hardneth the body to the performance thereof And surely if the griefe which wee very often feele and endure had so much violence in the continuation as in the first excesse thereof the courage and strength of man would proue too weake so long to resist it The Irons which were clapp'd on the hands and feete of the Philosopher seem'd not so heauie to him the second day as the first and when they tooke them from him to make him swallow downe the poyson which was prepared for him that very day and time hee saw his consolation to spring and arise from his griefe and in the middest of his tortures and executioners the subiect of pleasure and ioy Consider then if there remaine any thing to thy pride wherewith it should swell and growe so great but Vanity and what weapons there are left thee to fight against thy misfortune but onely Patience which ought to make thee acknowledge that thou art indebted for thy slauery but onely to thy selfe because Nature hath assisted thee with her best power and that for the rest shee referres it hee to ordaine according to the rules of thy sufficiencie Or if thou wilt yet know the head spring and originall from whence arise so many discontents in our life it is because men feare as Mortalls and desire as Immortalls They binde the liuing to the dead Diuine with Humane They will ingraft the head of a God vpon the body of a Hogge so their desires which are deriued from this superiour part giues no end to their impatiencie Their feare in this soule and inferiour part giues lesse truce to their true torment and the one and the other draw for our misfortune an affliction and paine of that which is not because they labour for the future as for the present vpon the empty as vpon the full and vpon the inanitie as the substance Enterprises begun hold our mindes in suspence those which are desperate in sorrow as if some byas which we haue to manage and turne those things which present themselues to vs could not meete but with causes of affliction and misery and as if ambitious of our owne misfortune wee deuance and runne before to meete it and that it were impossible for vs to gather a Rose except by the prickle Also griefe hath more Art to make vs feele it then pleasure hath ioy to make vs tast it A little affliction presseth vs farre more then an extreame contentment and in reuoking to minde those things which time hath stolne from our eyes it seemes that our memory is better edged by the sharpnesse of those things which we haue felt then by the polishing of those things which haue but as it were rased our vnderstanding Our remembrance cannot keepe firme his foote slides and as soone failes him Our thoughts flye vpon things past and stop not but at that which she findes sharpe angry and difficult to digest so the time past which afflicts vs the present which troubleth vs and the future which denounceth warre to our desires or feares doth hinder vs from relishing any thing which is pure Homer who put two Tunnes at the entry of Iupiters doore of Good and Euill ought to haue said that the Good was reserued for the Gods and the other remained in partage to men or that Iupiter being a louer of that which was good as hee is the cause was too couetous in his expenses and with one hand was too prodigall in powring out Euils vpon mankind Good and Euill is in all things and euery where intermixed so confusedly and are so neere one to the other that it is not in our weake power to marke the difference thereof except by that place which doth neerest touch and concerne vs which is that of griefe and sorrow Which side so euer wee bend or encline it is still towards that of misery Consider the inconstancy and irresolution of thy desires It is not in thine owne power to stay firme and permanent in one condition and qualitie That if thy sensuall appetite could bee the Iudge and Arbitrator of her owne voluptuousnesse and that shee were left to doe what shee pleased I yet doubt that shee would still finde some thing to craue or desire For this hungry and insatiable desire which carrieth her to that which is not and the displeasing taste which is intermixt in the enioying thereof makes vs presently weary thereof Which is the reason why the Wiseman craued nothing of GOD but the effects of his diuine will requiring that which was truly proper and necessary for him But as our desires are wauing and different so our will is weake towards good or euill and cannot absolutely beare it selfe towards the one and the other without some bruse or hurt deriued from the croude and confusion of our owne proper desires We can difficultly agree with our selfe and none with a firme and an assured heart can suggest any wicked act but that his conscience repines and murmures within him Shee cannot consent vnto crime and thorowe so great a masse of flesh she discouereth and accuseth her selfe for want of witnesses Or if despight her power she cannot disclose it yet shee then secretly scratcheth and incessantly excruciateth her selfe Constancie and Vertue which the Philosopher