CARDAN HIS THREE BOOKS OF CONSOLATION English'd Of great Vse in these Times LONDON Printed for B. Aylmer at the Three Pigeons and S. Croutch at the Princes Arms against the Royal Exchange 1683. TO THE READER YOV have here an Antidote against every Trouble prescribed by that Physitian whose prodigious Parts and singular Fancies have made him Admir'd and Envy'd by most of the Learned World He had 't is true his Deliriums in common with all great Wits but his lucid intervals were such as made him pass in the Opinions of some that read his Works for more than a Man not the fate of those other Ancient Monuments which perished in the Barbarian Wars For as he shewed himself a most excellent Philosopher in all his Writings so 't is not to be imagined but that on this occasion he out-did whatever he had done before seeing the Subject he Handled was neither Common Foreign nor Feigned but sprang from his own Natural Affection and great trouble of mind II Now although we want this useful Book to furnish us with those excellent Arguments which without doubt he made use of to quiet his own mind Yet shall not this discourage us considering our need from offering the best we can devise as those who cannot get stately Pallaces to dwell in must be contented with simple Cottages III. And the necessity of such Discourses as these appears hence That supposing our selves free from all other vexations yet will the remembrance and dread of Death four all our present enjoyments IV. But besides the fear of death how many other troubles are there against which we had need be fortified Our Hunger is satisfied with Meat our Thirst with Drink our Weariness with Rest But the fear of evils whether real or imaginary is so rooted and fruitful in our minds that unless it be obviated by wise considerations t is impossible to keep them serene and undisturbed seeing it leads us from one discontented thought to another without end V. I know not what benefit others may reap by this my labour as to my self for whom I chiefly designed this Book the considerations contained therein have abundantly profited me And as t' was said of Asclepiodorus that he could paint without colours so shall I without any Art or Skill declare how greatly we err both in our Opinions and Wills VI. Now although the number of our cares and miseries be great yet if nearly considered we shall find several of them to be such as need no Medicine as those which men voluntarily undergo For who will attempt to comfort Marcus Regulus in his sufferings whom neither Natural Affection to his Children and Relations nor the intreaties of his Friends could persuade from hastening out of Rome to be tormented at Carthage Such undaunted Spirits were the Holy Martyrs St. Paul St. Stephen c. VII But there are other kind of hardships which the most delicate do not refuse for the sake of Honour Pleasure or Profit Some serve Kings others their Mistresses one man consumes his time and himself with Study another commits himself to the mercyless Sea and are so little troubled at these toyls that it grieves them to be withheld from engaging in them Some led on only by hope spend their days in solitary places refusing all the comforts and conveniencies of this life Macerating themselves with Fastings and Watchings who being asked for what end they do this reply for hope that after death they shall receive an everlasting recompence Some take great pains meerly for Pleasure as Harvest Labourers who after long Toyl and Sweat in Summers Sun do notwithstanding Dance when the Pipe or Viol Sounds Others sit at play till their Feet ake with Cold the pleasure of the sport exceeding the sharpness of the pain To begin with private Evils we may take this for a certain truth that it matters not to happy living what a mans Fortune be seeing there is no condition of life but admits the exercise of some vertue and what wise man will torment himself in adversity considering how vain short and uncertain the Life of Man is X. In what a kind of uncertainty do we live when a man rises from his Bed in the Morning to be uncertain of his return to Rest again or when he lies down to sleep whether ever he shall rise Well do the Spaniards in their Language call man a shadow for in truth he is no more his body being so frail and brittle and exposed to so many dangers that nothing is more to be admired than that it should usually subsist so long I allow those Philosophers to be in the right who made all things consist in Opinion For what Custom Law or Sentiment has so far prevailed as never to meet with contradiction The Philosophers had never contended so long among themselves had the matter of their debates been evident and certain For what man is so mad as to affirm the Swan to be Black or the Crow white seeing the matter here is to be decided by common sense But touching what is Good and Evil Good Lord what Disputes have arose what wranglings and oppositions Which makes me remember a pleasant story written by an Ancient Poet that excellently well sets forth our