Selected quad for the lemma: cause_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
cause_n	evil_a	good_a	suspicion_n	1,645	5	12.6412	5	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A59183	Seneca's morals abstracted in three parts : I. of benefits, II. of a happy life, anger, and clemency, III. a miscellany of epistles / by Roger L'Estrange.	Seneca, Lucius Annaeus, ca. 4 B.C.-65 A.D.; L'Estrange, Roger, Sir, 1616-1704.	1679 (1679)	Wing S2522; ESTC R19372	313,610	994

Condition Upon these Thoughts I betake my self to my Philosophy and then methinks I am not well unless I put my self into some Publick Employment Not for the Honor or the Profit of it but only to place my self in a Station where I may be serviceable to my Country and to my Friends But when I come on the other side to consider the Uneasiness the Abuses and the Loss of Time that attends Publick Affairs I get me home again as fast as I can and take up a Resolution of spending the Remainder of my dayes within the Privacy of my own Walls How great a madness is it to set our hearts upon Trifles especially to the neglect of the most serious Offices of our Lives and the most important End of our Being How Miserable as well as Short is their Life that Compass with great Labor what they Possess with Greater and Hold with Anxiety what they Acquire with Trouble But we are govern'd in all things by Opinion and every thing is to us as we Believe it What is Poverty but a Privative and not intended of what a Man Has but of that which he has Not The great Subject of Humane Calamities is Mony Take all the Rest together as Death Sickness Fear Desire Pain Labor and those which proceed from Mony exceed them all 'T is a Wonderful Folly that of Tumblers Rope-Dancers Divers and what pains they take and what hazards they run for an Inconsiderable Gain And yet we have not Patience for the Thousandth Part of that trouble though it would put us into the Possession of an everlasting Quiet Epicurus for Experiment sake confin'd himself to a narrower Allowance than that of the Severest Prisons to the most Capital Offenders and found himself at Ease too in a stricter Diet than any Man in the Worst Condition needs to Fear This was to prevent Fortune and to Frustrate the Worst which she can do We should never know any thing to be Superfluous but by the Want of it How many things do we provide only because Others have them and for fashion sake Caligula offer'd Demetrius 5000 Crowns who rejected them with a Smile as who should say It was so little it did him no honor the refusing of it Nothing less sayes he than the Offer of his whole Empire could have been a Temptation to have try'd the Firmness of my Virtue By this Contempt of Riches is intended only the Fearless Possession of them And the way to attain That is to perswade our selves that we may live Happily without them How many of those things which Reason formerly told us were Superfluous and Mimical do we now find to be so by Experience But we are misled by the Counterfeit of Good on the One hand and the Suspicion of Evil on the Other Not that Riches are an Efficient Cause of Mischief but they are a Precedent Cause by way of Irritation and Attraction For they have so near a Resemblance of Good that most People take them to be Good Nay Virtue it self is also a Precedent Cause of Evil as many are Envy'd for their Wisdom or for their Justice Which does not arise from the thing it self but from the Irreprovable power of Virtue that forces all Men to Admire and to Love it That is not Good that is More Advantageous to us but That which is Only so EPIST. VI. The Blessings of a Virtuous Retirement How we come to the Knowledge of Virtue A Distinction betwixt Good and Honest. A Wise Man Contents himself with his Lot THere is no Opportunity of Enquiring Where you are What you do and What Company you keep that scapes me And I am well enough pleas'd that I can hear nothing concerning you for it shews that you live Retir'd Not but that I durst trust you with the wide World too But however it is not easie such a General Conversation Nor is it absolutely safe neither for though it could not Corrupt you it would yet Hinder you Now wheresoever you are know that I am with you and you are so to Live as if I both heard and saw you Your Letters are really Blessings to me and the sense of your Emprovements relieves me even under the Consideration of my own decay Remember that as I am Old so are you Mortal Be true to your Self and Examine your self whether you be of the same Mind to day that you were yesterday for That 's a Sign of Perfect Wisdom And yet give me leave to tell you that though Change of Mind be a Token of Imperfection it is the Business of my Age to Unwill One day that which I Will'd Another And let me recommend it to your Practice too in many Cases for the Abatement of our Appetites and of our Errors is the best Entertainment of Mankind It is for Young Men to Gather Knowledge and for Old Men to Use it And assure your self that no Man gives a fairer Accompt of his time than he that makes it his daily Study to make himself Better If you be in Health and think it worth your while to become the Master of your Self it is my Desire and my Advice that you apply your self to Wisdom with your whole Heart and judge of your Emprovement not by what you Speak or by what you Write but by the firmness of your Mind and the Government of your Passions What Extremities have some Men endur'd in Sieges even for the Ambition and Interest of other People And Shall not a Man venture the Crossing of an Intemperate Lust for the Conquest of himself You do very well to betake your self to a Private Life and better yet in keeping of that Privacy Private For otherwise your Retreat would look like Ostentation The greatest Actions of our Lives are those that we do in a Recess from Business Beside that there are some Governments and Employments that a Man would not have any thing to do withall And then it is to be consider'd that Publick Offices and Commissions are commonly bought with our Mony Whereas the great Blessings of Leisure and Privacy cost us Nothing Contemplation is undoubtedly the best Entertainment of Peace and only a Shorter Cut to Heaven it Self Over and above that Business makes us Troublesome to Others and unquiet to our Selves For the End of One Appetite or Design is the Beginning of Another To say nothing of the Expence of Time in Vexatious Attendances and the Danger of Competitors Such a Man perhaps has more Friends at Court than I have a larger Train a Fairer Estate more profitable Offices and more Illustrious Titles But What do I care to be overcome by Men in Some Cases so long as Fortune is overcome by Me in All These Considerations should have been Earlyer for 't is too late in the Article of Death to Project the Happiness of Life And yet there is no Age better Adapted to Virtue than that which comes by many Experiments and long Sufferings to the Knowledge of it For our Lusts