would lodge in the heart of the Wise man as in a sacred Temple is it so firme that it will neuer shake No it is a Vanity to thinke so But as the world is but a perpetuall dance or brawle so shee goes from one dance to another a little more languishing And as in a sicke body the parts lesse offended with paine and the contagion of the disease are termed sound so among this great troope of men the least vitious are termed vertuous and wee terme that firme and constant which moues not with so much swiftnesse and leuity as the rest Qualities haue no title but in the comparison Those Boates which seeme so great on the Riuer of Seine are very little at Sea and that resplendant vertue of the antient Philosophers which diffuseth and darts forth so much brightnesse among vs doth owe this aduantage to mens folly and ignorance Shee will be found vitious if shee submit her selfe to be sounded and to suffer the last touch and triall because the diuine wisedome hath baptised ours with Vanity Weakenesse and Folly To giue it more Firmity shee hath neede of a foundation more solide then the heart of man For as the fixed starres in their disposition and scituation ought notwithstanding to obey the course motion of heauen so constancie doth alwayes wheele and waue about and despight her selfe is obliged to the motion and inconstancie of that whereunto it is tyed and fastned The wisest doth nothing else but goe astray in all his actions and if he strike vpon the point of constancie it is most commonly by indirect meanes and wayes Hee neuer aymes where he strikes Hee resembleth those Muskatieres who knowing their defect or fault take their ayme
whereto we aspire Wee may as soone ariue there by diuerting our face as by following it by the eyes of our hope as well as Rowers who by turning their backes obtaine the port of their desires The greatest good which we can finde in the goods of Fortune is not to seeke or research thâ—m To flie that which is subiect to deceiâ—e our hopes is the surest meanes to meete with what we desire We must stop and stay our hopes in the very beginning of their conceptions sith the good which assembles them by the name or forme of greatnesse is false and gratifies none lesse then those who follow the glimmering light and brightnesse thereof Yea it is so farre from true good as it commonly falls out vnto vs as to a child who gazing at the flame of the Candle is so taken and rauished with the sight and beauty thereof as he thrusts his hand to it but hauing crâ—sh'd it in his fingers he extinguisheth the light thereof and so burnes himselfe for wanâ— of iudgement So we follow the rayes of Fortune but being possessed of it wee eclipse the lustre thereof in our owne hands whereof wee were formerly enamoured and delighted which leaues vs a very sharpe and sensible burning to the preiudice of our reputation Because if our desire succeede our hope presently enkindleth a new one which nourished by this becomes farre more violent then the formâ—r as fire if the wood or matter faile not enkindleth infinite more Wee must therefore stop the flight and current thereof betimes and if reason giue no end to our hopes let vs not hope that Fortune is capable to doe it For it is impossible for her to giue true content and tranquillity to our soule because true tranquillity cannot be meant or expounded but by the vniformitie and resemblance of the like or equall thinâ—s But as the Circle and the Square of Geometricians cannot comprise or containe one and the same space and that the figure and superficies of the one is not entirely filled by the figure and superficies of the other So the Soule which is the Image of God and therefore simple and circular if wee will vse the Words of the Cabalists agreeing in all and by all with it selfe it is impossible that shee can be equally comprized among the bounds of other figures multiplied and composed of many parts and angels I meane of worldly pleasures and fauours of Fortune which cannot satisfie her and which by this insacietie doeth sufficiently testifie their insufficiency We must therefore ecclips the wings of our hope and if possible wee can stop her as soone as she beginnes to take her birth and flight or else temperately imploy her in the research of Riches whose veine is so deepely and profoundly hidden within vs. Neuerthelesse because the winde of this passion seemes to appease the fire and ardor of our discontents and that the most violent griefe that can be feeles it selfe ouer-mastred by the very point and consideration of hope we must in this regard suffer and endure it and make vse thereof in those inconueniences where the constancy of the Soule findes her selfe to be very weake because too strongly assaulted and assailed Misfortunes which threaten vs doe not alwayes befall and surprise vs but are many times diuerted by other accidents and some times by the ruine of their owne authours Such a one hath prepared poyson for another who hath beene choaked therewith himselfe And when this Euill or Misfortune should be