approach Hence the Saying of Theseus in Euripides is commended which we shall take the Liberty to translate out of the Original as we have often done the like on other occasions I as by a great Scholar taught On future Troubles fix'd my thought Untimely Death or Banishment Still to me did some Cross present That whatsoe're Change should arise Might me not unprepar'd surprize Now what Theseus saith he heard of a learned man that Euripides by a Figure transfers to him from himself for he had been the Hearer of Anaxagoras concerning whom they report that upon the News brought of his Son's death he reply'd I know that I begot him Mortal which expression declareth that these occurrents are sharp to them by whom they have not been consider'd Therefore it is no question but that all things which are reputed evil fall more grievous when they come unawares So that although this be not the sole Cause which creates the greatest Disquiet yet because the foresight and preparation of the Soul is of great Power to the diminishing of Grief let all the incidents to Humane Life be well consider'd by every man and in truth this is that excellent and Divine Wisdom to have a full insight and experience of all the Chances of Humane Life to admire nothing when it is happen'd to suppose of nothing but that it may come to pass before it is come to pass Wherefore all men whil'st in most prosperous State To bear affliction most should meditate Suits Fines safe home return'd still bear in mind Son faulty Daughter sick Wife dead to find All common possible nothing new appear What unexpected cometh for profit clear SECT XV. Is also ground of Constancy NOW since Terence hath so aptly insinuated this Notion borrow'd from Philosophy shall not we out of whose Fountains it is drawn both say the same thing better and more firmly hold it for this is that countenance always the same which Xanthippe is reported to have used to declare that her-Husband Socrates had and that she saw him have one and the same when he went forth and when he return'd home again Nor was it that brow which M. Crassus the Ancient bore of whom Lucilius reports that he laugh'd but once all his life-time but it was calm and serene for so have we receiv'd by Tradition And well might it be always the same countenance when there was no alteration in the mind by which the looks are fashion'd Wherefore I receive from the Cyrenaicks these Arms against contingent Events whereby their approaching insults may through long Premeditation be rebated and withall I judge that their Evil is from conceit and not nature For if it were in that object why would they be alleviated by being foreseen but there is somewhat more accurately to be spoken on this matter after we have look'd into the opinion of Epicurus who judgeth that they must all of necessity be Discontented who conceive themselves to be under Evils whether these Evils have been foreseen and expected or whether they are grown old for that neither are Evils abated by long time nor yet alleviated by foresight of them and that the poring on Evils not yet come and perhaps that never will come is foolish For that all Evil is Vexation enough when it is come but he that is always thinking that some Adversity may possibly befall him to him it becometh an everlasting Evil but if it shall never actually come upon him a voluntary Disquiet is taken up on false grounds so the mind is always vex'd either with enduring or expecting Evil. But the relief of Discontent he placeth in two things a taking of the mind from considering its troubles and setting it on the Contemplation of Pleasures for he judges the Soul in capacity to obey Reason and to follow whether that leads therefore Reason forbids to dwell upon the Causes of its Trouble it fetcheth off from anxious thoughts the sight of the mind dim'd with poring upon its Miseries and when it hath sounded a retreat from them it pusheth it forward again and provoketh it to look on and with the whole fancy tast variety of Pleasures with which he thinks the life of a wise man is fill'd both through the memory of the past and hope of following ones This account we have given after our own fashion the Epicureans deliver after theirs but let us see what grounds we have to slight what they say SECT XVI The contrary Tenet of Epicurus and his Followers FIRST they do ill to reprove a Premeditation of future Contingences since there is nothing doth so much take off the edge of Discontent and weaken it as the continual consideration thoroughout the whole course of our Lives that there is nothing but may befall us as a Meditation on man's Frame as on the condition of Life and a Study to submit to it This hath not that effect to make us always but never melancholly for he that considers the order of Nature and the Vicissitudes of Life and the Frailty of Mankind is not melancholly when he considers these things but is then most principally imploy'd in the exercise of Wisdom for he reaps a double advantage both that in the consideration of man's circumstances he enjoyeth the proper Office of Philosophy and in case of Adversity he is supported by a threefold Consolation First that he hath long consider'd that such accidents might come which consideration alone doth most weaken and allay all Afflictions Then he cometh to learn that all Tryals common to men should be born as such patiently Lastly that he perceiveth there is no Evil but where is blame but there is no blame when that falls out the Prevention of which was not in man to warrant for that sounding a retreat which Epicurus enjoyneth when he calleth us off from looking upon our Evils is null For not to take notice or to put out of memory is not in our Power when those things gore us which we conceive to be Evil. They Tear Fret Spur-gall apply Torches for Torture allow no breathing time And you bid us to forgo what is against Nature what remedy is by Nature given would you wring away that of a grief worn old True it is a slow Process yet of great Efficacy which length and time do effect You bid me consider the good and forget the bad you would say somewhat and worthy a great Philosopher if you held those things to be good which were most suitable to the Dignity of man SECT XVII The true Remedy assign'd SHOULD Pythagoras now or Socrates or Plato say to me Why are you cast down or why do you fret or why do you sink and render to Fortune which may perhaps pinch and prick you cannot to be sure over-power you Great force there is in the Vertues rouse up them if they chance to be dormant In the first place will present it self to you Fortitude which will oblige you to take such courage as to contemn
The Five Days DEBATE AT Cicero's House IN TUSCULUM Upon 1. Comforts against Death 2. Patience under Pain 3. The Cure of Discontent 4. The Government of the Passions 5. The Chief End of Man Between Master and Sophister LONDON Printed for Abel Swalle at the sign of the Unicorn at the West-end of St. Pauls 1683. TO THE READER IT may seem advisable to give some short accompt of the ensuing Work to obviate such Exceptions as are likely to be made against it in this censorious Age. That it is a Translation is own'd which infers no more than that all the World speak not the same Language but if Sense be common and Wisdom not ingross'd by any Age or Place then must it withall be concluded that Interpretation is beneficial This Book was never hitherto made English yet in its own Tongue hath been still reputed among the choicest Pieces of Humane Learning and sure in Discourses of this Nature the intelligent Reader doth not value Tully by the elegancy of his Style but soundness of Judgment and orderly deduction of Arguments True Philosophy being a ray of right Reason shines equallâ— in all Languages yet is more effectual when manag'd by a Master of Eloquution in earnest as concern'd in the very Cases which he Debates The Author of this Treatise famous for admirable Parts had by his industry and success in pleading Causes attain'd to great Wealth and Honour but upon alteration of the Government was oblig'd to retire to his Seat at Tusculum where the Scene of his Five Days Debate is laid The Subject matter of highest Importance suitable to the gravity of his Person and occasion of the times Cicero aged sixty years and beset with many State-Enemies put himself on this guard against the approaches of Natural Death or surprizes of an Assassinate These Consolations supported him under the affliction of his Daughter Tullia lately deceased in Child-bed He that had formerly rul'd the Bar by the Power of his Eloquence and sat Prince in the Roman Senate having withdrawn himself from the Insolence of a Victorious Army diverts his Melancholy upon these nobler Studies Thus disengag'd from Noise and Business from the vain Pomp of numerous but specious Friends he attends to his better part enquires after a State of true Happiness Here advises with the Ancient Sages and grave Philosophers of Greece These for the most part especially Socrates determine it to consist in a Peace of mind through the Exercise of Vertue ranging the Affections under the Obedience of Reason To assert the Dignity of Humane Nature in its Primitive Institution the excellency of the Soul as to its Original sistence Operations and Duration to settle the Empire of Reason a Liberty which no external Force can controul and that braves the atmost malice of Fortune These are steps by which the Spirit raiseth it self up to Object adequate to its Faculties contemplates the Beauties of the Universe wonderful order of the Celestial Motions and by the Chain of Causes ascends up to that all wise Power which at first dispos'd and always governs them An Idea of Wisdom did in some measure appear to the diligent searchers after Truth but in practice occur'd insufficiency of Knowledge and frailty of Resolution Whereupon Cicero puts himself upon enquiry after the Causes of our early Depravation Mankind must be govern'd by Conscience true but that must be inform'd by a Law antecedent to positive Constitutions