and inspiring Genius whilst he compos'd some of his immortal Works He desired much to have had Issue by her and perform'd the last Offices to her in the following Verses which express with Passion his Conjugal Affection HELPES dicta fui Siculae Regionis Alumna Quam procul à patria Conjugis egit amor Quo sine moesta dies nox anxia flebilis hora Nec solum Caro sed Spiritus unus erat Lux mea non clausa est tali remanente marito Majorique animae parte superstes ero Porticibus sacris tam nunc peregrina quiesco Judicis aeterni testificata Thronum Ne qua manus Bustum violet nisi fortè jugalis Haec iterum cupiat jungere membra suis Vt Thalami CumulÃque comes nec morte revellar Et socios vitae nectat uterque Cinis In English thus Led by the Charms of my kind Lord I came To Rome Sicilian HELPES was my Name My Days Nights Hours he did with Pleasure crown One were our Bodies and our Souls were one Though forc'd from hence I do my Fate survive Whilst still my nobler Part in him doth live A Stranger in this sacred Porch I lie And of th' Eternal Judg I testify O let no Hand invade my Tomb unless My Lord would mingle this my Dust with his As once one Bed then should we have one Grave And I in both shou'd him my much-lov'd Partner haue His other Wife was RVSTICIANA Daughter to Quintus Aurelius Memius Symmachus who was also Chief of the Senate and Consul in the Year CDXXCV By her he had many Children two of which were Consuls viz. QVINTVS ANICIVS SYMMACHVS and ANICIVS MANLIVS SEVERINVS BOETIVS in the Year DXXII. this bearing the Name of his Father the other of his Grandfather Boetius well considering that Symmachus his Father-in-law being without Heirs-male he shou'd do a grateful thing to him if he gave his Name to his eldest Son by his Daughter 'T is likely that his Wealth was not small because besides that he owns in his Writings that he liv'd in great Plenty and Splendour and that he had an Abundance and Affluence of all worldly things his Father supported the honourable Office of the Consulate and his Grandfather in the most difficult times of the Empire commanded the Pretorian Bands Nor was he only considerable by his Patrimony for he had a great Accession to his Fortune by his Wife RVSTICIANA to whom and her Sons the whole Estate of Symmachus did descend since Galla the other Daughter of Symmachus upon the Death of her Husband who died young soon after the time of his Consulship was expir'd vow'd perpetual Chastity and associated her self to the Vestals To these Ornaments of Birth and Fortune Nature added also the considerable Faculties of Speaking and Writing in which he so excell'd that himself acknowledges the first and that the second was not wanting to him will appear to any one who examines what he has written upon the several Subjects of Mathematicks Logick and Divinity But this Divine Work of the Consolation of Philosophy doth far exceed the rest for it abounds in various and difficult Arguments and yields many choice Sentences and Rules of Life Upon every Subject which he attempts he does so acquit himself that none can be said to have taught more accurately to have prov'd more irrefragably or to have illustrated with more Perspicuity To be short he had so much Strength of Soul and Thought and he shew'd so much Judgment in all his Managements that even a most knowing Prince fear'd his Parts and his Vertues and Integrity became his Crime and wrought his Ruine These were the Causes of his Banishment and Death With these he studied to defend the good and to curb and restrain ill Men whenever it was in his Power For whilst he sustain'd the Dignity of Master of the Offices it being dangerous for him then to refuse to do so he was made President of the Council to whom it belong'd to oversee the Discipline of the Palace and being Partaker of many of the Secrets of his Prince was call'd often to advise him in his weightiest Affairs of State and on all these Occasions he gave great Proofs of his Abilities and inviolable Equity Amongst other of his generous and good Actions he defended Paulinus and Albinus both Consulars and the Senate it self with the rich Province of Campania against the Rapine and Violence of King Theodorick Cyprian Triguilla and Conigast and also against the devouring Avarice of the Captain of the Guards and other barbarous Spoilers By these Proceedings he became the Object of ill Mens Hate and incurr'd also the Displeasure of the King But at this very time the Orthodox Emperor Justin succeeding to Anastasius the Arian like a new Sun enlightned the Oriental Regions with the Light of the true Faith He confirm'd that Peace which was desir'd by Theodorick King of the Gothes who then Odoacer being slain reign'd in Italy He having reconcil'd the Church of Constantinople and also several others to Hormisda Bishop of Rome did immediately by his Edict banish all Arians except the Gothes out of the Eastern Empire Theodorick the Goth was troubled at this Action above measure however he dissembled his Resentment when behold three Informers Men of desperate Fortune and worse Lives Gaudentius and Opilio for several Offences being condemn'd to Banishment and Basilius lately dismiss'd from being Steward of the King's Household and also much indebted apply to the King and accuse BOETIVS for that he should hinder an Informer from bringing in his Witnesses to prove the whole Senate guilty of Treason that he declar'd his Design by several Letters of restoring the Liberty of Italy and that he had endeavour'd to raise himself to Honours by magical Arts and other unlawful Means Theodorick jealous as all are of the Rights and Safety of his Crown and fearing too that if the true Religion should be asserted the Romans being more addicted to Justin would attempt some Great thing and knowing that what was done in the East against the Arians was done at the Request and in favour of Hormisda and the Senate of Rome did give ready Faith to those Accusers and immediately sent them to the Senate at Rome from which Place this good Man was then far distant where they were to present their Accusations and to declare that the Lives and Safety of the Prince and of all the Gothes were now in great Jeopardy So to the Grief of all good Men the innocent Boetius absent unheard and undefended was condemned to Death and to Proscription But the King fearing that Justice and all the World would have but too good Cause of Offence against him if this Man should die he changed his Sentence from Death to Banishment that so he might be a Terror to other People and he might still have him in his Power to make a Sacrifice of when his barbarous Soul should thirst after Blood Therefore in the Year
Si ego inquit scîssem tu nescîsses If I had known of such a Design thou hadst never known it In which thing Sorrow and my Misfortunes have not so dulled my Senses that I should complain of the Contrivances of wicked Men against the Vertuous But I wonder that according to their Hopes they should have effected them for the Will to do Ill proceeds from the Defects of humane Nature But it is prodigious that every Contrivance of ill Men should prevail against the Innocent even when the Eye of Providence beholds it Whence it was that one of thy Disciples properly enough asked If there be a God whence then proceeds Evil If there be none whence Good Be it so that it is natural and fit enough that ill Men who thirst after the Blood of the Good and of the whole Senate should also promote my Destruction who have always defended botn against their Attempts But have I deserv'd this Return from the Hands of the Senate c. Thou mayst remember I imagine because always when I did or said any thing thou wert present and didst direct me Thou mayst remember I say when at (i) Verona A City of the Venetian Territory built by the Gauls under the Command of Brennus first called Brenona afterwards Verona Verona the King greedy and desirous of our common Ruine endeavour'd to have thrown that Treason for which Albinus was accused on the whole Body of the Senate how I then contemning any Hazard which I might run did vindicate and defend that Order Thou knowst this to be Truth and that I never was accustom'd to value or praise my self or my Actions for whosoever seeks a Name by boasting of what he hath done will lessen in a great measure the Pleasures of a self-approving Conscience But now see the Event and Success of my Innocence for instead of receiving the Reward of true and steddy Vertue I undergo the Punishment of Villany and Impiety What Judges were there ever who even upon the manifest Proofs of a Crime did so unanimously agree in Cruelty that neither the Considerations of humane Nature which necessarily errs nor of the Change of Fortune which is so uncertain to all should encline some of them to Pity and Compassion If I had been accus'd of designing to burn the Temples or massacre the Priests and so destroy all good Men yet I should have been allowed to have been present and upon my Confession or Conviction by the Witnesses should have received my Sentence But now for my Afffections and Services