ineuitable yet the good which wee haue receiued by the sweet flattery of our hopes cannot yet be taine away or bereaued from vs. But when we are not besieged by sharpe and violent afflictions and that our Estate and Condition being farre distant from the great blowes of Fortune makes vs to respire the aire of a sweet and pleasant life what neede we then to make our selues blinde in the middest of our good fortune to forsake and stray from our selues by the inraged licentiousnesse which we giue to our desires to flie the good which we possesse to contemne that which we haue obtained purchased it may be which heretofore hath inflamed vs with the lik desire to enioy it as that which now torments vs through the hope of a new good and where we may yet finde lesse saciety then in the former And this is the most dangerous blow wherewith our Enemie I meane Fortune can offend vs for what disturbance and torment is it which surpriseth our hope when she inforceth her selfe to breake all those lets and obstacles which oppose our desire She changeth our good into euill so that which should comfort vs in our griefe and sorrowes doeth change the sweetnesse and tranquillitie of our liues and ingendereth afflictions and crosses in the middest of our contentments and felicities SECTION VI. Feare casts her selfe into the future time as into a darke and obscure place thereby with a small cause or subiect to giue vs the greater wonder and astonishment HOpe and Feare are Sister-germaines but as that heates our desire and inflames our courage to the most generous actions so this quencheth and deads it by the Ice of her vaine apprehensions Among those things which we should apprehend I finde none more worthy of feare then feare it selfe because from an imaginary euill she knowes how to draw most sharpe and bitter sorrowes and being ingenious to worke our sorrow shee runnes before the good which may befall vs disguiseth them apparelleth them with her owne liuery and by this meanes giues the name of Enemy to him that comes purposely to assist vs. But what suspition can we haue of him who vnder the cloake and shadow of good will comes to counsell vs to our preiudice and damage This Chimaera beates at our breasts and aduertiseth it that his Enemy is at the gate which is true but it is with so great terrour and trembling that it makes vs incapable of counsell It is by this art and subtilty that she deliuers vs vp to our Enemy of whose approaches she had foretold vs. So as if we giue eare to her pernitious designes she makes vs distrust our owne proper good and by these euill courses changeth the tranquillity and sweetnesse of our life For what pleasure doeth the enioying of any good bring vs if it be still accompanied with the feare of losing it She incessantly tells vs of bad euents and teacheth vs thereby that the surest things for our content are subiect to the inconstancy of Fortune which with one backe-blow shakes and ouerthrowes the strongest foundations of our tranquillity As our Desire is not inflamed but to seeke good so our feare aimes onely to flie and eschew euill Pouertie Death and Griefe are the liueliâ—st coullers wherewiâ—h wee can depaint the cause of our feares Wee haue formerly shewen that Pouerty is onely euill in our opinion whose points are not sharpned but by the temper of our owne imaginations But it is in vaine to feare
doth still sensibly and extreamely afflict him therewith So that which is mediocrity can be supported and endured by the constancie of our vertue without astonishing or mouing her and yet neuerthelesse not without offering some outrage and violence to our felicity But sith she exceedes the powers of patience there is no courage so ambitious but will be strucken and beaten downe to the ground by the thunder of Fortune whereof I no way feare the threatnings but the blowes and happy is he that can preuent and hinder that his feare deuance not the effect thereof SECTION V. Although wee graunt that Mans felicity consists in Vertue which is not absolutely true yet I affirme against the Stoickes that felicity is incompatible with griefe and paine THe noyse of weapons as one reporteth hindreth the voyce of Lawes but I beleeue with Zenos Scholler that the noyse of weapons and assaults of paine should more iustly hinder vs from vnderstanding the precepts of Philosophie This Philosopher being besieged by the sharpe points of griefe and paine seeing that it was more perswasiue to make him confesse that it was euill then the power of all his Stoicall reasons were to the contrary He ingeniously confessed that it was an euill because all his long study and time which hee had employed in Philosophie could not secure him from the torment and lesse againe from the trouble and impatiencie which griefe and paine brought him A Sect so rigorous that as one of them said It will neither rebate nor diminish any thing of the felicity of a Wise man although he were in Phalaris his Bull For felicity consists in vertue and this vertue is the vse of perfect reason which wee