which being in different Countries divers would leave the Boundaries of Good and Evil as litigious as those of Empire We are ordain'd for Honour but there is a vain applause the counterfeit of true Glory Besides Judgment often renders to Passion or Interest so that he was sensible how short the Best are of Perfection Indeed he follows the Probable Doctors rather than the Positive for to say the truth as to the Particulars of a future State what can frail man unassisted by Divine Revelation comprehend or deliver for certain Our Senses make no faithful report of Things beyond their narrow Sphere Our most quick-sighted Mind hardly penetrates the surface of objects lying in our way Nor can we recover things past as the order of the Creation beyond the help of Records without Divine Tradition This uncertainty of Natural Knowledge in the highest Points whilst it contributes to a conviction of its own present insufficiency for recovering the end to which it was once ordain'd demonstrates the need we have of a safer guidance than that of our own Wisdom and inhances the Benefit of Supernatural Truths From this doubtful apprehension as to a future condition and frailty of Nature our Author is mov'd to resolve all his care into an affiance in the paternal goodness of God upon this he suspends comfortable hopes and seems already to breath after a Blessed Eternity Philosophy had no mean design to repair our decai'd Natures and advance us to the perswasion of a certain Immortality This glorious purpose a Covenant of Grace in the Sacred Indentures ingross'd doth more amply effect Be nothing of this understood to arraign at the Bar of the written Law those Nations whom God through his unsearchable Counsels had for some time left to the enquiring out his Being and Will by the dim Light of Nature and their impaired Reason Only suffice it that we know there is no other way to Happiness than by complying with those easie and honourable terms of Reconciliation offer'd A Royal Pardon however full hath been revok'd when not receiv'd with thankfulness Again that we mistake not Privilege for Performance nor exalt our selves by looking down with scorn and censure upon others under unlike Circumstances but rather as in truth we ought place our selves with them upon the same level at the more competent Tribunal of Natural Conscience common to us both and there take an impartial Tryal whether their attainments from Reason do not aggravate our improficiency under Grace and consign us over to a less tolerable doom Can we read that Socrates by Arguments drawn from the visible World and the reflex acts of his own mind could collect the Souls Immortality a future Judgment Rewards and Punishments hear him declare that in Contemplation hereof he prepar'd himself so to live as that his Apology might find acceptance in that day nay further maintain that we ought rather to submit to the most infamous Death than quit the profession of an honest Principle Lastly can we see him refusing unwarrantable delivery from Prison seal this Doctrine with his Blood aveng'd in the signal and speedy Destruction of his Capital Enemies Can we read these eminent Instances of improvement in Morals and not be provok'd to call our selves to account with what ready submission have we received Truths deliver'd us upon Divine Testimony Do we give them that Obedience which their Authority challenges Are we prepar'd to contend for them if Providence order the Tryal at the price of our Lives If in this Scale any of us
ago or rather all that ever were born S. I am clearly of that Perswasion M. Prithee tell me do these Advises from under ground scare you The black Mastiff with three Heads the howling River the Ferry over the Stygian Lake Tantalus chin-deep in Water choak'd with thirst Doth Sisyphus his ponderous Stone Tug'd up with sweat still rolling down alone Perhaps too those inexorable Justicers Minos and Rhadamanthus before whom you can have neither Lucius Crassus nor Mark Antony to plead your Cause nor because the Matter is to be try'd before Greek Judges can you have Demosthenes for Counsel your self must make your own defence in the greatest of all Assemblies These things perhaps you dread and therefore apprehend death as an eternal Evil. a We are born to everlasting Misery It is horrible to imagine that the Author of Nature should ordain the whole Race of Mankind so highly by him advanced to a State of endless Misery But the Heathen did not understand death as a Punishment superinduc'd through the defection of our first Parent This is brought against Death's being Evil that is miserable to both living and dead The third Member of the Dis-junction SECT VI. The Local Hell describ'd by Poets is fictitious S DO you take me to be so destitute of Reason as to believe these Legends M. What do not you verily believe them S. Not I at all M. You tell me ill news S. How so I beseech you M. Because I could have past for a Wit in confuting them S. And who might not on such a Subject or what difficulty is it to prove these to be meer extravagancies of Poets and Painters M. Why there are whole Book-fulls in the Philosophers of Disputations to overthrow these Supposititions S. To much purpose indeed for who is so senseless as to be concern'd at them M. If therefore there be none miserable under ground neither are there any Persons under ground S. I am clear of your mind in that M. Where then are those that you call miserable or what place do they inhabit for if they be they cannot be no where S. Yes I think them to be no where M. Therefore neither to be S. Well as you say and yet miserable for that very reason because they be not M. Nay now had I rather you were afraid of Cerberus than to use such inconsiderate Discourse S. How so M. You say that the same is not and yet is Where is your Subtilty for when you say he is miserable you then say that he who is not yet is S. I am not so stupid as to say that M. What is it then that you say S. That M. Crassus for instance is miserable who by death was taken from that Estate Cn. Pompey miserable who was depriv'd of so great Glory in a word that all are miserable who lack this chearful light M. You come round thither where you were before for they needs must be if they are miserable but you lately deny'd that the Dead are if therefore they are not they cannot be any thing and by consequence not miserable S. Perchance I do not yet speak out my meaning for I take that very thing to be most miserable for him not to be that hath been M. What more miserable than for one never to have been at all by the same reason they that are yet unborn are already miserable because they are not And we our selves if we shall be miserable after we are dead were so before we were born but I do not remember that I was miserable before I was born you if you have a better Memory I would fain know whether you remember any such thing of your self * * To prove these to be meer Extravagancies of Poets and Painters The Body in a State of Separation in insensible nor did they expect a Resurrection of the Body only by Faith in the sacred Testimonies apprehended therefore to place Hell in bodily Sufferings seem'd to them repugnant both to Sense and Reason Yet they own'd the Souls of the deceas'd to enter into a State of Happiness or Misery according to their Actions in this Life SECT VII They who are not are not miserable S. YOU make a Droll of it as if I said they are miserable who are not born and not those that are dead M. You say then that these are S. Nay but because they have been and are not that they are miserable M. Do not you perceive that you speak Contradictions for what is so opposite as that he should be not only miserable but any thing who is not at all b As you go out at the Capuan Gate and see there the Sepulchres of Calatinus the Scipio's the Servilii and Marcelli can you judge them miserable S. Because you pinch me with cavilling at a word I shall hereafter forbear to say they are miserable but only term them miserable for that very reason because they are not M. You do not say then M. Crassus is miserable but miserable M. Crassus S. Right M. As though whatsoever is pronounc'd of any one were not of necessity either so or not so have you not so much as learn'd the Rudiments of Logick for this is a fundamental Maxim there that every Proposition must be either true or false when therefore you say miserable M. Crassus either you say M. Crassus is miserable that it may be brought to trial whether it be true or false or you say nothing at all S. Well then I grant that they are not miserable who are dead because you have wrack'd out of me the Confession that a they who have no being cannot be so much as miserable what say you of us that are alive can we be other than miserable since we must dye for what enjoyment can there be in life when we are to think day and night that dye we must of a certain and it is uncertain whether this or the next Moment a They who have no being cannot be so much as miserable Nothing is more certain as the Action at Law dies with the Person so if the Subject cease to be all the Accidents depending on it fall together Death is a Dissolution of the whole compound but this Argument is intended to reprove the Vulgar who foolishly pittied the dead only for their loss of these worldly Advantages to which indeed the dead are utterly lost but he afterwards retrieves the Soul The drift of these two Sections is to disprove Death's being evil or miserable to them that are already dead which was the second Member of the disjunctive b As ye go out at the Capuan Gate It was a Law among the Romans taken from the Attick to bury none within the City but without the several Gates by the High-way-side Monuments erected for the dead were admonitions to the Passengers and Ornaments of the Publick SECT VIII Nor is dying a miserable thing it is assay'd to prove it rather good M. DO you come then to understand of how