to the Senate I am unheard undefended at the Distance of (k) 500 Miles Ticinum or Pavia was so far distant from the Place where the Sentence of Boetius was pronounced 500 Miles condemn'd to Death and (l) Proscription Proscription was of two kinds One was Proscription of Goods when they were expos'd to Sale by Writings affixed upon the publick Places of the City or Country where the Criminal dwelt The other was a Proscription of the Person by which it was signified that the Offender was banished by the Magistrates and that his Abode in the City or Country was not safe Proscription O my Judges may none of you be ever convicted of the like Crime the Falseness of which even mine Accusers themselves know and that they are forced to throw another pretended Offence into the Scale which is that out of my Ambition and Desire of Dignity I have polluted my Conscienee with the horrid Sin of (m) Sacrilege This was another Crime objected to Boetius but in what the Sacrilege did consist which was laid to his charge doth not so well appear to me Monsieur de la Boucherie the French Interpreter of our Author thinks it consisted in his having by deceitful Arts gained Suffrages for the advancing himself to the Magistracy which the Latins call Crimen ambitûs a circumëundo supplicando and the Greeks 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which Stephanus in thesaur gr linguae verbo 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 interprets thus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 sive 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 popularitas hujusmodi 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ita differre videntur quod prior concionibus multitudini lenocinari obrepere solet 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 verò potius muneribus gladiatoriis spectaculis Vide Sis Bud. p. 811. Both these were Crimes punishable by the Laws of those Countries Others as Thomas Aquinas and Ascensius think that it was the Crime of Sortilegium or Sorcery and practising Magical Aarts of which he was accused and that for sacrilegio we ought to read sortilegio which seems to me to be true reading of it for several Reasons which would be too long to insert here Sacrilege But certainly thou my Guide and Directress who art planted and rooted in my Soul hast so far driven out of my Heart the Desire of mortal and fading things that thou dost know I being ever under thy Inspection there could be no Place there for that Impiety for thou didst daily instil into my Ears and Mind that golden Saying of Pythagoras * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Follow God Nor was it convenient for me to seek Assistance from soul and unlawful Arts whom already thou hadst form'd into the Excellence and Likeness of God Those of my †Innocens penetral domus Family my Friends also with whom I conversed and Symmachus that vertuous and reverend Personage to whom the Secrets of my Conversation could not be hidden do all with one Voice clear me even from the Suspition of that Crime But O Misfortune even thou art the greatest Cause of that Credit which is given to my Accusers for 't is believed that I have used unlawful Arts because I have been bred up under thy Discipline and imbibed thy Precepts So that it is not enough that that Reverence which is due to thee should not reflect with Advantage upon me thy Disciple if thy self also do not suffer upon my account But this also is an heavy Accession to my Misfortunes that the Opinions of most People are not as they ought to be grounded upon a due Consideration and the Merit of Things but upon the Events of Fortune and that that only should be judged to be undertaken with prudent Fore-sight which is crown'd with an unhappy Success Hence it is that those who are unfortunate do lose before any thing the good Opinion of the World It troubles me now to remember what are the various Rumours the different and inconsistent Opinions of the People concerning me some condemning and some defending me and my Cause Yet this I will say that nothing can add more to the Afflictions of the Unhappy who are unjustly persecuted than when Men think they justly deserve the Miseries which they endure And now I am at last robbed of my Estate spoiled of mine Honours injured in my Reputation and instead of those Rewards which I might justly have expected from my Country I
been formidable to Cyrus and being taken by him was led to the Flames to be a miserable Sacrifice to his Fury was delivered by a Shower which in that Moment was poured down from Heaven Hast thou forgot how Paulus Aemilius Consul of Rome when he had taken (f) Perseus The Son of Philip last King of the Macedonians was overcome by Paulus Aemilius the Roman Consul at Samothrace and with his Sons led in Triumph When he was first taken and brought before Paulus he pitying his Fortune wept and commanded him to sit down by him Perseus King of the Macedonians was grieved and even wept for his Sorrows and Captivity What doth the Tragick Buskin more exclaim against than Fortune overturning with an undistinguishing Stroke the Happiness and Peace of Kings and Common-wealths Dist thou not learn when thou wert young that Jupiter at the Entry of his Palace of Olympus doth always reserve * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 two great (g) 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 This Doctrine of the Platonists Boetius learnt when he was a young Student at Athens For those Philosophers finding that the Souls of Men which they believed were formed long before they were joined to the Bodies did some of them live miserable and some of them more happy feigned that two great Vessels did stand before the Gates of Jupiter's Palace one of which was filled with Good the other with Evil of either of which as the Souls which were to be infused into Bodies did drink they were to have an happy or a miserable Lot upon Earth Tuns out of the one of which he dispenses Good out of the other Evil to the World What if thou hast drunk too deep of the Vessel of Good What if for the present I have only vailed my self and am not wholly departed from thee What if even this very Mutability so much complained of which is of my Essence should give thee just Cause to hope for and expect better things Yet do not despair be not dismayed nor desire whilst thou art plac'd within the common Circumstances of Humanity to live under a Law to be calculated for thy Meridian and to be appropriated to thy Complexion and Inclinations METRUM II. I. Si quantas rapidis flatibus incitus Pontus versat arenas c. If Plenty from her teeming Horn As many Riches on the World should pour As there are Sands upon the briny Shore Or Stars in Heaven before the purple Morn In the triumphal Chariot of Day All seen from far upon the Eastern Way Yet would not miserable Man Cease to complain But with his causeless Cries He would importune Heaven and pierce the Skies II. Although his Prayers reach the Almighty's Ear Though with Success he crown his Vow Though Wealth and Honour on him he confer Yet Cares his Mind and Clouds possess his Brow He thinks his present Blessings poor And wildly gapes and ever calls for more What Curb or what commanding Rein Can Avarice within just Bounds retain Since when full Streams of Blessings on us flow Our Thirst doth still increase our desires still grow The Man who thinks he 's poor though rich he be Doth truly labour under Poverty PROSA III. Phi. IF therefore Fortune should speak for her self to thee on this manner I believe thou hast not any thing to answer or if thou hast any thing by which thou canst defend thy Complaint offer it and thou shalt have free Liberty to speak Boet. These things which thou urgest are indeed specious being enriched with all the Charms of Rhetorick and Musick yet their Sound then only affects and delights us when they strike our Ears But the Miserable have a much deeper Sense of their Misfortunes which these Notes cannot remove and when they leave off to entertain our Ears their Sorrow which is settled within with greater Force attacks the Mind Phi. So it is indeed for these are not Specificks for thy Disease which rebels against its Cure but rather Nourishers of it when time serves I shall administer those things which will pierce to its bottom But nevertheless that thou mayst not number thy self amongst the Miserable let me ask thee hast thou forgot the measure of thy Happiness and Prosperity I speak not of the Care which the Chief Men of the City took of thee when thou wert left an Orphan when thou wert grac'd with the Affinity of those great Personages and wert taken into their Affections before thou wert received into their Alliance which is the most happy and estimable kind of Propinquity Who did not account thee most happy in the Noble Alliance of thy (h) The Fathers-in-law of Boetius were Festus and Symmachus of whom mention is made in the Life of Boetius Fathers-in-law in the chaste and exemplary Vertues of thy (i) Though Boetius had two Wives Elpis and Rusticiana yet I suppose mention is made here