carie to goodnesse This reason conserues it selfe whole and found in the middes of rackes torments and afflictions and consequently this felicity I contrariwise say that so perfect a felicity is imaginary and although it were true and reall that necessarily it is changed by griefe and paine For the first head heereof I say That nature hath imprinted in all creatures a desire to compasse their owne ends whereunto being arriued they seeme to feele the true perfection of their being from which being estranged and separated they suffer if wee may say so some paine in their insensibility The simple bodies ariue more easily hereunto hauing nothing in them which contradicts this desire The compounded as they enclose and shut vp many contrary qualities they cannot attaine to this perfection because their desires and obiects being different and contrary one cannot enioy his tranquillity but with the preiudice of the others but if it fall out that they are dissolued and diuided by the fire then euery one retires to that part where his desire calls him But among the compounded there is none more multiplied then man because it seemes that nature would assemble in him as in a small compendium or Epitome all that which is generally defused in all sublunarie bodies and farâ—e the more because the soule being conioyned with it she hath brought her desire with her which tending to an infinite obiect giues her selfe but small rest and yet lesse to him of whom she hath the gouernment and conduction Therefore man being composed of so many contrary things hee nourisheth a discord and perpetuall ciuill warre within him and it is as it were impossible for him to appease it because the remedy of the one is the poyson of the other Heauen is the center of light things and Earth of those which are ponderous and heauie that as the compound of these two still obayes the predominate quality in such sort that hee cannot ariue to his centre without offering violence to the least So besides the contrary inclination of all the compounds which slide into the structure and fabrique of man wee must chiefely obserue and remarke these two Of the party Inferiour and Superiour Sensitiue and Reasonable who incessanâ—ly oppose and contradict each other and whereof the one cannot be in hiâ— perfect peace and tranquillity except the other bee farre remote and distant from his because their obiects being contrary and distant one from the other at one time they cannot be in diuers places nor much lesse in one and the same place without quarels and dissention for which cause and reason man cannot hope for perfect felicity in his life sith it ought to bee tearm'd of an vniuersall repose and tranquillity If an Enemie set fire to all the foure corners of a Citie and batter it with an intent to ruine and take it can we beleeue it is in peace because the Gouernour thereof is in a place of assurance and security So the minde being farre distant from the assaults and blowes of Fortune is not a good consequence of tranquillity and perfect felicity it will remaine then imperfect as man himselfe remaines imperfect and he should not be man if he had but one of these parties and priuiledges wherefore we may affirme that the vse of this perfect reason should not be this perfect felicity if it ioyne not with her the repose and tranquillity of her companion the body which should haue the better part in felicity because it is he true touchstone of good and euill as we haue formerly shewed In the second place I say That put the cause that felicity consists in the vse of perfect reason and that shee cannot long sympathize and agree with paine because all the faculties of the Soule in generall suffer according to the motions and alterations of the body So Reason is a materiall and corporall effect which hath her roote in the soule and which cannot perfect her selfe but by the benefit of the organes and the temperate concurrence of the refined spirits of the bloud which if they are of too great a number or quantity then they subuert embroyle yea confound themselues and become brutish and beastly as you see they doe by excesse of wine or sleepe And if there bee any defect they degenerate into capriciousnes or weakenesse of braine and ratiocination But aboue all she depends of the good disposition of the organes the minde being more liuely and actiue in health then sicknes A sweet and cleare ayre and a faire day doth cleare and consolidate the iudgement sharpens our wit dispelleth melancholly makes our reason more masculine and vigorous and in a word makes vs ciuiller and honester men Reason is engendered and growes with our body their powers are brought vp together and wee know that its infancie vigour maturity age and decrepitude doe commonly follow the age and temper of the body And what then if this body bee afflicted with griefe or paine shall shee not feele it What shall wee say of those whose excesse and violence of paine caries them to swooning and convulsions which proceedes and happens because the spirits of bloud being changed by this violence doe diuert themselues from their ordinary course and put themselues into disorder and confusion in the organ so that