is Satiety Now What matters it though One Eats and Drinks more and Another Less so long as the One is not a hungry nor the Other a thirst Epicurus that limits Pleasure to Nature as the Stoicks do Virtue is undoubtedly in the Right and those that Cite him to authorise their Voluptuousness do exceedingly mistake him and only seek a Good Authority for an Evil Cause For their Pleasures of Sloth Gluttony and Lust have no Affinity at all with his Precepts or Meaning 'T is true that at first sight his Philosophy seems Effeminate but he that looks nearer him will find him to be a very Brave Man only in a Womanish Dress 'T IS a Common Objection I know That these Philosophers do not Live at the rate that they Talk for they can flatter their Superiors Gather Estates and be as much concern'd at the Loss of Fortune or of Friends as other people As sensible of Reproches as Luxurious in their Eating and Drinking their Furniture their Houses as Magnificent in their Plate Servants and Officers as Profuse and Curious in their Gardens c. Well! And what of all This or if it were twenty times More 'T is some degree of Virtue for a Man to Condemn himself and if he cannot come up to the Best to be yet better than the Worst and if he cannot wholly Subdue his Appetites however to Check and Diminish them If I do not Live as I Preach take notice that I do not speak of my Self but of Virtue nor am I so much offended with Other Mens Vices as with my Own All this was objected to Plato Epicurus Zeno Nor is any Virtue so Sacred as to scape Malevolence The Cinique Demetrius was a great Instance of Severity and Mortification and one that Impos'd upon himself neither to Possess any thing nor so much as to Ask it and yet he had this Scom put upon him that his Profession was Poverty not Virtue Plato is blam'd for Asking Mony Aristotle for Receiving it Democritus for Neglecting it Epicurus for Consuming it How happy were we if we could but come to Imitate these Mens Vices for if we knew our Own Condition we should find work enough at Home But we are like People that are making Merry at a Play or a Tavern when our own houses are on fire and yet we know nothing on 't Nay Cato himself was said to be a Drunkard but Drunkenness it self shall sooner be prov'd to be no Crime than Cato Dishonest They that demolish Temples and overturn Altars shew their Good Will though they can do the Gods no hurt and so it fares with those that invade the Reputation of Great Men. If the Professors of Virtue be as the World calls them Avaritious Libidinous Ambitious What are they then that have a detestation for the very Name of it But Malicious Natures do not want Wit to abuse Honester Men than themselves It is the Practice of the Multitude to bark at Eminent Men as little Dogs do at Strangers for they look upon Other Mens Virtues as the Upbraiding of their Own Wickedness We should do well to commend those that are Good if not let us pass them Over but however let us spare our selves for beside the Blaspheming of Virtue our Rage is to no purpose But to return now to my Text. WE are ready enough to limit Others but loth to put Bounds and Restraint upon our selves though we know that many times a Greater Evil is Cur'd by a Less and the Mind that will not be brought to Virtue by Precept comes to it frequently by Necessity Let us try a little to Eate upon a Joynt-Stool to serve our selves to Live within Compass and accommodate our Cloths to the End they were made for Occasional Experiments of our Moderation give us the best Proof of our Firmness and Virtue A well-govern'd Appetite is a great part of Liberty and it is a Blessed Lot that since no Man can have all things that he would have we may all of us forbear desiring what we have not It is the Office of Temperance to Overrule us in our Pleasures Some she Rejects Others she Qualifies and Keeps within Bounds Oh! the Delights of Rest when a Man comes to be Weary and of Meat when he is heartily Hungry I have learn'd sayes our Author by one Journey how many things we have that are superfluous and how easily they may be spar'd for when we are without them upon Necessity we do not so much as feel the want of them This is the Second Blessed Day sayes he that my Friend and I have Travell'd together One Waggon carries our selves and our Servants My Mattress lies upon the Ground and I upon That Our Diet answerable to our Lodging and never without our Figs and our Table-Books The Muletier without Shooes and the Mules only prove themselves to be Alive by their walking In this Equipage I am not willing I perceive to own my self but as often as we happen into better Company I presently fall a blushing which shews that I am not yet confirm'd in those things which I Approve and Commend I am not yet come to Own my Frugality for he that 's Asham'd to be seen in a Mean Condition would be proud of a splendid one I value my self upon what Passengers think of me and Tacitely renounce my Principles whereas I should rather lift up my Voice to be heard by Mankind and tell them You are all Mad your Minds are set upon supersluities and you value no Man for his Virtues I came one Night weary home and threw my self upon the Bed with this Consideration about me There is nothing Ill that is Well Taken My Baker tells me he has no Bread but sayes he I may get some of your Tenants though I fear 't is not Good No matter said I for I 'll stay till it be Better that is to say till my stomach will be glad of worse It is Discretion sometimes to practice Temperance and wont our selves to a Little for there are many Difficulties both of Time and Place that may Force us upon it When we come to the Matter of Patrimony How strictly do we examine what every Man is Worth before wee 'll trust him with a Penny Such a Man we cry has a great Estate but it is shrewdly incumber'd a very Fair House but 't was built with borrow'd Money a Numerous Family but he does not keep Touch with his Creditors if his Debts were paid he would not be worth a Groat Why do we not take the same Course in other things and examine what every Man is worth 'T is not enough to have a Long Train of Attendants Vast Possessions or an Incredible Treasure in Money and Jewels a Man may be Poor for all this There 's only this difference at Best One Man borrows of the Usurer and the Other of Fortune What signifies the Carving or the Guilding of the Chariot Is the Master ever the better for 't WE