only of Rusticiana because she only was living at that time when this Book was composed Wife and in the Noble Dispositions of thy (k) Boetius had four Sons Patricius Hypatius Symmachus and Boetius that two of these were Consuls is certain but which they were I do not find Sons I pass by for common things I will not mention those Dignities conferr'd upon (l) Boetius being young was admitted into the Order of the Patricii and perhaps he had been honoured with the Consulate which Dignity was rarely conferr'd upon any one before the 30th Year of his Age. thee in thy Youth which have often been denied to antient Men for I am impatient to come to that which was the Crown of thy Felicity If the Fruits of humane Labours can have any Weight of Happiness can the Memory of that Day for any Evil which may since have befallen thee ever pass out of thy Mind in which thou sawest thy two Sons advanced to the Degree of Consuls carried from thy House accompanied by so great a Number of Senators and with the Joys and Acclamations of the People when thou sawest them in the Court placed in their (m) Curule Seats It was the Ivory Chair which was in the Chariot in which the Chief Magistrates of Rome did ride From hence they were called Magistratus Curules who only had the Right of setting up Images Curulis a curru dempto altero nam Senatores qui Curulem magistratum i. e. majorem bonorem gerebant honoris gratiâ in Curiam vehi soliti erant Curru in quo sella erat Eburnea supra quam considerent Gell. Curule Seats and thy self in the Praises of the absent King Theodorick didst display the Treasures of thy Wit and didst deserve the Crown of Eloquence when in the (n) The Circus It was a Place of an Oval Figure in which the Romans by the Appointment of Tarquinius Priscus one of their first Kings did exercise their Games from whence those Games were called Circenses Custom required afterwards that every one who was
She demonstrates clearly that it is in none of these because they are so far from being to be accounted Goods that they are accompanied with a great many Evils but in God who is the Sovereign and only Good and that by his Order the World is governed PROSA I. BY this time she had ended her Song when I desirous to hear more was so charmed by the pleasantness of it that I stood long expecting that she would proceed but at last said I O thou chief Support and Stay of languishing Minds how much hast thou refreshed me either with the weight of thy Sentences or the sweetness of thy Numbers so that now I almost think my self an equal Match for Fortune and able to resist her Blows Therefore I do not only not fear the Applications of those Remedies which thou didst say a little before were sharp but I earnestly desire to hear what they are I well perceived that returned she when with silence and attention thou didst receive my Words and I did then expect such a State of Mind in thee or what is more true I did then create in thee such an one And indeed what yet remains to be said is of such a Nature that when it is first tasted it seems to bite and is unpleasant but when it is once swallowed it turns sweet and is most grateful to the Stomach But because thou sayst thou wouldst now gladly hear with what Desire wouldst thou burn if thou couldst imagine whither I am now about to lead thee Whither is that I pray thee said I To that true genuine Felicity answered she which thy Mind doth apprehend as if it were in a Dream and of which thou seemest to have some Foretaste But thy Sight is so clouded with false Forms and light Appearances that it cannot bear the Lustre of that Object Then I intreat thee without Delay shew me that true Happiness I will most willingly at thy Desire do it replied she but I will endeavour to describe that false and adulterate Cause which is better known to thee and that being fully laid open thou wilt be better able to comprehend that exact Model of true Felicity which I shall draw by casting thine Eye upon its contrary METRUM I. Qui serere ingenuum volet agrum Liberat arva prius fruticibus Falce rubos filicemque resecat c. He who the grateful Field would sow Must Shrubs and Fern out of it throw That so the Corn may put away and grow To him who with offensive Meat Did once his Palate vitiate The Labour of the busy Bee is sweet When the (a) The South-wind It is of its Nature to bring Rain and to drive on the waterish Clouds South-wind affecting Peace Doth its Storm-breathing Noises cease The radiant Glories of the Stars increase When (b) Lucifer It is the Morning-Star which is called Venus by the Greeks it is called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and by the Latins Lucifer when it goes before the Sun and when it followeth him Hesperus So Virgil. Eclog. 8. v. 17. Nascere praeque diem veniens age Lucifer almum Lucifer's victorious Ray Hath chac'd Night's darker Shades away Then cloth'd in gay Apparel comes the Day So if thou canst thy self retrieve From that which did thy Eyes deceive Thy Mind will soon the truest Good perceive PROSA II. THEN fixing her Eye a little and as it were withdrawing her self into the most inward Cabinet of her Mind she thus began All the Care and manifold Studies of Men do indeed proceed in differing Paths but they tend to one only End which is Happiness And Happiness is that compleat Good of which when a Man is once possessed he hath nothing more to desire This indeed is the Sovereign Good of all and contains all others in it To which if any thing were wanting it could not be the chief because there would be something without it self some foreign Advantage which were to be desired It is therefore apparent that Blessedness or Happiness is that perfect State in which all other Goods meet and centre which as I have said all Men endeavour to arrive at by differing Ways and Means For in the Minds of Men there is naturally inserted a Desire of the true Good but wandring Error leads them to the false and fictitious one so that some believing it to be the chief of Goods to want nothing labour for an abundance of Riches Others again believing Happiness to consist in being reverenced and esteemed by their Country-men endeavour all they can after Honours There are also those who place it in Power and these endeavour either to rule themselves or to be Favourites to those who actually govern There are those also who fancy an high Renown to be the height of Happiness and these by all the Arts of War and Peace hasten to propagate their Names and to arrive at Glory Many measure the Fruits of this Good by Joy and Chearfulness and they think it the happiest thing in the World to abound in Luxury and to be dissolved in Pleasures Some there are who use these Causes and Ends interchangeably as they who desire Riches as a Means to obtain Power and Pleasures or as they who desire Power either that by it they may get Money or purchase a Name About these and such like things the Intention of all humane Actions and Desires is versed and employed as Nobility and popular Applause are sought after by some which Men think do make them famous and Wives and Children by others are desired for the sake of Pleasure Only Friendship which is a sacred kind of Tie is not to be reckoned amongst the Goods of Fortune but amongst those of Vertue but all other things are desired either for the Power or the Pleasure which they afford Now for the Goods of the Body they are to be referred to the things mentioned before For Strength and the large Proportion of Parts seem to give Power and Worthiness Beauty and Swiftness to afford Glory and Fame and Health and Indolence of Body yield Joy and Pleasure In all these things it appears that Happiness is only wanting for whatever any one desireth above other things he judgeth that to be the chief Good But we have already defined Happiness to be the Soveraign of Goods wherefore every one judgeth that to be the happiest State which he desires above all others Thou hast now therefore before thine Eyes an exact Scheme and Form of humane Felicity that is Riches Honours Powers Glory and Pleasure which last was only considered by (c) Epicurus Epicurus was a Philosopher known enough In Physicks he taught that Bodies were compounded of Atoms and in Ethicks that the chief or sovereign Good did consist in Pleasure and argued thus Since there are no other Goods except Riches Honours Power Glory and Pleasures that Good amongst these which excels the others ought to be esteemed the Sovereign Good but Pleasure seems to excel all the others