Heaven Enquire whose Sepulchers are shew'd in Greece Call to mind because you have been admitted to the Vision of the secret Ceremonies what passages are deliver'd in those Mysteries so will you come to understand of how large extent this Suggestion is But those plain-hearted Ancients who had never learn'd these Systems of natural Theology which many years after came to be form'd believ'd no more than the bare objects of their Senses comprehended not the Reasons and Causes of them were often mov'd by some Apparitions and those most commonly in the night to conceive that those who had departed this World were still alive Now allowing this to pass for a most conclusive Argument why we should believe the being of a God because there is no People so Savage no Person so Barbarous but hath some Notion of a Deity impress'd on his mind Many have unworthy Conceptions of God for that ariseth from corrupt Custom yet all concur in this Faith that there is a divine Nature and Power nor is this opinion wrought by the Conferring or Combination of men together nor is it built upon Customs or Laws Now the consent of all Nations in any thing is to be esteem'd the Law of Nature Who therefore is there who doth not mourn for the loss of his Friends upon the account that he thinks them depriv'd of the Comforts of Life Take away this Opinion and you will take away Mourning for no body bemoans his own loss Perhaps they grieve or are in anguish for it That same pitiful Lamentation weeping and wailing springeth from the Consideration that we judge him whom we lov'd despoil'd of the Conveniencies of Life and sensible that he is so And this judgment we bear from the Impressions of Nature without any Conclusions of Reason or Instructions of Learning SECT XIV From an innate care of Posterity and zeal for the State FUrther it is a strong Argument that Nature hath in her self secret Convictions about the Souls Immortality from that Providence which all have and especially in those things which are to take place after our Death He raiseth Plants whose Fruit next Age must gather As saith Statius in the Comedy of the young Twins upon what Contemplation but only this that he is interess'd in succeeding Generations Shall then a careful Husbandman Plant Trees whereof he is never likely to see one Berry and shall not a good Patriot plant Laws Customs for the Commonwealth What means the breeding of Children what the propagating our Name what the Adoptions of Sons what the formality of Wills what the Monuments of Tombs what Epitaphs but what we reckon upon future times What say we to this Do you make any question but that a Pattern of our Nature ought to be taken from the very best of Natures Now what Nature is better in Mankind than that of those who esteem themselves born for the Succor Defence and Preservation of men Hercules is gone to the Gods he had never gone had he not while he liv'd among men secur'd his passage thither SECT XV. And thirst after Glory THese Instances are of old Date and consecrated by the Religion of all People By what Principles do we suppose so many brave Persons acted in our own State who laid down their Lives for the Commonwealth was it their Judgment that their name should be confin'd within the same compass as their Lives No man without great hopes of immortality would ever offer up himself in the Service of his Country Themistocles might have liv'd at ease so might Epaminondas and not to look abroad or backward for Examples so might I. But there is in our minds a kind of secret sally-port whereby we make excursion into future Ages This is most forward and observable in the most pregnant Wits and gallant Spirits Take away this who would be so sensless as to live in perpetual toyl and hazzard I speak for Statesmen but as to Poets have they no regard to Fame after Death whence then came this Inscription Here Roman stands old Ennius crown'd with Bays Who sung your Fathers in immortal Layes He expects the Wages of Glory from those whose Parents he had immortaliz'd Then further on the same occasion None mourn for me nor cruel Destiues blame I draw the breath of never-dying Fame But why do I insist on Poets Artisans strive to be ennobled by their Master-pieces after Death For why else should Phidias work an Image like himself in the Shield of Minerva where he might not inscribe his Name Nay our own Philosophers do they not set their Names to those very Books which they write upon contemning Glory Now if the consent of all men be the voice of Nature and all men every where do accord that they who are departed this Life have some interest here we then must needs be of the same Sense and if any who excell in Parts and Vertue we suppose them as being best natur'd to see farthest into the Power of Nature it is likely since the best men are most serviceable to Posterity that there is somewhat whereof they shall be sensible after Death SECT XVI That Dead mens Souls abide in Caves under earth is the groundless Fiction of Poets or Imposture of Magicians BUT as We conceive the Being of God by natural Instinct but gather his Nature and Attributes by rational Deductions so that Souls do subsist in a separate State we judge by the consent of all Nations what Mansions they inhabit and what be their essential Qualities we must learn by reason the ignorance of which hath feigned a Hell in the Center of the Earth and those bugbears which you did seem not without just Cause to despise For when Bodies fell into the Earth and were covered within the ground from whence they are said to be inhum'd they fancied that the dead led the rest of their Life under the Earth Upon which opinion of theirs great errors ensu'd these the Poets improv'd For the cram'd Seats of the Theater in which be Women and Children are mov'd when they hear such a lofty Verse I come mith woful pains from under ground A steep and headlong way which Cliff's surround Huge pointed pendant where gross darkness dwells And so far did the error prevail which seems to me now taken quite away that though they knew Corpses to have been burnt yet they feign'd such Acts done below as could neither be performed without corporeal Organs nor understood For they could not comprehend the Soul's subsisting in a separate condition but requir'd it to have some shape and figure Upon this conceit depends all Homer's Descent into Hell Upon the same that Necromancy which my Friend Appius practis'd Upon this the Avernian Lake in our Neighborhood Whence rais'd are Night-Ghosts Images of the dead Deep Acheron 's Gates flung ope by salt blood-shed Yet they will have these Images speak which is impossible without a Tongue without a Palate without the force and figure of Throat Sides and Lungs
concupiscence and to be so much the more fir'd because we emulate those who are in possession of those Goods which we pursue Doubtless blessed shall we be when divested of these Bodies we shall with them have put off their craving desires and fond Emulations Now as it fareth with us here when releas'd from cares we love to recreate our selves in beholding some moral Divertisements or other pleasing sights we shall have then much more liberty to attend to it d and shall lay out our selves wholly in contemplating the wonderful Effects of Nature and discerning their Causes both because our minds have naturally unplanted in them an insatiable longing to come at the sight of Truth And because the very Borders of those heavenly places at which we shall have arriv'd as by their proximity they will furnish greater advantages as the discovery of the celestial Bodies with their motions so will they accordingly excite in us a more ardent desire to enquire after them For it was this beautiful order which put our Fathers and Grand-fathers even here on Earth as Theophrastus saith upon Philosophy and inflam'd them with a desire of Knowledge but they shall with more inlarged Faculties and satisfaction comprehend them who while here upon Earth however they were invelopped in thick mists of Obscurity yet by the piercing sight of a clear mind endeavoured to descry them d And shall lay out our selves wholly in contemplating the wonderful Effects of Nature and discerning their Causes To behold natural Causes is delightful to the Understanding God is said to look down upon his Works and rejoyce But our greatest satisfaction is by them as in a Mirror to behold the infinite Wisdom and Power of him who hath dispos'd them And since the Creature must pass away in the general Conflagration there remains no other beatifical Vision but to behold the face of the Creator reconciled to us through a gracious Redeemer to which only purity of heart can prepare SECT XX. And thence contemplate Nature NOW if they fancy themselves to have got some advantage who have seen the Mouth of the Black-Sea and those Streights through which the Galley enter'd which was nam'd Argo because in her the Flower of Greece From Argos row'd to fetch the Golden Fleece And those also who have seen the Streights mouth where the swift current Libya and Europe parts What a rare sight do we think it will be when we may see the whole Earth at one view and as its Situation Form Circuit so both its Country's habitable and those again utterly uninhabitable through excess of cold or heat For we do not at present behold with our eyes the things we do see Since there is no sense in the Body but as not only Naturalists inform but also Physitians who in Dissections have seen and examin'd the several parts there are certain open passages bored from the Seat of the Soul to the Eyes to the Ears and to the Nostrils whence oftentimes either being deep in Meditation or seiz'd with some violent Distemper though our eyes and eares be both sound and open we can neither see nor hear with them So that it is very apparent that it is the Soul which both sees and hears and not those parts which are but as it were the Casements of the Soul with which yet it can perceive nothing unless it be mindful and attentive It is further observable that with the same mind we comprehend objects of a most different Nature as colour taste heat scent and sound which the