Folly XII When mighty Jupiter had made the Heavens the Earth the Sea Men and Beasts he soberly considered that unless he alloted Punishments and Rewards for mens Deserts they would be not only guilty of great irregularities towards one another but Affront the Gods themselves for which cause he commanded Vulcan to make two brazen Tuns the one to receive all that was good the other whatsoever was evil making both good and evil things wing'd that Mortals might more conveniently receive them according to their Deserts But the Goddess Pandora a busie huswife mov'd with that restless curiosity which is common to all the Sex must needs be peeping in 'em when immediately both the good and evil flew their ways the good up to Heaven the Evil down to Hell hope only remaining in the Vessel of evils and suspicion in the other Which news when Jupiter heard he takes the empty Barrels and in a mad raging fit throws 'em down which being perceiv'd by mortal men who are desirous as you know of News they immediately draw near and embrace the empty Vessels persuading themselves they had gotten both good and evil whereas in truth neither good nor evil happen'd to either of them only they that light on the better Vessel found themselves possest with an opinion of good mixt with suspicion and the other with opinion of evil mixt with hope XIII Like to what Travellers tell us touching such as pass over the Desarts of Arabia who chancing to tread upon some piece of Iron or other cold thing are suddenly startled with fear least they have trodden on some venemous Serpent so does the bare opinion of good and evil perplex all mortal Creatures altho' 't is certain all good things are flown
most troubled Forasmuch then as those that be rich must one day be poor and they that be poor one day rich be thou contented IV. Our folly hinders us from setting a due estimate on things It makes Pygmies become Gyants hides our happiness from us and makes us afraid of our own shadows If there be any thing to be fear'd or desir'd in this life 't is moral Good or evil a guilty or a quiet Conscience CARDAN OF CONSOLATION BOOK II. CHAP. I. The folly of our unwillingness to dye And vanity of such as are solicitous about their Funerals Misery of Old Age. I. HItherto we have discours'd of Human Calamities and their remedies in general Come we now to Particulars And first of the fear of death Consider what happiness thou hast found in life to make thee so much in love with it Dost thou alone possess any delight which we have not experienc'd We have seen the Stars the Heavens Mountains Seas Rivers Lakes Fields Gardens Cities and pleasant Villages had Musick Songs Banquets Love intrigues and Dalliances with all sorts of earthly delights nor have we wanted Learning to judg dispute make Verses and Orations born Offices and acquitted our selves honorably of them satisfied the necessities of our Children Friends and Kindred and lived together with them in good reputation wanting neither Food nor Rayment and abounded in all the conveniencies of this life and yet cannot but unfeignedly say with Solomon Vanity of vanity and all is vanity II. As to other mens experience let them speak for themselves as to my own part I have felt more Grief than Pleasure in this World Seeing then this love of life availeth nothing nay tho it were desirable t is better to cast off this burthen of Cares and like an honest man restore that which thou hast borrowed Whereas if thou torment thy self what dost thou get thereby but to consume in dying that small time which is remaining seeing whatsoever time is spent in thinking of death may justly be so called I am much taken with the saying of Agathius who tells us that Death does not only remove sickness and all other vexations but whereas these happen often that comes but once Neither can Death be accounted a great Evil seeing it comes upon so light occasions and is so ready at hand Such things as are hurtful to our natures are not common and soon found whereas there 's nothing more common or sooner found than death Death is to be met with every where and in all things in Fire and Water Air Wind Thunder Earth-quakes wild Beasts Fishes and Fowls in Meat and Drink Bed Trees Sleep Sorrow Joy Laughter Company Discord Concord and finally in all Circumstances Philomenes seeing his Ass eat Raisins bid his Boy give him some Wine to drink and fell into such a fit of laughter that he kill'd himself Coma being apprehended and examined for Robbery by Rutilus the Consul required time to make his defence and putting down his Head between his Knees he stopped his own breath and died so quietly that his Guard knew nothing of it till they saw him dead 3. Seeing then men die with such ease what can Death be better compared to than a Dream Socrates dyed with a Jest in his month Do we think then that he felt any great grief Certainly no for men cannot jest in extreme pain the mind being taken up with far greater matters This is also be to admir'd that men should with the greatest aversation dread Death