But if Dominion and the Rule over many People be the efficient Cause of Happiness doth not it follow that if it be defective in any Part it must necessarily diminish that Happiness and introduce Misery But although humane Empires extend themselves far and wide there must of necessity be many People over which every King can have no Command and on whatsoever Hand this Power which constitutes Happiness shall fail there must Impotence enter which causes Misery Hence therefore it is natural to aver that Princes must have a larger Portion of Misery than of its contrary A (r) A Tyrant He means Dionysius King of Sicily who hath been noted by all succeeding Ages for his tyrannical Government His History is so well known that I need only mention here that one Damocles flattering Dionysius and extolling the Happiness which he thought he did enjoy in the possession of great Power and Wealth the Tyrant attired him one Day as a King and ordered a Royal Table and Service to be prepared for him that he might have a Taste of that Felicity which he so much applauded but whilst Damocles was in his Royal Robes with delicious Fare before him Orders were given to hang a naked Sword with the Point downwards just over his Head and only fastned by an Hair which when Damocles perceived he could not eat nor take any Pleasure in his Royal Attendance By which Dionysius made him perceive that the Life of a Prince though living in great State and Plenty is very uncomfortable since he is continually wrested and tormented with Cares and Fear Districtus Ensis cui super impiâ Cervice pendet non Siculae dapes Dulcem elaborabunt saporem Non avium citharaeque cantus Somnum reducent Hor. l. 3 Carm. Ode 1. certain Tyrant who well understood the Danger of his Condition did well express the Fears and Cares which attend Government by the Terror of a naked Sword hanging over a Man's Head What then is this thing call'd Power which cannot expel Care nor banish Fear Men desire to live secure but cannot and yet they glory in and boast of their Power Canst thou believe him to be powerful whom thou seest not able to do what he would or him mighty who goes surrounded with a Guard to terrify those of whom he himself is more afraid and whose Power is seated in the Number of his Attendance And now why should I trouble my self to discourse of the Favourites of Princes when I have shew'd even Kingdoms themselves to be subject to so much Imbecility especially since these gaudy things are often disgraced and ruined as well when the Prince is fortunate as when he is unhappy Nero would allow (s) Seneca He was a Philosopher of the Sect of the Stoicks and born at Corduba in Spain he was Uncle to Lucan the Poet and Tutor to the Emperor Nero anno Ch. 60. who afterwards sentenced him that he might possess his Wealth to drink Poison which working not its Effect with him he ordered him to be put into an hot Bath and his Veins to be opened out of which the Blood flowing he gently expired Tacitus saith that when one of the Centurions was sent to him to denounce the Certainty of his Death he said Neque aliud superesse post matrem fratremque interfectos quam ut educatoris praeceptorisque necem adjicere That there was nothing now left for him to do after the Murder of his Mother and Brother but to add that of his Teacher and Master to them Seneca his Friend and Tutor this only Favour to chuse the manner of his Death after he had condemned him The Emperor (t) Antoninus He was sirnamed Caracalla and was Successor to Severus in the Roman Empire having killed his Brother Geta. The Impiousness of which Fact he ordered Papinian to excuse or wipe off to the Senate and the People Papinian refused to do it saying that Parricide was sooner committed than concealed and that it was another kind of Parricide to accuse an innocent Person murdered which Refusal so irritated Antoninus that he commanded he should be killed by his Souldiers Antoninus exposed (u) Papinian He was a most famous Lawyer and is said to have excelled all those who preceded and followed his time in the Knowledg of his Profession He succeeded to Scaevola whose Disciple he was in the Administration of the Affairs relating to the Treasury of the Emperor Severus to whom he was related by his second Wife and was so well esteemed by that Emperor that when he died he left his Sons to his Care Papinian who had long been great at Court to fall by the Swords of his Souldiers Both of them would willingly have renounced their Authority and Seneca was willing to have given his whole Estate and all his Riches into the Hands of Nero and to have retired but whilst the Force of Fate pushed them on towards their Fall neither of them could accomplish what they desired to have done What then is this Power of which Men even when they enjoy it are afraid of which when they are desirous they are not sure nor safe and which when they would lay it down they cannot be acquitted of it Are those Friends to be trusted to in time of need whose Friendship is not founded upon Vertue but upon thy Fortune Believe it they whom thy happy Estate have made so will change when that is altered and when thou art miserable they will be thy Enemies And what Plague in the World can be greater or hurt thee more than such an Enemy who hath gain'd an Intimacy with thee METRUM V. Qui se volet esse potentem Animos domet ille feroces c. He to his Passions Laws must give Who would at Fame and Power arrive He must not too himself forget And to Lust's servile Yoak submit Although thy Laws and Power extend To fruitful (w) India 'T is so called from the River Indus and is a vast Territory terminating Asia towards the East although here it is taken for the East India's distant Land Though frozen (x) Thule Was the last of the Islands which the Romans had discovered and lay the most Northerly of all towards the West wherefore here it is taken for the West It is generally believed to be Iceland and depends upon the King of Denmark as King of Norway About the End of the 9th Century it began to be frequented by the Europeans Thule's stubborn Brow Should to thy dreadful Scepter bow Yet if black Care invades thy Breast If Grief and Plaints do thee molest Thou neither powerful art nor bless'd PROSA VI. BUT O how deceitful oft and how deformed is the thing called Glory Hence not without Reason did the Tragedian exclaim 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 O Glory Glory there are thousands of Men who have deserved nothing whose Lives nevertheless thou hast rendred famous for many have surreptitiously gotten to themselves great Names by the false
the sovereign Good but can it be thought that it shall ever be found in these Acquisitions which I have shewed already not to be able to perform any thing they promise Bo. No surely Ph. In these things therefore which are believed able to satisfy our Desires we must by no means seek for Happiness Bo. I confess it and nothing can be said more truly than this Ph. Thou hast now then the Form and Causes of that adulterate sophisticate Felicity now turn again the Eyes of thy Consideration upon the contrary Prospect and thou shalt soon comprehend that true and genuine Happiness which I so long have promised thee Bo. That a blind Man may see and who runs may read it for thou shewedst it to me before when thou didst endeavour to open to me the Causes of its Counterfeit for if I be not mistaken that is the true consummate Felicity which makes a Man self-sufficient powerful reverenced noble and pleasant And that thou mayst know that thy Sayings have sunk deep into my Understanding I say I know that that which one of these for they are all one can truly perform is without doubt the chief Good and true Happiness Ph. O my Pupil thou art most happy in this Opinion provided thou wilt add this to it which I shall offer to thee Bo. What is that Ph. Thinkest thou that any thing on this side Heaven can confer that Good of which thou speakest Bo. I think not indeed and thou hast already shewed me that nothing can be desired beyond such a State of Perfection Ph. These things then above-mentioned either confer the Likeness of the true Good or else they seem to give me some imperfect Good but the true and perfect one this can by no means afford Bo. I agree with you Ph. Seeing then thou knowest already which is the true Happiness and which the false one it remains thou shouldst be informed from what Fountain to derive that true one Bo. That I indeed expect with much Impatience Ph. But as Plato says in his (d) Timaeus Timaeus amongst his Verses mentions this Precept of Pythagoras 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Finem dein ante precatus Numina opus facito Pythag. in aur Carm. From whence Plato saith in his Book which he nameth Timaeus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 That every one who hath but the leaâ—â—… more of a good Mind and Inclination when he beginneth any thing be it great or small is always wont to call upon God Timaeus that even in the least things the Divine Assistance ought to be implored what dost thou think is fit to be done that we may deserve to find the true Source and Seat of the sovereign Good Bo. I think we ought to invoke the Father and Governour of all things for without such an Invocation no Work is well begun Ph. Thou sayest right And then she warbled out this Divine Orison METRUM IX O qui perpetua mundum ratione gubernas c. O thou who with perpetual Reason rul'st The World great Maker of the Heaven and Earth Who dost (e) From Ages Philosophy makes a difference betwixt Eternity Age and Time which are several kinds of Duration Eternity belongs to that Being