another because on toucheth vs not more then another But our weake sight cannot support or suffer the darts and blowes of the Sunne as of some Torch or simple light Wee must then acknowledge and confesse that it is the obiect which toucheth it more or lesse sith Nature hath operated most wisely in vs in giuing vs senses which by their proper power and suggestion would beare themselues to our ruine and confusion Which would fall out if the effect that wee feele in our sight by the splendour of the Sunne proceeded onely from the visible facultie and not from the blowe or the touch of the Sunne But all obiects which come to strike our sight in a reasonable distance shee will be ioyfull in this meeting and feeling shee sees and knowes this obiect as much as shee can according to the resemblance and conformity betweene her and that which toucheth her Hearing is nothing else but a feeling of the tune or sound in this part the which accordingly more or lesse as it strikes our eare makes the sound graue or harsh sweet or displeasing and if it strike vs too rudely and violently it then not onely toucheth the eare but all the whole body as when a great noyse or thunder makes all things tremble and shake vnder vs and seemes to strike and astonish the foundations of houses by this suddaine and violent feeling In a word feeling is performed by the meanes of the ayre which according to the power of the obiect and as it is bent against vs or such part of our body makes either the visible the sound the smell the tast or the feeling which is vniuersally ouer all the body and which the common people beleeue doth onely merrit the name of feeling Neuerthelesse because in all doubtfull matters my humour is not to affirme any thing I therefore leaue to the opinion and iudgement of euery one the free choyse and liberty to beleeue what he pleaseth And I care not if they are one or many sith the diuersity of their functions seemes to merit if not an essentiall difference yet a different name It sufficeth that wee haue the centre of their operations in the common sence which together verifies their stile their rule their forme If he abuse it I appeale Hee is Iudge and party Neuerthelesse because the multiplicity of motions of that thing which passeth in our thoughts and which to this end is refined by the labour of the operation of vnderstanding seemes at first aboard to disburthen it selfe of that which is grossest in her and not to retaine but the simplest and most perfect Essence to make it the sweeter and more familiar to the tast and palate of the minde yet I doubt that shee estrangeth her selfe the more and that the more she is spiritualiz'd to our fantasie and minde the lesse shee discouereth her selfe and the more she growes great and corporall to our vnderstanding I meane she estrangeth her selfe from the truth SECTION III. Nature being iealous of secrets permits not the senses to discouer the essences of things nor that they can conuey any thing to our Vnderstanding that is not chang'd and corrupted by them in the passage THe so different opinion of things makes vs plainely see that wee are not yet arriued thereunto Wee cannot take hold of them in a good place wee deuest them at the entrance of their proper qualities and receiue new knowledge of the minde and such impression as shee pleaseth Of the obiect which presents it selfe to vs euery one of our senses seize that which is pleasing and proper to him except the essence that is to say the true being thereof so that all our Art is to know the obiect by this sort but not that he is of this sort Vice and the defect of our knowledge doth not change or alter it in any thing The childe which lookes thorowe a red glasse hath hee not cause to laugh to see thy face of that colour but hast thou not more cause to laugh to see how he is abused and deceiued and the soule which in our body will intermeddle to iudge all according as it is athwart so many grosse and thicke glasses as are our senses and susceptible of so many different colours Doth she afford lesse cause Againe if all that we see we sawe to be all of one sort wee might then establish a certaine knowledge of our ignorance and not of the thing for the true Being and Essence thereof is in it selfe and cannot discouer it selfe to our knowledge Truth cannot glide and passe into our vnderstanding because our senses change and corrupt that which it brings vs from without and that of things which by them comes into our fancies is obscured in its passage And as much difference and distance as there is betweene the thing and the image and resemblance thereof so much difference there is betweene the true reality of the thing and that which wee imagine wee know yea there is more for betweene man and his picture there is some resemblance but our senses being too weake to apprehend and comprehend that of truth cannot so much as represent