Soul could never distinguish from the report of five Messengers unless all were committed to her that she alone might be judge of all And in truth those things will be seen much more clearly and transparently when the Soul shall get free to the place whither Nature is bound for at present however Nature hath fram'd those overtures which are a thorough-fair from the Body to the Soul after a most curious and artificial manner yet are they in a sort obstructed by gross and impure Matter but when the Soul shall he by her self nothing shall interpose to hinder her from discerning every object according to its proper Nature SECT XXI That the Epicureans who plead for Annihilation have no such reason to triumph in their Scheme of natural Knowledge improv'd WE could sufficiently dilate upon this Subject if the Matter requir'd it how many how different how great entertainments of the Sight the Soul should find in the heavenly places The Consideration of which makes me often admire at the strange Vanity of some Philosophers who magnifie their knowledge of Nature and in great Extasies of Joy offer up thanks to him that first invented and revealed it worshipping him as a God For by his means they pretend themselves freed from the most insupportable Lords everlasting Terror and apprehension day and night What Terror What Apprehension Is there any old Good-wife so doting as to fear those things which you see now had you not learn'd the Scheme of natural Philosophy you should have fear'd Acheron 's low Regions which pale shades frequent Where Clouds o're-spread the gloomy Firmament Is it not a shame for a Philosopher to glory that he is got above these fears and that he knows them to be but Fables By which it appears what profound natural Parts these men have who should have believ'd such Stories if they had not been bred up to Learning A great prize too they have got by this Learning that when they come to dye they are to perish Soul and Body Which admit to be true for I am not contentious what great matter of joy or boasting doth the Doctrine afford Though to speak truth I cannot find any considerable Objection against the opinion of Pythagoras and Plato for had Plato alledged no reason for it see what deference I have to his Person he would have dash'd me with his bare Authority but now he hath back'd his Judgment with so many Reasons that he seems to me to have endeavoured to make others to be so but himself truly to have been of the perswasion SECT XXII An immaterial Substance though invisible may subsist of it self as God so the Soul YET many stubborn Opponents there are who pass Sentence of Death upon Souls as Capital Malefactors Nor have they other ground upon which they derogate credit from the Eternity of Souls but only this that they cannot fancy nor comprehend what should be the nature of a Soul separate from the Body as if they understood what were the nature of it when united to it what fashion what size what place it takes up So that were man a Creature who might be look'd into and all his inward Parts discover'd whether would the Soul be visible or for its extraordinary subtilty escape the sight These things they would do well to consider who say they cannot conceive what a Soul should be without a Body they will find what Conception they have of it now it is
and specious but which he esteemed less firm he turns off to the Person of Greek Rhetoricians whom he no where over-values e They are wont in Disputations to produce the Judgments of the immortal Gods When any doubt ariseth which affords matter of Debate if a Divine Determination come once to be understood all dispute ceaseth the Case is over-rul'd without further appeal mans Reason must acquiesce in the Will of God as in a peremptory Sentence against which to oppose our private Conceptions were intolerable Impiety Nevertheless it is injoyn'd our prudence with all due caution to examine the Testimony before it be admitted as such lest in our own wrong we pay the Homage of Divine Faith to humane Inventions The Stoicks were not forward in giving credit to Oracles or any sort of Prognostication suspected South-sayers Fortune-tellers and Interpreters of Dreams Those Ages which have most hearkened to Apparitions and Visions have brought in the greatest Errors Strong Affections joyned with weak Judgments are apt to betray to Fanaticism Nay it is indulged our frailty to consider upon what grounds we receive the Holy Scriptures the Word of God is tryed and will abide the Test The Sun at noon day shines not brighter than the moral Evidences which verifie the Parts and the Whole but the Eyes of our Understandings are dim and further darkened by the Interest of our inordinate Affections S. Augustin in his Confessions acknowledges his backwardness in assenting to revealed Truths but with all humble modesty purgeth himself from a resolved suppressing its Convictions or undervaluing its Author There is a further caution necessary in the admission of such a Divine Testimony to take it in its right Sense and therefore to use all due means to be well informed of that Our Souls are staked not only against Faith but the True Faith Now the greater the Sum charged is the wise Merchant will take the better advice before he allow the Bill of Exchange f Nor do they devise them themselves but report them upon the Authority of Herodotus and diverse others The following Stories carry the name of great Authorities but their Tradition is uncertain in a matter not self-evident nor is Herodotus a responsible Voucher his Narrations resembling the Ionick Fables sweet and delightful sometimes strange even to Admiration not with that plainness which is the usual Companion of Credibility The like may be said of Homer nor are Pindar and other Poets or Mythologers sufficient Evidences in these Cases SECT XLVIII Those of Demigods Oracles and in Panegyrical Commemorations of such as have dy'd for their Country THERE is told us a fine Tale about Silenus who having been caught by Midas is written to have given him this recompence for his release that he taught the King g For man not to be born is far the best but next to that to dye speedily to which Sense Euripides in his Cresphantes alluded 'T were fit at the same House we met to mourn Where any Child into the World is born But who by death his painful days should end Friends would his Obsequies with mirth attend Somewhat to the same effect is found in Crantors Book of Consolation for he saith that one Elisius a Terinese being greatly afflicted at the death of his Son came into an Oratory to enquire what might be the Cause of so great a Calamity and that three Verses to this purport were given him in a Table-Book Here men in darkness stray without a guide A natural death thy Son Enthynous dy'd Thus best for him and thee did Fates provide Upon these and like Authorities they prove that the cause hath been decided by a Divine Sentence One Alcidamas an ancient Rhetorician of the highest Rank for eminency hath gone so far as to pen an Encomium of Death which consists in a rehearsal of the Miseries which accompany mans Life The Reasons which are more accurately collected by Philosophers he wanted copiousness of Language he wanted not Now h Deaths for their Country embrac'd with eminent Resolution are wont to seem not only glorious to Rhetoricians but also blessed They go back as far as Erechtheus whose very Daughters were zealous to dye to save the Lives of their Citizens descend to Codrus who charg'd up to the midst of his Enemies in the disguise of a Servant lest if he had worn his Royal Robes he might have been discover'd because the Oracle had foretold that Athens should bear away the Victory if their King were slain Nor is Menaeceus past in silence who upon a like Prediction sacrific'd his Life for his Country Iphigenia at Aulis bid them lead her up to the Altar that so the Enemies Blood might be drain'd by the Effusion of her own g For Man not to be born is far the best but next to that to dye speedily In consideration of the manifold Vanities which mans Corruption hath brought upon the World this Assertion hypothetically taken carrieth truth in it but simply delivered is not agreeable to right Reason therefore our Author judiciously separates from his sober enquiry after the means of well living these Encomiums of Death and Invectives against Life which favour of discontent give indication of the Hypochondriacks and tempt us to ingratitude against God and our Parents h Deaths for their Country embrac'd with eminent Resolution are wont to seem not only glorious to Rhetoriciaus but also blessed It was a custom among the Greeks one day in the year to make a solemn Commemoration-speech at the Tombs of those who had dyed Champions of the Liberty of Greece as at Marathon against Darius and elsewhere Here the Orators strain'd all the Power of their Eloquence by extolling the Bravery of those Warriers to incite their Auditors to gallant Resolution in like honourable Undertakings Tully so words this Sentence as if the Rhetoricians affected Praise of their own Wit in the Commendation of the others Valour intimates also that they carried it too far when they went about to perswade that there were happiness in loosing Life upon such accounts he had prov'd above that as death should not be terrible when the circumstance requires it so neither is it amiable It suffices to our reward that we cheerfully submit to the necessity though we make it not matter of choice SECT XLIX The Close of all applys that Substance of the present Debate to the Readers benefit THEY come thence to latter times Harmodius is in vogue and Aristogiton the Lacedemonian Leonidas Theban Epaminondas flourish with our Patriots they are not acquainted and but to recount them would be a hard task there are so many who we see have made it their choice to dye in the Bed of Honor. Which things being so yet must we use great Eloquence and speak as with Authority that men may be brought either to wish for death or at least may forbear fearing it for if that last day do not bring with it an utter Annihilation but only change of abode what were