which was without a Beginning and will be without an End as God An Age or Aevum is of that thing which is indeed without an End but not without a Beginning viz. of a created thing such as is the Mind and Body of which there is no other than an exteriour Cause for those being created by God shall endure for ever Time is of that thing which is neither without Beginning nor without End as of a Corporeal Form such as is the Form of a Beast the Form of a Plant and the Form of inanimate Bodies from Ages make swift Time proceed And fix'd thy self mak'st all things else to move Whom (f) Exteriour Philosophy usually assigneth four Causes viz. the Final the Efficient the Material and the Formal the two former are called Exteriour the two latter Interiour Causes The Bodies which they call Physical or Natural such as are the Heaven and the Earth have both interiour and exteriour Causes and created Minds have not interiour but only exteriour ones But God hath neither interiour nor exteriour Causes therefore he could not be compelled to create this World either by a final or an efficient Cause exteriour Causes did not force to frame This Work of (g) Floating Matter The word is rightly called Matter because it is a thing extended every way as Matter is It is well also called fluitous or floating since the Heaven the Earth and all other Bodies of which the World consists are perpetually moved if not in all yet in most of their Parts floating Matter but the Form Of sovereign Good (h) Above black Envy God is rightly said here livore carere because being not forced to create the World by any external Cause but by the Form of the chief Good which was fixed in his Mind that is by his Will and his infinite Wisdom Livor in our Author means no other than Envy and God is rightly said to want Envy having no Being which he can envy himself being the chief Good by whom and for whom the World was made and there can be nothing better than the chief Good above black Envy plac'd Within thy Breast thou every thing dost draw From the supreme Example fairest thy self Bearing the World's Figure in thy Mind Thou formedst this after that Prototype And didst command it should have perfect Parts Thou by harmonious Measures fast dost bind The Elements that cold things may with hot And moist with dry agree lest subtil Fire Should fly too high or Weight should press the Earth And Water lower than they now are plac'd Thou dost the (i) The Middle Soul Here our Philosopher meaneth the Spirit or Soul of the Universe which was born with the Law of Nature after the Production of the Elements of the World It is rightly also by our Author called 1. Anima 2. Triplicis naturae media 3. Cuncta movere 4. A Deo connecti 5. Per consona membra resolvi 6. Secta circuire First this Universal Spirit or Soul is acknowledged not only by the sacred Authors but also by the profane as Plato Aristotle and many others Principio coelum terras camposque liquentes Lucentemque globum Lunae Titaniaque astra Spiritus intus alit totamque infusa per artus Mens agitat molem magno se corpore miscet Inde hominum pecudumque genus vitaeque volantum Et quae marmoreo fert monstra sub aequore pontus Igneus est ollis vigor coelestis origo Seminibus quantum non noxia corpora tardant Terrenique hebetant artus moribundaque membra Hinc metaunt cupiuntque dolent gaudentque nec auras Respiciunt clausae tenebris carcere caeco Virgil. Aeneid l. 6. v. 724. Secondly this Soul is said to be of a
hath it so naturally that thou shouldst imagine that He possessing it and Happiness possessed are of different Substances If thou dost think that he received it from any foreign Hand thou must imagine the Giver to be more excellent than the Receiver But that God is the most excellent of all Beings most worthily we confess if we own then that the sovereign Good is in him by Nature and yet we may conceive that it is not the same that he is since we speak of God who is the Prince of Nature let him who can find out who it was that joined these so differing things Lastly whatever doth essentially differ from any thing it cannot be said to be that from which it is understood to differ Therefore that which is in its Nature differing from the chief Good cannot be said to be the Good it self which to think of God would be most impious and profane since nothing can excel him in Goodness and Worth Nothing that ever was can in its Nature be better than that from which it draweth its Beginnings Wherefore that which is the Principle of all things must as to its Substance with the truest reason be concluded to be the chief of Goods Boet. Most right Phil. But Happiness was before granted to be the chief of Goods Bo. So it was Ph. Therefore it must necessarily be confess'd that God is the very Happiness Bo. I cannot oppose the Reasons you have given and I confess you have drawn a very right Conclusion from your Premises Ph. Look then a little further and see if this Truth can be proved more firmly thus to wit that there cannot be two sovereign Goods which differ in themselves For it is clear that of the Goods which differ one cannot be what the other is wherefore neither can be perfect when one wants the other But it is evident that that which is not perfect cannot be sovereign therefore those which are the chief Goods can by no means be diverse in their Natures But I have rightly concluded that Good and Happiness are the chief Good wherefore the highest Divinity must certainly be the highest Happiness Bo. Nothing can be truer than this nothing by the Course of Reasoning more firm nor can any Conclusion be made more becoming of the Divine Majesty Ph. Upon the whole Matter then as Geometricians after they have demonstrated their Propositions are wont to infer and draw their 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Consequences in the same manner shall I deduce to thee something like a Corollary thus Because by the attaining of Beatitude Men are happy and Beatitude is Divinity it self by the attaining of Divinity it is manifest that Men are made happy But as from Mens being endowed with the Vertue of Justice they are denominated Just and from that of Prudence they are pronounced Wise so should they who are possessed of Divinity by parity of reason be esteemed Gods Every happy Man then is a God but by Nature there is only One yet by suffering others to participate of the Divine Essence nothing hinders but there may be Many Bo. This truly is a very fair and most pretious call it Deduction or Corollary which you please Ph. But there can be nothing nobler than that which Reason commands us to subjoin to this Bo. What is that Ph. It is this Since Happiness seems to comprehend in it many things to consider whether they all by the Variety of Parts conjoined do constitute the Body of Happiness or whether there may be any one amongst them which may compleat the Substance of it and to which all the rest may be referr'd Bo. I could wish that thou wouldst open these things to me by recounting them Ph. Do not we account Happiness a Good Bo. Yes certainly and the chiefest Ph. Add then that Good to all the aforesaid things for that Happiness which is Self-sufficiency is also the Height of Power of Reverence of Nobility of Pleasure What sayst thou then are all these things as Self-sufficiency Power and the rest Members and constituting Parts of Happiness or are they as all other things are to be referr'd to the Sovereign Good as their Source and Principle Bo. I well understand what thou dost aim to search for but I desire to hear what thou dost propose Ph. Observe then the thing thus sifted and distinguished upon If all these things were Members of Happiness they would differ amongst themselves for it is of the Nature of differing Parts to compose one Body But it is already demonstrated that all things are the same therefore they are not Parts for if so even out of one of them Happiness might be composed which is absurd Bo. This I doubt not but I desire to hear that which remains Ph. It is clear that all other things are brought to be tried by Good as the Rule and Square For Self-sufficiency is therefore desired because it is thought to be Good So also it may be said of Power Esteem Nobility Pleasure Good then is the Cause why all things are desired for that which neither in Reality nor Shew doth retain any thing of Good is by no means to be desired On the contrary whatever by Nature is not good if yet it seems to be so is desired as if it really were so Hence it is that Goodness justly looked upon is the Cause the Sum the Hinge from which all our Desires arise in which they centre and upon which they turn That which is the Cause of our desiring any thing seems it self most to be desired For if any Man desires to ride abroad because of his Health he doth not so much desire the Motion of Riding as the Effect of his Health Since therefore all things are sought after for the sake of Good they cannot be more desirable than Good it self But we have before shewed that it is Happiness for which all these abovesaid things are desired where it is clear that only Happiness is sought for He then who considers this cannot deny that Good and Happiness are of one and the same Substance Bo. I see no Cause why any Man should dissent from your Opinion Ph. And we have shewed that God and Happiness are inseparably joined in Essence Bo. You have so done Ph. We may then securely conclude that the Nature and Substance of God resides in Good and can be sought for no wheâ—e else METRUM X. Huc omnes pariter venite capti Quos fallax ligat improbis catenis Terrenas habitans libido mentes c. Come hither all O come to me Whom in her impious Chains Imperious Lust detains Which in an earthly Mind affects to be Here Ease from Labours you shall find This is the Port of Rest Which Storms cannot molest Here 's Refuge for the sickest Mind Whatever Tagus golden Sand Or (l) Hermus It is a River of the Lesser Asia called now le Sarabat It hath its Source in Phrygia the greater and taking its Course Westward and being