vs the image or figure thereof because there is no comparison or resemblance betweene true and false But our senses deceiue themselues and contradict and contrary one the other as in painting the picture which in our eyes seemes a corporall statue is found smooth and flat when we feele it In these contrary apparances the one must needes be true and the other false if rather they are not both false The senses therefore do not carie the image of truth to common sense sith the image ought still to be the resemblance of the thing If wee presse the corner of our eye wee shall see two Candles for one Our hearing being somewhat stopped receiues sounds otherwise then they are The sicke Patient findes wine sowre and bitter which in health he holdes to be sweet and pleasant The Senses likewise finde themselues abused by the power of the vnderstanding The passions of the soule change their function Loue placeth a thousand rarities of beauty in her obiect and Hatred and Disdaine as many imperfections The Vermilion and the Ceruse which to our knowledge adornes and beautifies the face of a woman enflames our amorous desires and despight of all these shewes and apparances we say they will neuer fade or faile and wee shall be beleeued to haue farre more reason to quarell the truth thereof it selfe then to contradict it It is true that if thereon wee are prest or called in question wee cannot retire farther backe we must fight and it hazardeth the entire losse of Arts and Sciences In such a cause I know it is farre fitter to cast away our weapons then to vse them and not to support so vniust a quarell with so weake defences I know not who shall be iudge hereof and for my part I name and institute complesancie to be Arbitrator of this difference And
them more curiously and attentiuely then we would doe a Statue of Gold or Siluer which we our selues haue seene made although it were farre more inriched by the art and labour of an excellent workeman and this onely because we haue seene a deformed massie piece thereof whereon he hath began to labour Let him hencefoorth doe what he can he cannot remooue this thought from our minde where as the other hath neuer appeared to vs but in his lustre So those whom we haue seene to play the men like our selues their Oracles and Prophets haue not beene approoued or esteemed among vs as those antient Philosophers whom it seemes that we cannot otherwise imagine then with their eyes and thoughts tyed fast to the bosome of the Diuinity and in a perpetuall re-search of the dependance and vniting together of second causes to this first sacred spring and fountaine we haue neuer seene them in their bed table or family If one and the same Age had made them our time-fellowes I know not if the familiarity of their life had not distasted vs of the familiaritie of their wits That Medales are not prised but for their rust and age and that Man so weake and wretched he is deserues no honour or praise but of those to whom he is vnknowne if his memory be too recent and fresh if the fame of his vertues be as yet but in his Orient he aduanceth with much difficulty For as at the rising of the Sunne we see a great thicke fogge of grosse vapours which seemes to arise but onely purposely to ecclipse and darken his light vntill with a bold and resolute pace he trample vnder his feete the pride of this malignant fogge who is so ielous and enuious of his brightnesse But in the middest of his course hauing attained the point of our Zenith then he seemes to Triumph ouer his Enemies as antiently vnder the Image of Apollo he quelled the arrogancy of that infamous Serpent of the Earth So I say the fame and glory of all those Illustrious personages hath commonly found its death in its cradle and in her very birth is still found obscured yea almost defaced by the hot vapours of a thousand enuious Spirits vntill that after the tract of many yeeres it in the end remaines Victorious of their life and likewise prooues so of their callumnie And then ariued to the point of the Zenith their merits haue found no farther hinderance to oreshadowe their glory and the length of time hauing transported them from our sight hath then likewise transported and secured them from the darts of enuie and scandall If Truth were borne or resided in the tongue of our neighbour it should be vndervalued yea contemned whereas we receiue it as an Oracle from that of a Stranger I admire not if those of elder times were so ambiguous in their answeres for the difficulty and intricacie thereof brought them more admiration We haue too bad an opinion of our selues in this onely and too good in all other things If hee who by the iudgement hee makes of man in generall would yet vse him with more contempt so as it were equally we then should haue nothing to gaine-say prouided I say That a Stranger which comes not to vs but by his writings and by that which is best in him could not hope for more particular fauour and applause then another among vs. But because it seemes that the glory which wee giue and