and yet earnestly use those means that bring it The lustful person preferreth his pleasure before it the injur'd his revenge the Eater his gluttony the Ambitious his honor the Covetous his riches the Soldier his spoyl the Mother her children the Merchant his traffick and the Student his learning They are to be esteemed most valiant that scorn to dye unless a weighty cause requires it IV. Some perhaps be of Aepicarnus his mind Dye says he I would not but to be dead I care not Pray what hurt is it to want hunger thirst grief labour sadness fear and in short all those Evils in general which the Soul must of necessity want being parted from the Body and seeing it dies not but in lieu of these troubles partakes of heavenly joys why should we not willingly accept of this change It was the saying of Socrates that Death may be fitly compared to a sound sleep V. I remember my Father Faucius Cardan was wont to say he continually desired death because when he slept he tasted the pleasures of it meaning I suppose that all sensual delights contain more pain than pleasure and therefore it was better being without ' em Diogenes being sick and found by his Physician asleep was asked how he did well answered he for one Brother envyeth another Cosmas Medices a wise and vertuous man in our times being at the point of death closed his own eyes which his Wife seeing demanded the reason I do it says he because it is customary Socrates being by Crito persuaded to escape out of Prison as well for his Friends sake as his own refused to do it answering wisely I am going into those parts where I shall certainly find as good or perhaps better friends that those I leave behind And you will also bear me company in a short space In fine Death doth certainly take away more Evils than it bringeth If Death be an Evil to be dead is to escape it but if it be a Good thou hast no cause to lament That it is one of these no man doubts VI. I remember that being much afflicted with a Tertian Ague the seventh Fit of it laid me for dead In which time altho ' every Member was almost deprived of its use yet felt I nothing worse than a certain kind of tickling throughout my whole body accompanied with no small pleasure Possessed I was indeed with fear I should dye Which made me enquire of others who had been at the point of death whether they felt any great smart or not who told me that in the Head or Tooth-ach or such like distemper they endured greater pain I have observed that altho' Women and Children be most fearful to take Medicines and yield to cutting of Veins yet when at the point of death they neither complain nor lament but are rather offended if we seek to preserve their lives VII What is our life but a continual toyl perpetually attended with Labour Suspicions and Dangers What delight is there that is not followed by Repentance Thou art revenged then look to thy self Hast thou eaten thy fill then Satiety will offend thee Hast thou lightly â—ined then thy appetite is not â—atisfied Dost thou give way â—o Lust expect sadness and in â—he end sickness In short either â—hy desire is not satisfied and art â—hereby still discontented or else â—ormented with Satiety and Reâ—entance VIII Observe how bruit Beasts â—ield to death how little they â—re tormented with the thoughts â—f it
expectation Let any one now imagine what cares sorrow and vexation my mind endured when on the one side I considered mine own great poverty and on the other my Mothers unwieldy and helpless age Besides this the opposition of my Relations the wrong received from the Physicians the threatnings of a Great Man the despair of Health want of Friends and an House to lie in did all together beset me I needed whereon to live Labor I was not able and could not think of begging were my necessities never so great Yet at length notwithstanding these manifold vexations by returning to the City I recovered my Health met with Friends who comforted and bountifully relieved me My Physick in my sickness was Abstinence Against my Misfortunes I made use of Patience against Poverty Sparingness against Prosecution diligence to avoid the strokes of it against Repulses the precepts of Philosophy and from the beginning of my troubles this Book tho' not then written did greatly comfort me Being thus returned to my Country my Mother at last recovered her health and was my self relieved and defended by my good Patron the Reverend Bishop Philip Archintus both for Vertue and Learning an excellent Man Afterwards through the assistance of Alphonsus D'Avila to whom I Dedicated my Book De Aeternitatis Arcanis I was admitted one of the College of Physicians with the good liking of every honest man being then almost Forty years of age Such hath been the course of my Life what helps my Studies have contributed to the mitigating of the sundry hardships thereof any man may imagine As for Riches I ever contemned them with the same greatness of mind as all other chances of Fortune Patience in all the occurrences of my whole Life has extremely helped