perspicuous Truth without difficulty and they resemble those Birds which see well by Night but are blind in the Day-time For whilst they do not regard the Order of things but only their own disordered Affections they vainly imagine the Power of doing Evil or Impunity after it is acted to be an Happiness But now behold what the Law Eternal delivereth Conform thy Mind to the best things and then thou shalt have no need of a Judg to confer upon thee a Reward since thou hast adjoined thy self to the most excellent things But if thou art inclined to Impiety and dost imbrace wicked Practices seek for no Avenger without for thou hast sorfeited thy Advantages and associated thy self with the worst of things as if thou shouldst by turns sometimes behold the Heavens sometimes the sordid Earth and that all other things ceasing from without thy Eye should seem to carry thee now above the Stars and that again thou shouldst be placed upon the Earth But the Multitude doth not consider this What then Shall we put our selves into the Company of those which I have before shewed to resemble Beasts What wilt thou say if a Man who hath quite lost his Sight and hath also forgotten that ever he saw and should think that he wants nothing to render him perfect should we therefore judg those who retain their Sight to be blind also Either will the Many acquiesce in what I shall say although it is supported by as firm Reasons to wit that those are more unhappy who do than they who suffer Injuries Bo. I would willingly hear those Reasons Ph. Canst thou deny but that all ill Men deserve Punishment Bo. No I cannot Ph. But I am throughly satisfied that impious Men are many ways unhappy Bo. Certainly they are so Ph. Then thou doubtest not that those who deserve Punishment are miserable Bo. I agree Ph. If therefore thou wert to be Judg to which dost thou think thou wouldst adjudg Punishment to him who hath done or to him who hath suffered the Injury Bo. I doubt not but that I should adjudg Satisfaction to the Sufferer by punishing the Doer of Wrong Ph. The injuring Person then would seem more miserable to thee than him who had receiv'd the Wrong Bo. That follows Ph. From this then and from several other Reasons founded on the same bottom it appears that Impiety properly and by its own Nature makes Men miserable and that an Injury done to any Man is the Misery of the Doer and not of the Sufferer But now Orators and Advocates run a Course contrary to this For they endeavour the Pity and Compassion of the Judges for those who suffered any thing bitter or grievous when the juster Pity is due to them who did the Wrong who should be led to Judgment as the Sick are to the Physician not by angry but by merciful and compassionate Accusers that so they may by the Application of Punishment as a fit and proper Remedy be cured of the Malady of the Crime By this means the Employment of this kind of Defenders would either wholly cease or else that it may be more to the Advantage of Mankind it would be turned into an Habit of Accusation and would always be forward to accuse and not to excuse ill Men and even those Wretches themselves if they could through the least Hole or Chink behold that Vertue which they have forsaken and see that they should be in some way of cleansing themselves from their filthy Vices by receiving the Pains and Torments which are due to them they ought for the Recompence of regaining the Vertue from which they have fallen not to esteem them so but should chearfully refuse the Defence of their Advocates and give themselves up wholly to their Accusers and Judges Hence it is that the Wise hate no Body For who but the most foolish would hate good Men and it is irrational to hate the most profligate For if a depraved Temper be as it were the Sickness of the Soul since we do not think those whose Bodies are distempered to be worthy of our Hate but rather of our Compassion much less are those over whom Vice more cruel than any bodily Distemper hath gain'd the Ascendant to be adjudged so but are rather to be looked upon as Subjects of our Pity METRUM IV. Quid tantos juvat excitare motus Et propria fatum sollicitare manu c. Why should vain Man so great Commotions raise Why with his Hand should he his Fate convey If Death be sought that comes and never stays For winged Steeds to help it on its way They whom the Lion and the rugged Bear The Indian Tiger and the foaming Boar With eager Teeth and with arm'd Claws do tear Do stain their Swords in their own reeking Gore Is it because their Manners diff'ring are And that their many Customs disagree That they unjustly thus engage in War And fiercely urge each others Destiny This Reason is not just for shedding Blood Wouldst thou to each Man give what he deserves Love as by Right thou art oblig'd the Good And pity him who from fair Vertue swerves PROSA V. Boet. HERE I plainly see what Happiness or Misery is placed in the Deserts of good and of evil Men. But in this same common Estate of Fortune I perceive something both of Good and Evil For no wise Man had rather be expos'd to Banishment Poverty and Ignominy than excel in Riches Honours Power and continue in a flourishing Estate in his own Country For in this the more clearly and openly the Duty of Wisdom doth appear when the Happiness of the Governours is in some measure diffused and communicated to Subjects whilst Imprisonment and all legal Punishments are only due to those pernicious and profligate Citizens for whom they were at first instituted and appointed Why then should things suffer so unnatural a Change Why should Punishments due to Crimes oppress the Good and the Rewards of Vertue be born only by wicked and flagitious Men These things I much wonder at and I desire to learn from thee what may be the Reason of so unjust a Distribution For my Wonder would be less did I believe all things to be governed by Chance But now even God the Governour of all things doth heighten my Astonishment who whilst he doth often distribute good things to the Good and evil things to the Wicked yet doth sometimes give to the Vertuous an hard Portion and to the impious Man he grants his Heart's Desire What Difference then is there to be found unless Men may be acquainted with the Cause betwixt his Proceedings and the Actings of Chance Ph. Nor is it at all to be admired if Men fancy something rash and confus'd in these Methods of Acting if they are ignorant of the Reason of that Order by which God proceeds But although thou art ignorant of the Cause of this great Disposal of things yet because the good Governour of all things doth temper and
was an Egyptian Philosopher and called Trismegistus that is ter maximus because he is said to have spoken of a Trinity in the Godhead by Suidas or because he was both a King a Priest and a Philosopher He first distinguished Time into Hours he lived in the time of Moses about the Year of the World 2440. one more excellent than I said 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Vertues do build up the Body of the Holy Man But it often comes to pass that good Men have the Government of things committed to them that the exuberant Improbity of ill Men may be repell'd and abated To some according to the Qualities of their Minds he gives a kind of Mixture of Fortune chequered with Good and Evil Upon some he lays grievous heavy Crosses lest they should grow luxurious by too long a Course of Felicity Upon others he sometimes lays also heavy Crosses that their Vertues may be confirmed by the Use and Exercise of Patience Some fear more than they ought that thing which they can bear Others despise more than they ought that which they cannot and those that by the Experiment they may come to the Knowledg of themselves he sometimes afflicts And many there are who have purchas'd a great Name in the World at the Expence of a glorious Death And some Men whose Courage hath not yielded to Torment have given a noble Example to others that Vertue is not to be overcome by Adversity And there is no doubt but that all these things are done justly and in order and for the Good of those to whom they happen It also proceeds