conferre to this last diminish our owne we will therefore giue it farre cheaper and for lesse interest to him whom wee haue not seene and hauing nothing to intermeddle or doe with him But for an end to all it is alwayes man who giues and man who receiues As long as Art aad learning is found in him it shall still be to him a reproach of incertainty and ignorance O that the life of man is farre different from his Writings yea from himselfe Our Pen rules and gouernes the thoughts which we commit to paper and inconstancie those which wee permit to runne vpon the waues of our imagination but whosoeuer could see them in grosse and in their ordinary demarch and pace shall finde little lesse cause to laugh at the vanity and inanity of one then the other and at the fantasie of a Philosopher then wee doe at the May-games of a childe For despight of the order and polishing which we vse in the dependance and connexion of our discourse wee cannot for the most part auoide or preuent that our reasons doe not contend and assaile one the other as well as their effects In this small and short discourse there are contradictions enough but it matters not Reason contradicts her selfe and my opinion can turne it selfe no way whatsoeuer that shee meete not with some of her owne party and who will maintaine her in the point of her reasons so much humane knowledge hath of auerse and different faces Wee incessantly turne round about obiects and we can neither seize nor apprehend them but by strange qualities and outward apparances But the apparance and the subiect it selfe are different things If then our iudgement stop onely to apparances or outward shewes hee iudgeth of some thing which is not the subiect What certaintie in this incertaintie What light amidst so much darknesse What truth I say can result or arriue to vs if the matter or subiect according to the opinion of Pythagoras be in perpetuall changes and reuolution If wee haue no participation of a true being If all humane nature be still in the midst betweene birth and death the time present betwixt the past and the future and if it be true that Reason receiues nothing but which is brought him from without by the meanes and interuention of the senses which cast great mists betweene the true and false and betweene the obiect and the thought She can very difficultly come to the knowledge of Truth a-thwart so many cloudes of lusts Loues feares and hopes and of an infinity of false formes which frequently arise from our body to ouer-vaile and shadow our minde and to trouble the power of our imagination That if our soule doe not estrange her selfe from the contagion of the body and from his fantasies and frenzies it is in vaine that she attempt to reason or consult so certainly without the assistance of particular grace or speciall priuiledge which may descend to him from aboue She ought to know that shee is shut vp and confined in our body as in a strange place True it is shee beares about her this diuine desire of knowledge but it is a coyne or money which doth nothing else but vnprofitably load and charge her because it hath no currant course in that Country where she is The senses vnderstand not her language so that vnder their pleasure and mercy shee is enforced and constrained to content her selfe with what portion it pleaseth them to giue her Her morsels are cut if shee thinke to escape this
is small likelihood or reason that our good consists more in others then in our selues whereby it were to permit that Fortune should take part which delights in nothing more then in crossing and affâ—icting vs. It is not with felicity as it is witâ— fortune Such haue honours which they merit and deserue not but none can buy this felicity but with the price of merit Princes thinke of nothing so much as how to extend the bounds of their Empires to the confines of the world and to see their selues onely absolute in this Soueraigne power Alexander neuerthelesse agrees not hereunto as whether his designe was yet more generous or that he hath acknowledged his abuse and vanity in this point But the one and the other deceiue themselues in their opinions and take a part for the whole One Swallow or faire day makes not a Summer So the assistance of one of these contentments being separated and vntyed from the huge number thereof they are not sufficient to make a man be iustly term'd happy no more then a man for hauing performed one act of Vertue ought to be term'd vertuous because it is an exercise which consists of many actions and which so often repeated composeth a custome or habit A Captaine cannot be stiled victorious who hauing defeated a squadron of the contrary side in the end sees his Armie ouerthrowne by the rest of his Enemies So repute not him happy who surmounts and vanquisheth his Choler and other wayes leaues the better part of his minde and affections in prey to Couetousnesse Ambition or some other vice which captiuates and torments him SECTION II. It is without reason that we complaine of Fortune because hourely shee teacheth vs