Greeks in engrossing Wisdom to themselves because of their Scholastical Niceties and in magnifying their war-like Atchievements beyond all measure whereas they were now fallen from their old Martial Glory the Lacedemonians having in great measure degenerated from the Constitutions of Lycurgus and the Athenians turn'd to servile Flattery u But the Cimbrians In Germany w And Celtiberians In Spain x That Refuge Mark the Artifice of Eloquution the name of death carrieth Terrour with it and is dismal to Humane Apprehension therefore he substitutes for it that of a Refuge a place of retreat a desired Port but yet to count any Pain too great to be stood under so as to resolve against continuance in Life is a Stoical repugnancy and derogatory from true Fortitude y As the Dolphin did Arion of Methymna Arion an excellent Harper having amass'd much Wealth by his Art in the City of Greece upon his return home the Sea-men discovering his charge of Money Pirates as they were conspir'd to heave him over-board he beg'd of them the respit till he could tune his Harp on the Deck which as he touch'd the Dolphins playing about the sides of the Ship delighted with his Aires one of them took him up on its back gently and wafted him over safe to Tenarus Methymna is a City of Lesbos the Territory about it famous for generous Wines and the Country of Arion z As the Sea-born Horses of Pelops bestow'd upon him by Neptune Pelops the Son of Tantalus came from Phrygia into that part of Greece from him denominated Peloponnesus there he fell in Love with Hippodamia Her Father had received an Oracle that he was to dye when his Daughter married and thereupon set up a Race of Chariots in the Isthmos of Corinth at the Altar of Neptune the Prize was his Daughter to the Victor but the loser was kill'd many had he beaten and slain in the Race when Pelops having received a Set of Coach-Horses from Neptune and brib'd the Coach-man of Oenomaus to break his Wheel in driving as he pass'd by slew the Father and carried off the Daughter and with the same Horses pass'd over Sea The Cure of Discontent The Causes and Remedy of the Depravation of Humane Nature are premis'd Sect. 1 2 3. Book III. SECT I. The Reluctancy of deprav'd Man against his own Cure VVHAT should I take to be the Cause most worthy Brutus since we consist of Body and Soul why an Art hath been sought out for recovering and preserving the Bodies Health and the usefulness of it a attributed to the Invention of the Gods but the Physick of the Soul was neither so much wanted before it was found out nor so much frequented since its discovery nor is so agreeable and accepted by many nay is suspected and loath'd by the greater part Is it because we judge of the Bodies Infirmity and Pain by the Soul but have no Sense of the Souls Maladies by the Body So it happens that the Soul does not pass judgment of it self b till that which is to give the judgment be distemper'd Now if Nature had brought us into the World with an Original Ability to look into and clearly discern her Ordinance and that under her surest conduct we might pass the course of our Life there would be no reason why any should have use of Logick or Philosophy But now she hath put into us only some small glimmerings which we being suddenly corrupted with ill habits and opinions so far stiffle that the Light of Nature doth no where appear for there are Seeds of Vertues innate in our very Souls which if they might spring up till they come to maturity Nature it self would conduct us to Happiness of Life But now as soon as we are brought into this World and taken up we are presently encompass'd with all Corruption of Manners and falshood of Opinion that we may seem to have suck'd in Error almost with our Nurses Milk But when we are brought home to Parents and then turn'd over to Masters we are season'd with such variety of Mistakes that Truth is forc'd to yield to falshood and Nature it self to prejudicate Opinion a Attributed to the Invention of the Gods Apollo and Aesculapius b Till that which is to give the judgment be distemper'd Therefore not only the inferior Faculties of Will and Passions are disordered but the Superior Power of the Soul the Understanding is disturb'd and Sick contrary to the answer which he gave Panaetius above about the Sickness of the Soul This in reference to the mind consists in a Corruption of Judgment and reprobate Sense only curable by attention and assent to sound Doctrine SECT II. Further Causes of the Depravation of Humane Nature THEN come in the Poets These carrying a great appearance of Learning and Wisdom are heard read con'd without Book and stick in our Memories but superadd to all as it were our highest Master the People and the whole Multitude on every side conspiring in favour of Vice then we become entirely debauch'd in judgments and fall off from our very Natures So that they seem to me to have envy'd us the Prerogative of the best Nature who have judg'd nothing better for man nothing more desirable nothing more excellent than Honours than Commands than Popular Glory toward which the best of men pursue and affecting that true Honour which Nature doth propose as the sole object of its most diligent Enquiry grasp at meer Emptiness and Vanity These pursue no substantial and grand Figure of Vertue but a superficial and shadow'd resemblance of Glory For Glory is a solid thing and substantial not a faint shadow it is the concurrent praise of good men the incorrupt approbation of such as judge rightly concerning excellency in Vertue that answers to Vertue as the eccho Which being the attendant on honest Actions is not to be rejected by good men but that which apeth it popular vogue a rash and inconsiderate cryer up of Vices for the most part by a semblance of Honour sets a false varnish in the place of a true and natural Beauty Men out of this blindness having been imported with an ardent desire after some sort of Excellency yet having withall entertain'd a false Notion wherein it consisted and what are its Properties some have utterly subverted the Government of their Countries others have fallen themselves in the Contest Now these propounding to themselves the noblest end do not so much willfully miscarry as through mistake of the way What shall we say of them who are acted by the love of Money or Pleasures and whose Spirits are to that degree disturb'd as that they come little short of madness which is the Case of all unwise men can no course be taken for their Cure Is it because Maladies of the Soul are less hurtful than those of the Body or because Bodies may be cur'd there is no Physick for Souls SECT III. That the Soul may have Remedies for its Distempers WHEREAS in truth
always to repress the Enormity of the Will and to preserve a constant Moderation in all things The contrary Vice to which is called Naughtiness Frugality is as I suppose from Fruit than which nothing better springs out of the Earth Naughtiness is hence though perhaps it may be somewhat hard however let us assay though it pass but for an Allusion if there should be nothing more it is hence deriv'd from that such a man hath not ought in him whereupon he is also said to be nothing worth He then that is Honest or if you had rather that is Modest and Temperate must of necessity be Constant and he that is Constant Quiet he that is Quiet free from all Disturbance and consequently Discontent but these are the Properties of a Wise man theâ—â—fore Discontent will be far from a Wise 〈…〉 SECT IX by an Induction from Particular Passions of Wrath Envy SO that Dionysius of Heraclea Disputes not unhandsomly upon that Passage of Homer wherein Achilles complains to this purpose as I take it My Heart swells big whil'st I on this reflect Rob'd of my Lawful Prize and iust respect Is the Hand rightly dispos'd when it is swell'd or is there any other Member which hath a Rising or Swelling that is not out of order in like manner therefore the Soul puffed up or swollen is out of order but the wise mans Soul is always in order therefore it never rifeth never swelleth But now the Soul in anger is so therefore a wise man is never angry for if he be angry he also Lusts for it is the property of one angry to desire a fixing the most grievous Pain on him by whom he thinks he is injur'd and he who covets that if he shall obtain it must necessarily be transported with joy whence it follows that he must rejoyce at anothers harm which because it is not incident to a wise man neither is it incident to him to be angry but if Discontent were incident to a wise man so also were the Passion of Anger but because he is free from this so must he be also from that of Discontent For if a wise man were liable to Discontent so might he also be to Pitty so might he also be to Envy I use a word of active signification because the ordinary Latin word rather signifieth passively an Odium that so we may decline the Iniquity of the Term now the Latin word for Envy is deriv'd from a Verb which imports looking very wistfully upon anothers Beauty as in the Play Menalippus Who on my blooming Sons look'd with ill eye The Latin Construction seems wrong but Attins said singularly well who though he departs from Custom at present prevailing yet challeng'd the Priviledge of a Poet ventur'd to follow the natural Analogy SECT X. and Pitty THerefore also the Passions of Pitty and Envy are incident to the same Subject For he that is griev'd at some ones Adversity is also griev'd at some ones Prosperity h As Theophrastus deploring the untimely death of Callisthenes his Fellow-Student maligneth the good successes of Alexander therefore he saith that Calisthenes light upon Relation to a Person of the greatest Power and highest Fortune but ignorant how to manage Prosperity as he ought Now as Mercy is the being afflicted at anothers Adversity so Envy is the being afflicted at anothers Prosperity Whosoever therefore is liable to Pitty the same is also liable to Envy but