from the said Causes that sometimes Adversity sometimes Prosperity comes to be the Lot of ill Men. And it is the Wonder of no Man that flagitious Persons should be afflicted because they are always thought to deserve what comes upon them and that their Punishment doth deter others from such Aims and often work a Reformation in those on whom they are inflicted But the Prosperity of such yields a great Argument to the Good and directs them what to judg of this kind of Happiness which they so often see to fall to the share of the worst of Men. In which thing I think often there is a Dispensation because the Nature of some Men may be so forward and importunate that Poverty and the want of Necessaries would rather urge them to do ill But this Disease Providence doth cure by applying the powerful Medicine of Money One Man finding his Conscience deeply spotted with Crimes and comparing himself and his Fortune fears perhaps that the Happiness which he enjoyed by the Use of it should be wholly done away by its Loss he will therefore change his Manners and whilst he fears to lose his Estate he will leave his Impiety Upon another Happiness is conferr'd without Desert and that precipitates him into a merited Destruction To some there is a Power of Punishing granted that it may exercise the Vertues of the Good and may be Cause of Punishment and Torment to the Evil. For as there is no Covenant or Agreement betwixt the Vertuous and the Wicked so neither can wretched Men agree amongst themselves And why should they for they disagree amongst themselves by reason of their Vices which rend and tear the Conscience and they often do those things which when they are over they judg they ought not to have done them From whence Providence hath often produced a signal Miracle to wit that evil Men have oft made other ill Men good For when some of these find that they have suffered an Injury from others of them urged by the Hate of those that have offended them they have returned to the Ways of Vertue studying nothing more than to be unlike to those Persons whom they hate It is only the great Power of God which can make Evil turn to Good when by using them agreeably and conveniently he draws out of them the Effect of some Good For a certain Order embraceth all Beings so that whatsoever doth depart from the Reason and Laws of that Order which is assigned to it yet it passeth into and under the Laws of another Order for nothing is left in the Power of Chance or Uncertainty in the Realm of Providence 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 It is hard for me to express how God rules and disposeth all things by his Providence Nor is it lawful for a Man if he could to comprehend all the Machines and Movements of the Divine Work even in his Thought much less to declare and describe them in Words Let it suffice to have seen only this that God the Framer of all Natures orders and disposeth every thing towards Good and whilst he endeavours to retain those things which he hath made in his own Likeness he banisheth all Evil by the Course of Destiny without the Bounds of his Commonwealth Hence it is that if thou dost but regard the all-disposing Providence thou mayst easily see that there are not those Evils which Men believe do abound upon the Face of the Earth But now I see that thou dost almost lie down under the Weight and Prolixity of my Reasoning and that thou dost expect the Musick of my Verse receive then this Draught with which when thou art refresh'd thou mayst more strongly proceed to other Matters which yet remain METRUM VI. Si vis celsi jura tonantis Purâ solers cernere mente Aspice summi culmina Coeli c. If with a Mind well-clear'd thou wouldst Weigh well the Laws of the high Thunderer Behold the Height of th' Empyrean Heaven There by a just and certain bound the Stars Preserve their antient Peace and Amity The Sun being mov'd by his resplendent Flame Doth not impede pale Phoebe's colder Sphere Nor doth the Northern Bear which proudly round The towring Battlements of th' Vniverse Inclines his head long Course ever desire To drench his Flames in the vast Ocean Although he sees the other Stars do so Vesper observing Time exactly leads The Horns of Night and Lucifer again Brings on the Day which cherisheth the Earth So mutual Love doth all things ever move And from the starry Regions cruel War Is banish'd far This beauteous Concord so In equal Measures tempers th' Elements That when things moist and dry begin to fight They do attack and do retreat by turns That Cold with Heat a lasting Peace doth make That the aspiring Flame may mount on high And that the Earth may tow'rds its Centre tend By these same Causes in the warming Spring The flowring Year doth grateful Sweets breath out The hotter Summer ripeneth the Corn Loaden with Apples then Autumnus comes And Winter wets the Earth with many Showers This Temperature doth nourish and bring forth Whatever in the Vniverse doth breath And this doth also take away and bide And doth by Death efface whatever has been born Whilst the World's Creator sits on high And ruling mesnageth the Reins of things The mighty King and Lord
Fountain and Source The Law and the wise Judg of Equity Those things to which he did a Motion give He stops and thus being mov'd he doth confirm For if their direct Motions he did not Revoke and forc'd them in a Round to move Those things which now by Order do endure Would straight from their Beginning fall and soon Would into nothing be resolv'd This Love to every thing is common then And all things do propose Good as their End For otherwise they could not last unless By Love's kind Circulation they revert To that first Cause which gave them Being God PROSA VII Phil. DOST thou not see now what follows from all the things which I have spoken Bo. What is the Consequence Ph. That all Fortune is good Bo. And how I prithee can that be Ph. Observe then that since all Fortune is either prosperous or adverse it is given either to reward or exercise the Good or to punish or correct the Bad and all Fortune is good which appears to be either just or profitable Bo. The Reason is most true and if I consider the Doctrine either of Providence or Fate which a little before thou taughtest me thy Opinion is founded upon a firm Ground But let us range it if thou pleasest amongst those Positions which a little before thou saidst were not commonly believed by the People Ph. Why so Bo. Because it is the common and frequent Phrase of Men that the Fortune of such an one is bad Ph. Wilt thou then that I shall for a while draw nearer to the Peoples way of Discourse lest we should seem too much to have receded from the Usages of Mankind Bo. As thou pleasest Ph. Thinkest thou not then that every thing which is profitable is good Bo. Yes surely Ph. But whatsoever doth either exercise or correct is profitable Bo. I confess it Ph. Therefore 't is good Bo. Why should it not Ph. But this is the Fortune of them who are either fixed in Vertue and wage a constant War against Adversity or of those who abandoning Vice take the way of Vertue Bo. I cannot deny it Ph. But what sayst thou of that pleasant Fortune which is given as a Reward to good Men do the Many conceive it to be ill Bo. Certainly no but rather they believe it to be very good as it is indeed Ph. But what sayst thou of that other which although it be sharp and inflicts just Punishment upon the Wicked do Men take it to be good Bo. No sure but rather the most wretched and tormenting thing that can be thought upon Ph. Behold then and mark well if we following the Opinion of the People have not concluded something which is very contrary to the common Opinion Bo. What is that Ph. It followeth clearly to the things before granted that whatsoever the Fortune of all those who are either in possession of or growing in Vertue or otherwise in search after her may be it is good but that the Fortune of those who live in Impiety and Sin must be the worst of any thing Bo. That is true although no one dare confess it Ph. Why so for the wise Man ought not to be cast down when he is brought into the Field to wage War with Fortune no more than the valiant Man ought to be dismayed when he hears the Trumpet sound to Battel For Difficulty and Hardship giveth the Occasion to one that he may encrease and propagate his Glory and to the other that he may confirm and improve his Wisdom From hence is Vertue denominated because leaning upon its own Strength and confiding in its proper Force it is not to be overcome by Adversity Nor thou who art so far advanced in the Course of Vertue art not to be carried away by Delights and to wallow in Lust thou must engage valiantly and fiercely against every Fortune And lest Adversity should oppress thee or Prosperity corrupt thee possess thy self of the Golden Mean and retain it with all thy Strength For whatsoever is below or goeth beyond that implies a Contempt of true Happiness and loseth the Reward of its Labour It lieth in thy own Hand to choose what Fortune thou likest for all Fortune which seemeth sharp and grievous unless it