid the one derived from Causes more near the other from Beginnings more remote and fatal and as it were from the elder Cupid of whom every exquisite sympathy doth depend DIOMEDES or Zeal DIOMEDES flourishing with great Fame and Glory in the Trojan Wars and in high Favour with Pallas was by her instigated being indeed forwarder than he should have been not to forbear Venus a jot if he encountered with her in Fight which very boldly he performed wounding her in the right Arm. This presumptuous Fact he carried clear for a while and being honoured and renowned for his many heroick Deeds at last returned into his own Country where finding himself hard bestead with domestick Troubles fled into Italy betaking himself to the Protection of Foreigners where in the beginning he was fortunate and royally entertained by King Daunus with sumptuous Gifts raising many Statues in honour of

Henry the Seventh of England who depressed his Nobility whereupon it came to pass that his times were full of Difficulties and Troubles for the Nobility though they continued loyal unto him yet did they not co-operate with him in his business so that in effect he was fain to do all things himself For their Second Nobles There is not much danger from them being a Body dispersed They may sometimes discourse high but that doth little hurt Besides they are a counterpoize to the higher Nobility that they grow not too potent and lastly being the most immediate in Authority with the Common People they do best temper popular Commotions For their Merchants They are Vena porta and if they flourish not a Kingdom may have good Limbs but will have empty Veins and nourish little Taxes and Imposts upon them do seldom good to the Kings Revenue for that he wins in the Hundred he looseth in the Shire the particular Rates being increased but the total bulk of Trading rather decreased For their Commons There is little danger from them except it be where they have great and potent Heads or where you meddle with the point of Religion or their Customs or means of Life For their Men of War It is a dangerous State where they live and remain in a Body and are used to Donatives whereof we see examples in the Janizaries and Pretorian Bands of Rome But Trainings of Men and Arming them in several places and under several Commanders and without Donatives are things of Defence and no danger Princes are like to Heavenly Bodies which cause good or evil times and which have much Veneration but no Rest All Precepts concerning Kings are in effect comprehended in those two Remembrances Memento quod es Homo and Memento quod es Deus or Vice Dei the one bridleth their Power and the other their Will XX. Of Counsel THE greatest trust between Man and Man is the trust of Giving Counsel For in other confidences Men commit the parts of Life their Lands their Goods their Children their Credit some particular Affair but to such as they make their Counsellors they commit the whole by how much the more they are obliged to all faith and integrity The wisest Princes need not think it any diminution to their Greatness or derogation to their Sufficiency to rely upon Counsel God himself is not without but hath made it one of the great Names of his blessed Son The Counsellor Solomon hath pronounced that in Counsel is Stability Things will have their first or second agitation if they be not tossed upon the arguments of Counsel they will be tossed upon the waves of Fortune and be full of inconstancy doing and undoing like the reeling of a drunken man Solomon's Son found the force of Counsel as his Father saw the necessity of it For the beloved Kingdom of God was first rent and broken by ill Counsel upon which Counsel there are set for instruction the two marks whereby Bad Counsel is for ever best discerned that it was young Counsel for the Persons and violent Counsel for the Matter The ancient times do set forth in figure both the incorporation and inseparable conjunction of Counsel with Kings and the wise and politick use of Counsel by Kings the one in that they say Jupiter did marry Metis which signifieth Counsel whereby they intend that Soveraignty is married to Counsel the other in that which followeth which was thus They say after Jupiter was married to Metis she conceived by him and was with Child but Jupiter suffered her not to stay till she brought forth but eat her up whereby he became himself with Child and was delivered of Pallas Armed out of his Head which monstrous Fable containeth a secret of Empire how Kings are to make use of their Council of State That first they ought to refer matters unto them which is the first begetting or impregnation but when they are elaborate moulded and shaped in the Womb of their Council and grow ripe and ready to be brought forth that then they suffer not their Council to go through with the resolution and direction as if it depended on them but take the matter back into their own hands and make it appear to the World that the Decrees and final Directions which because they come forth with Prudence and Power are resembled to Pallas Armed proceeded from themselves And not only from their Authority but the more to add reputation to themselves from their Head and Device Let us now speak of the Inconveniencies of Counsel and of the Remedies The Inconveniences that have been noted in calling and using Counsel as three First the revealing of Affairs whereby they become less secret Secondly the weakning of the Authority of Princes as if they were less of themselves Thirdly the danger of being unfaithfully Counselled and more for the good of them that Counsel than of him that is Counselled For which Inconveniencies the Doctrine of Italy and practice of France in some Kings times hath introduced Cabinet Councils a Remedy worse than the Disease As to Secrecy Princes are not bound to communicate all matters with all Counsellors but extract and select Neither is it necessary that he that consulteth what he should do should declare what he will do But let Princes beware that the unsecreting of their Affairs comes not from themselves And as for Cabinet Counsels it may be their Motto Plenus rimarum sum One futile Person that maketh it his glory to tell will do more hurt than many that know it their duty to conceal It is true there be some Affairs which require extream Secrecy which will hardly go beyond one or two Persons beside the King Neither are those Counsels unprosperous for besides the Secrecy they commonly go on constantly in one Spirit of Direction without distraction But then it must be a prudent King such as is able to grind with a Hand-mill and those Inward Counsellors had need also be wise Men and especially true and trusty to the King's ends as it was with King Henry the Seventh of England who in his greatest business imparted himself to none except it were to Morton and Fox For weakning of Authority The Fable sheweth the Remedy Nay the Majesty of King 's is rather exalted than diminished when they are in the Chair of Counsel Neither was there ever Prince bereaved of his dependencies by his Counsel except where there hath been either an over-greatness in one Counsellor or an over-strict combination in divers which are things soon found and holpen For the last Inconvenience that Men will Counsel with an Eye to themselves Certainly Non inveniet fidem super terram is meant of the nature of times and not of all particular Persons There be that are in nature faithful and sincere and plain and direct not crafty and involved Let Princes above all draw to themselves such natures Besides Counsellors are not commonly so united but that one Counsellor keepeth