Envy is not incident to a wise man therefore neither is Pitty Now if a wise man used to take Discontent he would use also to take Pitty therefore a wise man is not liable to Discontent i These Arguments are thus brought by the Stoicks and infer'd by legitimate Conclusions but they are to be discours'd somewhat more at large and with greater Variety Yet we must maintain their Tenets more expresly who have proceeded upon the most couragious and as I may say manly Principle and Opinion For our Friends the Peripateticks though there be nothing under Heaven more Copious than they are nothing more Learned nothing more Grave yet do not make out to my judgment a Moderation either of the Distempers or Diseases of the Soul for every Evil though but indifferent great is great But we are proving this that there is no such thing at all in a wise man For as the Body if it be but indifferent is not well so if there be the same indifferency in the Soul it is not in Health Therefore our Ancestors did excellently well name as many other things after their Propriety so Vexation Disquiet Anxiety a Distemper and the Greeks express every disorder of mind by a Term near the same for they call every inordinate Sally of the Spirit a Passion which in that Language imports a Disease We more properly for the Distemper of the mind bears great Analogy with bodily Sickness But Lust is not like Sickness nor is immoderate Joy which is an ecstatical and extravagant pleasure of the Mind Nay Fear it self is not very like a Disease though it borders upon Discontent But properly as Sickness in the Body so Distemper in the Soul hath a name not sever'd from Pain therefore the Original of this Pain is to be laid open by us that is the efficient cause of Distemper in the Soul as of Sickness in the Body for as Physicians having found out the cause of a Disease think the Cure found out so we having discover'd the Cause of Discontent shall find out the method of curing it h As Theophrastus deploring the untimely death of Callisthenes his Fellow-Student Callisthenes the Olynthian was well known to Alexander the Great having studied together under the same Tutor Aristotle The King took him along with him to Pen the History of his Asian Atchievements but the freedom of his Discourse and uncomplying demeanor wrought his overthrow For when King Alexander now Lord of Asia requir'd of his Macedons to give him the Ceremony of Persian Adoration he with some others of the Macedonian Nobles too openly declar'd their dislike of it The haughty young Victor could not brook that the Majesty of his Empire and with that Grandeur improv'd should be disputed by his Vasals and therefore is said under a colour of a Sham-Plot of Hermolaus to have executed many of the Non-conforming Nobility but Calisthenes he first mangled and disfigured cut off his Ears Nose and Lips afterwards put him into a Cage with a Dog and so carried him about whithersoever the Army march'd till at last he dy'd with the torture and regret of Spirit Theophrastus wrote a Book entitled Calisthenes or a Lamentation from whence this Passage is quoted i These Arguments are thus brought by the Stoicks From strict Arguing he cometh to examine Terms and prepares the way to enlarge more clearly on the Subject SECT XI The Cause of Dissatisfaction is a mistake in Opinion k THE whole therefore is in Opinion nor is that the Cause of Discontent only but of all the
Circumstances of Humane Life understood that they were not to be dreaded after the rate of vulgar Apprehensions and in truth as to my judgment those who have long before consider'd and those whom length of time cureth seem to have been wrought upon in a manner by one and the same cause only that a Principle of Reason healeth the former Nature the latter when that cometh to be understood wherein the Remedy consists that the evil which was conceiv'd to have been excessive is not yet so great as to cast down a state of happiness This therefore is consequent that through want of consideration the wound is greater but what they imagine doth not follow that when equal misfortunes befall different Persons he only is afflicted by the mischance on whom it fell unexpected therefore some in distress when they have been minded that we came into the World upon those terms that no man can pass the whole course of Life without his share of suffering are said to have been the more troubled c That Stanza of the most potent King Agamemnon in Euripides his Iphigenia in Aulis bespeaks an old Country-man Father I envy thy content Who e're safe private life hath spent I envy much his happiness But Potentates I envy less SECT XXV The Cavil of Carneades examin'd WHereupon Carneades as I find our Friend Antiochus Record of him was wont to blame Chrysippus for quoting as some wise passage that Verse of Euripides No Mortal is advanc'd above all Pain But buries Children breeds up some again Then dys himself yet their deceased Friend Vain Mourners to the Grave with Pomp attend Dust will to Dust one Law is made for all Life like ripe Corn must by the Sickle fall He deny'd that Arguments of this sort had any influence at all to the abating Sorrow for said he that is the very matter of our grief to be caught in such a cruel necessity and a Discourse in rehersal of other mens Sufferings only to be suited to the Consolation of ill-natur'd Persons But I am clear of a differing judgment for both the necessity of conforming to that condition whereunto we were ordain'd doth with-hold us from fighting as it were against God and minds us that we are but men Which consideration doth greatly allay Sorrow and the recounting Examples is not produc'd to give content to the malitious but to inform the judgment of him that is in trouble that he is well able to bear what he seeth many have born before him with Moderation and Patience for they are to be staid up by all methods who are sinking and cannot hold together through excess of grief Chrysippus was wont to make the allusion as if the Greek word importing Sorrow imply'd in the very Term a Solution of the whole man This evil Humour may be utterly expell'd by laying open as I said in the beginning the cause of Discontent Now this is no other than an opinion and judgment of some great evil instant and pressing therefore also bodily Pain though the Fit be never so sharp yet is sustain'd by entertaining probable Hopes of Ease and a Life led with Reputation and Honour carrieth along with it such strong Consolation as that no Affliction can touch those who so liv'd or else Troubles make but a very slight impression on their Souls d That Verse of Euripides They are the words of Amphiarchus comforting the Mother of Archemorus for the loss of her Son SECT XXVI The mistake that trouble of mind is a Duty BUT over and above the opinion that our evil is great when a further opinion falls in that we ought that we do well that it is our duty to be disquieted at any misfortune then ariseth that violent Storm of excessive Sorrow From this opinion come those diverse and detestable sorts of Mourning neglects of being trim'd smiting on the Breast Thighs and Head Hence Agamemnon in Homer and no less in Attius is personated Tearing for grief at times his Looks unshorn Which occasion'd this ingenuous Saying of Bion that sure the King was out of his Wits to pull his Hair up by the Roots as though melancholly were to be abated by a bald Pate but they do all these things out of a conceit that they should be so done Upon the same ground also doth Aeschines inveigh against Demosthenes because he offer'd Sacrifice a Sevennight after his Daughters Death But in how Rhetorical strains how copiously what strong lines doth he compile what words dart forth that one would conclude a Rhetorician may take upon him as much as he pleaseth Which Liberty none could allow unless they had this Principle ingrafted in their Souls that all good men ought to be most grievously afflicted at the death of their Relations From hence doth it proceed that in troubles of mind some affect solitary Walks as Homer of Bellerophon Who o're th' Aleian Deserts stray'd alone Pensive and sought for Paths to men unknown Niobe is fain'd to have been turn'd into Stone I suppose for her eternal silence in Sorrow Hecuba on the other side for the bitterness of her Spirit and out-rage they suppose faign'd to have been transform'd into a Bitch Others again there are who in their Distresses often delight to vent their Complaints in Soliloquies as that Nurse in Ennius Now doth my Passion prompt me to relate To Heav'n and Earth Medeas sad Estate SECT XXVII Farther illustrated ALL this do men in Affliction and conceive it to be just proper and what ought to be done in such Circumstances and it is no small Evidence that this cometh from a pretended Conscience of Duty in that such as mourn in State if they chance to let any Action escape that looks like Civility or speak a chearful word they presently recompose themselves to a disconsolate Garb and confess their fault in having transgress'd the Ceremony of Mourning Nay Mothers and Tutors are wont to check their Children and that not only by chiding but also beating them if they say or do any pleasant thing whilst the Family is in Mourning they make them cry what when the time of second and less strict Mourning is come and it is found by experience that no advantage ariseth from Melancholly doth it not declare that the whole business was voluntary and upon choice What meaneth the Self-Tormentor in Terence I thus resolv'd in misery to share Chremes would my Sons wrong in part repair He resolves to be miserable Now doth any one resolve upon any thing against his Will I judge I should deserve the worst of ills He judges he should deserve the worst of Punishments unless he be miserable you see plainly that it is an Evil of conceit and not in its own Nature What and if the very Object forbids Lamentation as in Homer the daily Slaughters and great Carnage avail to Moderation in grief in whom this Passage is found Many before our Eyes are daily slain So that of Sorrow none can respit gain Bury we then