exercise the Vertues of the Good or chastise the Impiety of the Wicked is a Punishment METRUM VII Bella bis quinis operatus annis Ultor Atreides Phrygiae ruinis Fratris amissos thalamos piavit c. By ten Years bloody War and (Å¿) Phrygia It is a Region of the Lesser Asia situated towards the West according to Ptolomy and Strabo Phrygia's Fate (t) Atreides Agamemnon Paris the Son of Priam King of Troy having equipped a Fleet went into Greece to visit Menelaus King of Sparta and against the Laws of Hospitality stole away his Wife which Agamemnon the Son of Atreus and Brother of the aforesaid Menelaus very much resenting he did call together the Grecian Chieftains and sailing into Phrygia besieged Troy and having taken it after a Siege of ten Years destroyed it with Fire and Sword The same Agamemnon when he was going upon this Expedition when he arrived at Aulis a Port of Boeotia and had made a Review of his Army did ignorantly kill an Hart which had been consecrated to Diana with which the Goddess being offended did send a Pestilence and suppressed the Winds so that he laid Wind-bound in the Haven He consulted in this Exigence the Oracle which gave for Answer that the Gods would not be appeased till he had sacrificed Iphigenia his Daughter Agamemnon obeyed and himself performed the Office of the Priest by sacrificing his Daughter so that after many Labours and Perils he accomplished his Enterprize Hence Virgil. Aeneid lib. 2. Saepe fugam Danai Troja cupiere relictâ Moliri longo fessi discedere bello Fecissentque utinam saepe illos aspera Ponti Interclusit byems terruit Auster â—…untes Praecipuè cum jam hic trabibus contextus acernis Staret equus toto fonuerunt aethere nimbi Suspensi Eurypylum scitatum Oracula Phoebi Mittimus isque adytis haec tristia dicta reportat Sanguine placastis ventos virgine caesâ Cum primum Iliacas Danai venistis ad oras c. Atreides did revenge and expiate His Brother's Loss Whilst his unquiet Mind Press'd him to sail with Blood he buys a Wind For the Argolick Fleet he puts off all Compassion and vows his Daughter shall A Victim to the injur'd Goddess fall The wise Ulysses did with Tears lament His slaughtered Friends whom (u) Polyphemus Feigned to be one of the Cyclops and the Son of Neptune a huge Giant who had but one Eye and that feigned to be in his Forehead He took Vlysses and four of his Company and kept them in his Den he devoured his Companions but Vlysses having a Bottle of strong Wine he gave it to him to drink which cast him into a deep Sleep so that Vlysses with his Staff
Prophesying by Jupiter Hence Hor. l. 2. Sermon Sat. 5. Hoc quoque Tiresia praeter narrata petenti Responde quibus amissas reparare queam res Artibus atque modis O nulli quicquam mentite vides ut Nudus inopsque domum redeam te vate This Prophet used to speak ambiguously as others who pretended to that Gift did and was used to say Quicquid dicam aut erit aut non When Horace in the same Place O Laertiade quicquid dicam aut erit aut non Divinare etenim magnus mihi donat Apollo Tiresias who said Quicquid dicam aut erit aut non All that I shall say shall either happen or shall not Or how much doth Divine Providence differ from humane Opinion if it make uncertain Judgments of things as Men do the Events whereof are not certain But if there can be nothing of Uncertainty in him who is the sure Fountain of all things the Event of those things must be certain which he firmly did know before would happen Whence it follows that Men have no Freedom in their Counsels and Actions which the Divine Mind foreseeing all things without Falsity or Error doth strongly bind and necessarily oblige to one Event And if it be once granted that there is no Freedom of Will it is very evident how great the Confusion and how mighty the Distraction will be of humane Affairs For in vain are Rewards and Punishments propos'd to the Vertuous and Flagitious which have not been deserved by any free and voluntary Motion of the Soul And that which is now adjudged to be the most just will be esteemed the most unequal thing in the World which is that evil Men should be punished and the good rewarded whom their proper Will doth not incline either to Vertue or Vice but who are by a certain Necessity imposed upon Futurities compell'd and thrust forwards towards both Nor would there be such things as Vertue or Vice but rather an undistinguished Mixture and Confusion of all Rewards And from this also it will follow that since all Order is derived from Providence and that nothing is left free to the Counsels and Intentions of Men that also our Vices shall be referr'd to the Author of all Good than which no Opinion can be more impious And of this it will also be a Consequence that Men shall have no Reason either to hope for any thing from God or to pray to him For for what should any Man either hope or pray since the Series and the unalterable Course of Destiny knitteth all things together which are desirable Therefore that only Commerce and Alliance which is betwixt God and Men I mean the Liberty of Hoping and Praying shall be abolished and quite extinguished For at the just Price of Humility and Vertue we deserve the inestimable Reward of Divine Grace And these are the only Means to wit Hope and Prayer by which Men seem to have Power to speak with God and to be advanced and joined to the inaccessible Light even before they obtain their Requests And if Men believe that Hope and Prayer have no Power because of the Necessity of future Events what thing is there then by which we may be united and may hold fast to God the Prince and Director of all things Wherefore Mankind must of necessity as thou didst sing a little before be dissevered and disjoined from its Good and must shrink from its Beginning METRUM III. Quaenam discors foedera rerum Causa resolvit c. Tell me what disagreeing Cause Loosens the Bands and from their Laws All Beings frees what powerful Hand Doth make the two (e) Great Truths They are the Divine Providence and the Free Will of Man great Truths contend Which separate subsist and be Yet when they 're join'd do disagree Tell me can Truths then never differ And do they still agree together The Mind with Members cloth'd and Night Can never with her darkned Sight Bring the close Bonds of things to light But why doth Man disturb his Mind The hidden Notes of Truth to find Knows he what he to know desires But who for what is known inquires If not what blindly seeks he Who Wisheth for that he doth not know Or in pursuit of it why doth he go Or if he seek where shall he find The Thing or if Chance be so kind To shew it to him how shall he When found know what its Form should be Or when the Soul doth God behold Can it all Principles unfold But whilst in Flesh it now is hid It doth not quite it self forget With it the Sums of things remain Though it Particulars doth not retain Who to seek Truth then doth advance Is not in either Circumstance For every thing he knoweth not Nor hath he wholly all forgot But of what to his Thought doth come He recollects and weighs the Sum That he may add those Parts which he Hath lost to those kept in his Memory PROSA IV. Phil. THIS is the old Complaint against Providence and the Question hath been much agitated and canvas'd by (f) M. T. Cicero Videas lib. 2. de Divinatione Marcus Tullius Cicero in his Book of Divination and thou thy self hast considered it much and long and made deep Researches into it but it hath not yet been diligently and thorowly determined by any of you And the Cause of these Difficulties is that the Motions of humane Ratiocination and Discourse cannot approach to the Purity of the Divine Prescience which if Men would any way comprehend there would be no doubt or scruple left Which Difficulties I shall endeavour to clear to you and remove when I have explained and answered those Reasons by which thou hast been moved For I ask why thou dost not think the Reasons of those who attempt to solve this Question efficacious and satisfactory which because they cannot maintain that Prescience is a necessary Cause of things to come think that Free-will is nothing hindered by Prescience Let me ask dost thou draw an Argument of the Necessity of future things from any other Topick than this that those things which are foreknown cannot but come to pass If therefore Foreknowledg imposeth no Necessity upon future things as thou thy self a little before didst confess what is it which may constrain the voluntary End of things to a certain Event Now for Argument-sake that thou mayst better understand what Will follow let us suppose that there is no Prescience Shall therefore as much I mean as in that lies those things which proceed from Free-will be constrained to submit to the Laws of Necessity Bo. No certainly Ph. Let us then again suppose that there is such a thing as Prescience but that it doth not bind things by Necessity the same entire and absolute Liberty of the Will will I think remain But thou wilt say that although the Prescience of things to come doth not intimate a Necessity of their coming yet it is a Sign that they