me for by vertue thereof I have found assistance in my greatest extremity even from them of whom I have least desired or expected any thing for Franciscus Bonafidus an able and faithful Physician so stoutly defended my Cause against the Doctors of Padoa as no Brother for a Brother could do more Great assistance did I also received from Francis Cruceirs a most upright Lawyer my Suit depending in the City of Milain who greatly encouraged me to proceed in this my present Work as well as in others but I have found that to the writing of Books a Mind free from such troubles as I have suffered is absolutely requisite But I have said too much perhaps touching my self Yet what honor and credit can base Parentage be the slightings of my Father Friends and Country my want of Health and Poverty next to Beggary Whosoever thinks I have spoken this out of Vain-glory must repute me a very Fool. But it was my design by my own Example to teach these two things First that t is nothing but a guilty Conscience can make any man miserable Secondly that constancy of Mind do's greatly help not only to bear Evils but to procure a change of Fortune But however this is necessary to keep thee from being miserable to believe thou art not so Which Rule in one word may be taught and learned of every man IV. But I promised at the beginning of this Book to treat of Poverty and its Remedy For the Burden of it seems to some intolerable as it was observ'd of old by Menander In discoursing of which we shall first consider That the Poor man is no less happy than the Rich. Secondly that Poverty is no hindrance to the atchieving glorious Actions And Thirdly that there 's nothing more hurtful to a poor man than to desire to be rich Fourthly that Riches after death do neither profit the deceas'd nor his Posterity V. As to the First I affirm there is greater felicity to be found in a poor Commonwealth than in a rich less hatred ambition and disorder Pliny oft mentions the respect which the Carthaginians gave the Romans for their Vertue altho' at Wars with them But when once Riches grew in Credit nothing continu'd stable nothing quiet the People always at variance the Senate without authority Laws violated Gravity and Sobriety ridicul'd and laught out of countenance all things profan'd and mixt with the dregs of Slaves and Strangers Whence it appears that Misery is an attendant of Riches and Quietness of Poverty VI. But to pass by Common-wealths let us turn our Discourse to private persons whose Lives are far more happy than those of Princes and great Persons for what proof of Friendship can they receive when hope of Reward or fear of Punishment are the motives that influence all about them And therefore King Philip reproved his Son Alexander because he thought to gain the good-will of his people by Liberality But supposing they were in this particular equal to private Persons let us consider whether their Lives in other matters are to be compared inrespect of happiness with them The Poor Man rising early after his Hands be washed betakes himself to his labour at which having for some time exercised himsel besides the help of his hungry Supper the night before with his fellow-laborer they savor all sorts of Meat whatsoever cometh to hand seemeth pleasant delicate and precious At Dinner they discourse of jocular matters and talk what hope they have of time to come This company breeds no Discontent this diet causeth no Satiety no Disdain no Suspicion The Dinner ended after pausing a while they return to accustomed labour by which they get a good appetite to Supper there being met they want no mirth gentle Jests and pleasant Tales according to the quality of the Guests Then to Bed they go whereunto preparing themselves the shining Stars put them in mind to look up to Heaven to that most blessed Countrey where they hope at length to arrive If conscious to themselves of any amiss word or deed they implore the Divine Forgiveness and being wearied with hard labour the Good man soon falls into a sound sleep Thus do's he enjoy Health and a long Life neither troubled at what 's past nor afraid of what 's to come On Holy days he resteth his wearied Limbs Then wanders at will and if there be any thing in City or Country pleasant and worth seeing he may without offence behold it He veiws the Suburbs green Fields and smiling Meads meets his Companions and every where takes his disport No vexatious thoughts hinder the tranquillity of his mind but joyeth in Life and lives prepared for Death and if he chance to be so learn'd that he can read History he may be accounted somewhat the more happy VII Whereas the life of a Prince is quite contrary for he having with much difficulty got off yesterdays Surfeit gets up his Mouth not well in tast and troubled with the nauseous belches of his own Stomach is so uneasie that he knows not what to do with himself Then his Guard comes about him Soldiers Servants Parasites Flatterers and Suiters People swarm cry out and complain the Porters keep back the importunate Guests