spie And Sun and Thebes seem double to his Eye The first of the Fables pertains to the secrets of Princes the second to Divine Mysteries For those that are near about Princes and come to the knowledge of more secrets than they would have them do certainly incur great hatred And therefore suspecting that they are shot at and opportunities watcht for their overthrow do lead their lives like Stags fearful and full of suspicion And it happens oftentimes that their Servants and those of their Houshold to insinuate into the Prince's favour do accuse them to their destruction for against whomsoever the Princes displeasure is known look how many servants that Man hath and you shall find them for the most part so many Traytors unto him that his end may prove to be like Actaeon's The other is the misery of Pentheus For that by the height of Knowledge and Nature in Philosophy having climbed as it were into a Tree do with rash attempts unmindful of their frailty pry into the secrets of Divine Mysteries and are justly plagued with perpetual inconstancy and with wavering and perplexed conceits For seeing the light of Nature is one thing and of Grace another it happens so to them as if they saw two Suns And seeing the Actions of Life and degrees of the Will to depend on the Understanding it follows that they doubt are inconstant no less in Will than in Opinion and so in like manner they may be said to see two Thebes For by Thebes seeing there was the habitation and refuge of Pentheus is meant the end of Actions Hence it comes to pass that they know not whither they go but as distracted and unresolved in the scope of their intentions are in all things carried about with sudden Passions of the Mind ORPHEVS or Philosophy THe tale of Orpheus though common had never the fortune to be fitly applied in every point It may seem to represent the Image of Philosophy For the Person of Orpheus a Man admirable and divine and so excellently skilled in all kind of harmony that with his sweet ravishing Musick he did as it were charm and allure all things to follow him may carry a singular description of Philosophy For the labours of Orpheus do so far exceed the labours of Hercules in dignity and efficacy as the Works of Wisdom excel the Works of Fortitude Orpheus for the love he bare to his Wife snatcht as it were from him by untimely Death resolved to go down to Hell with his Harp to try if he might obtain her of the infernal power Neither were his hopes frustrated For having appeased them with the melodious sound of his voice and touch prevailed at length so far as that they granted him leave to take her away with him but on this condition that she should follow him and he not to look back upon her till he came to the light of the upper World which he impatient of out of love and care and thinking that he was in a manner past all danger nevertheless violated insomuch that the Covenant is broken and she forthwith tumbles back again headlong into Hell Orpheus falling into a deep melancholy became a contemner of Women kind and bequeathed himself to a solitary life in the Desarts where by the same melody of his voice and Harp he first drew all manner of wild Beasts unto him who forgetful of their savage fierceness and casting off the precipitate provocations of lust and fury not caring to satiate their voracity by hunting after prey as at a Theatre in fawning and reconciled amity one towards another standing all at the gaze about him and attentively lend their Ears to his Musick Neither is this all for so great was the power and alluding force of this harmony that he drew the Woods and moved the very Stones to come and place themselves in an orderly and decent fashion about him These things succeeding happily and with great admiration for a time at length certain Thracian Women possest with the spirit of Bacchus made such a horrid and strange noise with their Cornets that the sound of Orpheuss Harp could no more be heard insomuch as that harmony which was the bond of that Order and Society being dissolved all disorder began again and the Beasts returning to their wonted Nature pursued one another unto Death as before Neither did the Trees or Stones remain any longer in their places And Orpheus himself was by these Female furies torn in pieces and scattered all over the Desart For whose cruel Death the River Helicon sacred to the Muses in horrible indignation hid his Head under ground and raised it again in another place The meaning of this Fable seems to be thus Orpheus's Musick is of two sorts the one appeasing the Infernal Powers the other attracting Beasts and Trees The first may be fitly applied to Natural Philosophy the second to Moral or Civil Discipline The most noble work of Natural Philosophy is the Restitution and Renovation of things corruptible the other as a lesser degree of it the Preservation of Bodies in their Estates detaining them from dissolution and putrefaction and if this gift may be in Mortals certainly it can be done by no other means than by the due and exquisite temper of Nature as by the melody and delicate touch of an Instrument But seeing it is of all things most difficult it is seldom or never attained unto and in all likelihood for no other reason more than through curious diligence and untimely impatience And therefore Philosophy hardly able to produce so excellent an effect in a pensive humour and that without cause busies her self about Humane Objects and by Persuasion and Eloquence insinuating the love of Vertue Equity and Concord in the minds of Men draws multitudes of People to a Society makes them subjects to Laws obedient to Government and forgetful of their unbridled Affections whil●st they give ear to Precepts and submit themselves to Discipline whence follows the building of Houses erecting of Towns planting of Fields and Orchards with Trees and the like insomuch that it would not be amiss to say That even thereby Stones and Woods were called together and setled in order And after serious trial made and frustrated about the restoring of a body mortal this care of Civil affairs follows in his due place because by a plain demonstration of the unevitable necessity of death Mens minds are moved to seek Eternity by the fame and glory of their Merits It is also wisely said in the Fable that Orpheus was averse from the love of Women and Marriage because the delights of Wedlock and the love of Children do for the most part hinder Men from enterprising great and noble designs for the publick good holding Posterity a sufficient step to Immortality without Actions Besides even the very works of Wisdom although amongst all Humane things they do most excel do nevertheless meet with their periods For it happens that after Kingdoms and Commonwealths