our dead and ne're repine But all our Mourning to one day confine Therefore it is in our Power to abandon Grief at our pleasure in compliance with our occasions Now since the matter is in our Power is there any occasion of such moment to be comply'd with as a present riddance of Discontent It was observ'd that those who saw Cn. Pompey assassin'd being put in fear for their own Lives at that most deplorable and dismal Spectacle because they saw themselves surrounded with the Enemies Fleet did at that time nothing else but hearten the Rowers and further their escape but when they had gain'd Tide then began to break out into Grief and Lamentations Fear therefore could give time of trouble to them and cannot Reason and true Wisdom repell it SECT XXVIII Rectify'd by consideration that our Sorrow availeth nothing NOW what can be of more importance to the laying down Sorrow than a Sense that there is no advantage by it and that it is admitted upon a pure mistake And if it can be laid down it can also not be admitted It must therefore be confess'd that Discontent is admitted by Will and upon Choice Now this is evident by their Patience who having often gone thorough many Adventures bear more patiently whatever befalls them and suppose they are harden'd against all Sense of Fortune as he in Euripides Had this day first arisen in a Cloud Had I not long the dangerous Ocean Plow'd Cause were of Grief as when shy Colts admit Into their tender mouths the curbed Bit. Habit of Woes now makes me dedolent Since then the being tir'd out with Miseries alleviates our Sorrows it must necessarily be perceiv'd that the object of our Sufferings is not the real Cause and Fountain of our Grief the greatest Philosophers who yet have not attain'd to perfect Wisdom e do they not understand that they are under the greatest Evil for they want Wisdom Nor is there any greater Evil than want of Wisdom yet they do not Mourn Why so because Evils of this sort have not annex'd to them that it is fit and reasonable our Duty to be troubled for ones not being wise which yet we do annex to that trouble of mind which implys Mourning and is the greatest of all Therefore Aristotle accusing the Ancient Philosophers who thought that Philosophy through their Wits was perfected saith They were either great Fools or very Vain but that he saw within few years there was made a great Accession so that in short time it would come to be compleat Theophrastus also lying on his Death-bed is said to have accus'd Nature for giving f Rooks and Ravens a long life who have no occasion for it when men whom it most imported were so short-liv'd whose Age if it might have been of a longer Duration the Consequence would have been that through the Complement of all Arts mens life would have been polish'd in every part of Learning Therefore he complain'd that he must be taken away as soon as he had but begun to have sight of this What among the other Philosophers do not the best and gravest confess their ignorance in many things and that after the greatest proficiency they have still more to learn and yet are not discontented at the Sense of that Folly which remaineth in them though nothing be more Evil for there is no opinion mingled of an officious Grief What say we of them g who do not think it suitable for men to mourn Such was Q. Maximus at the burial of his Son a man that had borne the Consulship L. Paulus after the loss of two Sons within few days Such M. Cato at the death of his Son Praetor Elect. Such the rest whom we have collected in our Book of Consolation What else pacify'd them but only a Sense that Sorrow and Lamentation were not proper for men Therefore what some having taken for Duty are wont to abandon themselves to Melancholly that these men judging dishonourable have repell'd Sorrow from whence is evident that Discontent is not in the Nature of the thing but from our own opinion e Do they not understand that they are under the greatest Evil Tully doth not speak it positively that imperfection is the greatest Evil but by way of Interrogation as according to the Stoical Paradox doubtless insincerity is worse and it is hard to determine that he who hath not reach'd the Top in gradual attainments must therefore lye at the bottom but if the question had been ask'd in general why men are not so much affected with the wants of their Soul as Bodily or outward Damages the Resolution had been obvious because we cannot want or desire what we do not know therefore he makes instance in the greatest Philosophers Do they not understand Some active dissatisfaction they had in their present Estate which put them upon further pursuit after Wisdom but they were still much under the Power of an intellectual Lithargy Deficiency in Morals was less than their burthen because they were unacquainted with the indispensable Sanction of the Divine Law Had not those Direction Motives and Assistances to work in them a Spiritual Sorrow which might engage them to be restless till they had obtain'd such degrees of integrity as this our frail condition admits f Rooks and Ravens It is a fabulous Tradition from Hesiod but Aristotle affirms no other Creature lives longer than Man but the Elephant g Who do not think it suitable for men to mourn It hath been observ'd that the old Roman Laws prescribe Women a just time of Mourning are silent of Men whence hath also been infer'd that they look'd upon Mourning as not very suitable for them SECT XXIX That our Sorrows are by misapprehensions aggravated beyond their own Natures ON the opposite part these things are alledged Who is so senseless as to mourn on his own Choice Nature brings Grief which say they h your Crantor owns must be given way to for it pusheth on and follows hard nor can be any ways resisted therefore that Oileus in Sophocles who had but a little before comforted Telamon upon the death of his Ajax when he came to hear i of his own broke forth into Passion upon whose change of mind is this said None to such perfect Wisdom can pretend Having with Counsel staid his sinking Friend But that he when inconstant Fortunes course Shall against his concerns direct his Force To the surprizing Blow renders his Wits All his grave Rules and sage Advice forgets They who dispute thus endeavour to prove that Nature can be no ways resisted yet they confess that greater Resentments are assum'd than Nature imposeth What madness is it therefore for us to exact the same of others But there are several Causes of admitting grief First that opinion of Evil upon the sight of which and a perswasion that it is such trouble of the mind is a necessary consequent Then again men suppose they gratifie the Dead the more heavily they Mourn
yesterday the evil of Poverty is also in some sort remov'd SECT XXVIII The most certain method of cure is to convince that all Passions are of themselves culpable BUT all such disturbance of Spirit would be clear'd by pacifying the mind as thus to inform it how that is neither good whence its Mirth or Lust arises nor that evil whence either its Fear or Discontent but this is the sure and Catholick Remedy if you inform the Person that the very Passions are of themselves culpable and have nothing in them either natural or necessary as we see even Discontent it self to be asswag'd when we expose to Persons impatient under Sorrow the feebleness of an effeminate Spirit and when we commend the Gravity and Constancy of those who endure the chances incident to Humane Life without breaking forth into Passion which also is the case of those who think these Afflictions to be Evils but such as are to be born patiently One taketh pleasure to be good another Money yet both the former may be reclaim'd from Intemperance and the latter from Covetousness but that other method which both rectifieth the Mistake and removeth Discontent that is indeed the more beneficial but seldom taketh effect Nor is it to be address'd to vulgar Capacities Again there are some Discontents which that Application can no way relieve as if one should be troubled in mind that he hath in him no Vertue no Understanding no Conscience no Honour he is in truth afflicted for Evils but a Remedy of another Nature is to be apply'd to him and such wherein all Philosophers though otherwise disagreeing do consent for all of them must accord in this that stirrings of the Soul averse to right Reason are faulty so that whether those things which cause Fear and Discontent be not Evil or those which move Lust or Mirth be not Good yet the stirring it self is faulty for by him whom we call a couragious and Gallant man we mean one Constant Compos'd Grave and undervaluing all Contingencies of Humane Life But neither can one who Mourns or Fears or Covets or Vaunts be such for these are the Deportments of such as count the Events incident to Humane Life to have an ascendent over their Souls SECT XXIX Laying open the changes common to our condition allays excessive grief WHerefore it is the universal method of cure as I said before of all Philosophers not to descant of what nature is the object which moveth our Passion but to discuss the Passion it self Therefore first as to concupiscence it self it being only propos'd to remove it we must not enquire whether the object of that Lust be good or not but the Lust it self must be remov'd So that whether honesty be the chiefest Good or Pleasure or both of them jointly or the three sorts of good however ordinate be the affection yet if it become immoderate the same address by way of dehortation is to be made to all Now Humane Nature brought into view infers all motives of appeasing the Spirit which that it may be the more plainly discern'd in its colours the common condition and terms of life are to be explain'd in our Discourse Therefore Socrates upon good grounds when Euripides first brought upon the Stage his Tragedy of Orestes is said to have bid repeat him again the three first Verses No matchless grief can Poets wit invent No vengeance from incensed