her mutable and variable humour AS there is but Fortune and Vertue who share and diuide our passions it is they also who communicate vs all that wee terme goods or riches yea our felicity it selfe Let vs iudge of that who hath giuen vs the better part and let vs equally weigh and ballance the fauours which we receiue It seemes to me that Fortune aduanceth and comes forth first to meete vs Deck'd and embellished in her richest attire and Ornaments to heat and enflame our affections and to make vs feele the obligations wherewith shee enchaines and captiuates our wills It is true I cannot consent or adhaere with those who do not sufficiently feele and acknowledge it and testifie by iniurying her the vice of their owne vnderstanding I too much esteeme and prife equity not to confesse ingeniously as well the good as the euill which we finde in our Enemie Nothing engageth mee but Iustice nothing enforceth me but reason But what reason is there that thou who hast opened her all thy dores and who hast issued foorth to meete and salute Fortune to receiue her into thy house that thou wilt quarell with her when shee is there or because she giues thee that too late which pleaseth thy ambition or that shee too sparingly bestowes her fauours and treasures on thee to satisfie the taste and palate of thy distempered and irregular appetites Or because shee is weary to reside and dwell so long vnder one roofe shee retires other wheres That which shee hath lent thee shee hath departed with out of her pure liberality and therefore what reason is there that thou contest and quarell with her because shee withdrawes it It may be thou hast not vnderstoode the clauses and conditions of her bargaine For for a time she giues vs the vse and profit of her goods but she neuer dispossesseth her selfe of their propriety And in retiring hath shee caried away any thing that was not her owne What shall become of thy obligation and debt to her for her presents Shall their absence haue the credit wholy to wipe off and deface it If any one had reached thee out his hand to withdraw thee out of a mire were it reasonable that thou shouldst quarell with him because hee would not carie thee home to his house on his shoulders Liberality hath his limits in his intents and not in the will of others who neuer say it is enough Otherwise what Monarch by his guifts could content and satiate the will of the meanest Shepheard which encreasing by the enioyance of those things which his desire proposeth him raiseth himselfe by little and little to so excessiue a degree of pride and arrogancie that the possession of the whole world and of all which it containes will yet be found to be inferiour to his ambitions He who lends or giues doth still oblige when hee performes more then hee owes When one lends thee any thing hath he no more right to aske and demand it of thee Whereof doest thou then complaine Doth it not remaine that thou shouldst thanke him for the time which thou has enioyed it If shee take leaue of thee goe and conduct her home to her dore It is true shee is so good and pleasing a companion that wee cannot suffer her seperation without griefe but there is no reason that we should enforce her against her will and nature to remaine so long time in one place because shee delights in nothing more then in mutability and change The law of ciuility permits vs not to quarel with him who comes to oblige vs by visiting vs if his visite seeme too short to vs. Where then is the wrong which Fortune hath done thee what is the griefe whereof thou complainest Doest thou not know her Artifice who to make her fauours more pleasing and desirable withdrawes them for a time Her absence makes our loue more violent and thereby makes it doe homage which her presence could neuer draw from our tongue the estimation which wee make of things being of this nature that it neuer tyes it selfe but to those things which we haue not and contempt contrariwise to that which wee possesse and enioy But the same inconstancie which dislodg'd her will it may be cause her returne There is nothing constant in her but onely her inconstancie nor so durable as her mutability Polycrates knowing very well her humour to content her vicissitude and changeablenesse without giuing her the paine to come home to him beleeued that he had sufficiently satisfied her due and interest in throwing into the Sea a iewell of an inestimable value But to shew that shee will not that any one shall act and play her part but that she will take and chuse at her pleasure shee caused this Iewell againe to returne to him found in the belly of a fish which was serued in to him on his Table Nothing displeaseth her but our resolution nothing contents her but our weakenesse and pusillanimity To contemne that which shee giues vs is the meanes to enioy it long because she difficultly resolues to withdrawe the good which she hath done vs if at least shee haue not formerly endomaged our vertue or corrupted vs by her familiarity In the meane time I perceiue not that her weapons