Heav'ns be sent But Humane Nature may its pressure bear Now towards the perswading that such misfortunes both may and ought to be born the recital of such as have born the like is useful although the means of allaying Discontent have been explain'd both in yesterdays Dispute and in our Treatise of Consolation which we writ in the midst of our Mourning and Sorrow for we were not of them who had attain'd to Perfection and what Chrysippus forbids the applying remedy as it were to the green Sores of the Soul that did we and offer'd violence to Nature that so the Plaister might be as broad as the swelling that it was to discuss SECT XXX The like Remedy of Fear BUT bordering upon Discontent concerning which we have sufficiently disputed is Fear about which a few things are to be spoken For as Discontent refers to an evil present so doth Fear to one future therefore did some say that Fear was a part of Discontent but others call'd Fear a trouble aforehand because it is as it were the fore-runner of ensuing trouble upon what accounts therefore present Evils are borne upon the same following ones are slighted for we must take heed in both that we do nothing mean base cowardly effeminate low-spirited and desperate But although we are to speak to the inconstancy feebleness and levity of Fear it self yet is it of good advantage to depretiate the objects of Fear So that whether it were by chance or upon design it is fallen out very luckily that we have disputed of those things which are the great objects of Fear Death and Pain the first and second day which Reasons if they were convictive we are already in great part deliver'd from Fear Thus much then be said to the opinion of Evils SECT XXXI The difference between Mirth and Joy LET us consider now that of Goods that is of Mirth and Concupiscence I am of opinion in this whole account referring to the Passions the stress of the whole cause lyes in one thing that they are all under our own Power all taken up by choice all voluntary This mistake therefore must be rectify'd this opinion undeceiv'd and as in conceited Evils they are to be represented tolerable so in like Good those which appear great and joyous are to be render'd more calm Now this is common to Good and Evil so that if it be at this time difficult to perswade that none of these things which disturb the mind is to be reckon'd among either Good or Evil things yet one sort of cure is to be apply'd to one affection and another to another and the malitious is to be amended by one course he that is given to Women by another the Worldling again by another the Coward by another and it were an easie matter pursuant to that Supposition which is most currant concerning things Good and Evil to deny that an unwise man can ever rejoyce because he never possesseth any Good thing But we now speak after the common Custom allow them since you will have it so to be Good things as they are reputed Honours Riches Pleasures and the rest yet a vaporing and flashy Mirth in the Fruition of those very Benefits is unseemly as though Laughter be allowable yet Giggling is blameworthy for the flushing of the Soul in Mirth is liable to the same censure as the shrinking of it in Sorrow and Concupiscence hath the same levity in Desire as Mirth in Enjoyment and as Spirits too much dejected with trouble so the same too elevated with Mirth are justly judg'd to be light Now
FUrthermore the Commotions of the Soul Anxieties and Discontents are buried in Oblivion when our minds are fetch'd off to Pleasure Wherefore Epicurus did not without cause take the boldness to say that a wise man had always a greater portion of good things because he was always in Pleasures Whence he thinks that to be prov'd which is our question that a wise man is always happy S. What though he want the Sense of Eyes of Ears M. Yes for he slights those very things Since first that same horrible blindness what Pleasures I pray doth it want whereas some do even dispute that the other Pleasures are lodg'd in the Senses themselves but what are perceiv'd by sight do not act in any pleasing of the Eyes as the objects of Tast Smell Feeling Hearing act on that very Organ which is their proper Sensory e No such thing is done in the Eyes The Soul receives what we see Now we may many and diverse ways have delights of the mind without making any use of any Eye-sight I speak as to the Scholar and ingenuous Artist whose Life is Contemplation For the wise man's Study doth not use to call the Eyes in as assistants in the Prosecution of his search And if the Night take not away an happy Life why should a Day like to Night take it away For that saying of Antipater the Cyrenaick is a little towards merry but yet may admit an ingenuous Sense When the Ladies mourn'd over his darkness saith he What do you mean Do you think there is no pleasure in the dark f Appius the ancient who was many years blind we understand both by the Offices which he bore and his Actions that he was in that his Circumstance wanting to the Duties neither of his publick nor private Capacity We have also heard that the House of C. Drusus was fill'd with Clients when they that could not see their own business took a Blind man for their guide e No such thing is done in the Eyes He favours the opinion that Vision is effected not by reception of Species but emission of Rays f Appius the Blind Appius Claudius was Censor an active Magistrate who pav'd the Way to Brundisium call'd the Appian way and brought in an Aquaduct into the City When he was blind he gave his Vote in the Senate and over-rul'd the question of not receiving the Prisoners taken by Pyrrhus nor making Peace with him SECT XXXIX WHEN we were Children Cn. Aufidius who had been Pretor gave his Vote in the Senate nor deny'd his Friends Chamber-Counsel wrote a Greek History and was clear sighted in Learning Diodotus the Stoick liv'd many years at our House blind Now he what would be hardly credible exercis'd himself in Philosophy rather much more diligently than before plaid on Musical Instruments after the Pythagorean usage had Books read to him day and night in which Studies he needed not Eyes Above all this what scarce seems possible without Eyes he supported the Office of a Geometry Lecture directing his Scholars by word of mouth from what Point to what Point they should draw every Line They report of g Asclepiades a not obscure Ereirian Philosopher when one ask'd what alteration Blindness had brought upon him that he should answer To carry one Servant more about with him for as even the extreamest Poverty would be tolerable if one might h what some Greeks do every day so Blindness could easily be born if it have sufficient Succors against its Infirmities Democritus having lost his Eyes could not distinguish I grant between white and black but now good and evil just and unjust honourable and base profitable and disprofitable great and small he could and without variety of colours might live happily without discerning of Natures could not Nay this man thought that the intention of his mind was rather distracted by the sight of his Eyes and whereas others oftentimes could not see what block lay in their ways he rang'd over all infinity so that no extream could set bounds to his further advance There is a Tradition too that Homer was Blind But we see his Picture more like than Poem What Country what Coast what place of Grcece what sort of Subject what Skirmish what pitch'd Field what Gally what motion of Men what of Beasts is not so drawn to the Life as that he hath brought us to see what himself saw not What then do we think could either Homer or any other Scholar ever want to compleat the delight and pleasure of the Soul or if the Matter were not so would Anaxagoras or this very Democritus have left their Lands and Estates and have given up themselves with their whole Soul to this Divine delight of learning and enquiring Therefore the Poets never bring in Tiresias the Sooth-sayer whom they feign to be a wise man bemoaning his Blindness But now i Homer having fram'd Polyphemus of an inhumane and savage Character makes him to hold discourse with his Ram and praise its Fortunes that it could go whether it would and graze upon what it would He indeed did it well for the Cyclops himself was never a whit wiser than his Ram. g Asclepiades a not obscure Eretrain Philosopher This is distinguish'd from Asclepiades the Prusian that eminent Physician h The extreamest Poverty would be tolerable if one might what some Greeks do every day This general Reflection is more pregnant than any special charge whether it mean servile Flattery ill Practices or sordid Employments for Gain i Homer having fram'd Polyphemus See his Odysseis Book 9. by Ogilby or Hobbs SECT XL. Deafness BUT what evil is there in Deafness M. Crassus was thick of hearing but another thing had more trouble in it k that he heard ill though as I thought wrongfully l Our Epicureans cannot speak Greek nor the Greek Epicureans Latin therefore these are to each other in regard of their respective Languages Deaf and we are all so in those Tongues that we do not understand which are innumerable we are in truth Deaf But they do not hear the voice of the Harper neither do they the screaking of the Saw when it is in whetting nor the grunting of the Swine when its throat is cutting nor the roaring of the Sea when they desire to take rest And if perchance Musick delights them first they ought to consider that many wise men have liv'd happy before Airs were ever compos'd then that much greater Pleasure is taken in reading than hearing Songs Then as a little before we turn'd over the Blind to the Pleasures of the Ears so may we the Deaf to that of the Eyes for he that can speak with himself will not much need the Discourse of another Put case that all Evils were heap'd on one man so that he were both Blind and Deaf further oppress'd with most sharp Pains of the Body which first of themselves use to dispatch the man but if perchance they be drill'd out to any length of time and yet torment