Philosophy he can render his minde sedate and undisturb'd when he shall endure the afflictions of an extreine Poverty The Philosopher would be very impertinent that endeavours to prove that ragged Clothes will defend me against Cold and that I ought not to be troubled when I have not whereon to dine He may tell me that Nature is contented with a little I confess it but it is according to that degree we are accustomed A Prince would be very poor if he should have no greater Revenue left him than would very well accommodate a private Gentleman From this reasoning I conclude that a Gentleman who has Wit and Wealth according to his condition may live happily whatsoever befals him That he ought to make an attempt to arrive at the great Honours of the State either by the War or by the Services which he shall render to the person of the Prince If he succeeds he will enjoy the benefit of his labours with pleasure if his designes do not prosper he has no cause to despair absolutely being in a condition of living privately in the same splendor his Ancestors lived before him Paulùm sepultae dista◠inertiae celata Virtus There is a great satisfaction in having polish'd his Manners shown his Worth and gain'd Esteem This is a recompense for which it is well worth the hazarding something although he should hope for no other this alone ought to oblige him to leave his house that he might return thither with greater Honour and Renown CHAP. XVIII That the Cassock is more proper to raise a Man's Fortune than the Sword And the Advantages which may accrue to a Person of Quality from thence IF he puts on the Cassock he will meet with many things in the conduct of a Man of the Sword which he ought not to follow His Profession obliges him to a more grave Modesty to a more reserved Conversation to a more exemplary Piety and to more regulated Manners As the Exercises of a Gentleman are of no use to him so Learning is very necessary for him it is a shameful thing for one of that Profession to be illiterate The Sciences never appear with so much grace as in the possession of a Nobleman they have Charms which ravish all people and constrain even the most insensible to love those who know how to serve themselves advantageously thereof 'T is almost an infallible way of arriving at great Employs we have so many examples of this kinde that it would be very impertinent to seek for them in Ages remote from our own knowledge and to understand it aright is it not just that those who can see should lead those that are blinde and who can deny that Learning joyn'd to good natural parts does not qualifie a Person extraordinarily The Sciences lead him in a Path strown with Roses to arrive at Fortune they put a gloss on his Worth they give him entrance into the Councils of Kings they teach him the Art to incline men as he pleases and at last they make him either a great Prelar in the Church or a great Minister in the State Oh what a happy Profession is this and how many persons of Quality would follow it if they knew all the benefits thereof I mean what I have before hinted if they have a natural disposition thereto For indeed it is no easie Enterprize to render our selves learned the Sciences are tedious and painful to be acquired and to have them infused we must be Saints The Poets had reason to lodge them upon the top of Parnassus whose excessive height made the access very difficult The Muses who presided there took delight in being courted and it was a great advantage to be in their favour It belongs to them only to give a satisfaction to the Living and a resurrection to the Dead We should have had no knowledge of Alexander if History had not described him and all the brave Exploits of Julius Caesar and of Xenophon had been buried in an Eternal Oblivion if they themselves had not written them Vertue it self as admirable as it is cannot be without them seeing her true Recompense is Glory and Immortality On whom do you think future Ages will bestow greatest Encomiums either on Cardinal Richlieu or on the Captains who fought in his time His Head gave motion to their hands if they have had good Success the Glory thereof is due to him he was the Cause and they the Instruments and we may say that their Valour could not appear without contributing to the Renown of him that directed them The Orders which he gave at ease in his Cabinet made all Europe tremble his Prudence prevented the bad accidents his Reason penetrated the most obscure things his Judgement was without errour and his Conduct has appear'd so good that we cannot speak of the Grandeur of the King without praising his Worth and Vertue It is very rare that a person of Quality of extraordinary Worth does not make a great Fortune His Sufficiencie imposes a certain necessity on the Prince to employ him who although he has no natural inclination yet the Welfare of his affairs will urge him to it He perceives they cannot be entrusted in better hands and by doing it discharges himself of a multitude of cares which make the Crown as uneasie to him that wears it as it appears glorious to the eyes of those that adore it But suppose he be not so happy as to arrive at this height he is not out of Fortune's way if he be not in the least concern'd in the affairs of State it will be much more easie for him to obtain a good Bishoprick or a rich Abby than for a Man of the Sword of his condition a considerable Government for a reward of his services yet the first walks in a smooth path and almost secure the other in a rugged road full of perils Both have their Fortunes for their Objects but are not equally happy in the choice of the Ways that bring them thither The great unhappiness of Young men is that the heat of their Bloud ferments in their Veins and renders them uncapable of being perswaded to any thing They fancie that there is nothing so brave as the Esteem of a man of Courage and that they ought to parallel the noble Exploits of the Heroes in History They never propound to themselves any thing but the pleasure of satisfying their Passions without having any respect to the difficulties that may occur And if it happens that they are once enamour'd every thing must then give place to their Love that perswades them that the Possession of their Mistris is the only blessing which can render them happy they look then upon the Cassock with disdain seeing it opposes it self to their designe These are sick people who flye the Physicians blinde who refuse to be led and who quit the path of Fortune to pursue that of Pleasure But I would willingly put the Question to a
therewith We are here even as in a Vessel whose motion carries us whither it pleases nevertheless every one of us have one peculiar to our selves that is to say every man has his designes and his proper conduct And yet such as Fortune has not condemn'd to a retired life for to extinguish the lustre of their parts ought not to despair of their Enterprizes when they understand the nature of this Fabulous Deity to whom men attribute the absolute command over General and Particular Affairs For my part I look upon her as void of all Divinity as I esteem her destitute of all Power And although this Proposition seems Paradoxical it will be no difficult matter for me to prove it to be most conformable to Reason For the understanding of which we must know that among the efficient Causes some are determin'd which act necessarily others undetermin'd and accidental which may act or not act and which do not produce their effects but by the concurrence of some other The first are called necessary the last fortuitous or casual from hence were form'd in the imagination of Men those two grand Deities Desine fata Deûm flecti sperare precandum Virgil. the one of which had even power over the Gods themselves the other over humane Affairs viz. Destiny and Fortune So that I may say Fortune is nothing else but a concurrence of things not discerned by our judgement which happen contrary to our expectation or suppose it to be a second Cause it must necessarily depend from a first Fata regunt orbem cert â stant omnia lege Manil. which first being absolutely determin'd I conclude there is nothing in the World fortuitous or casual seeing all things that are brought to pass proceed from a necessary and determin'd Cause Upon this account let us accuse our own weakness which being not able to comprehend the cause of Events does term them accidental or casual With this pretext the greatest Wits have endeavoured to excuse their errours and the most renown'd Captains to comfort themselves for the loss of their Battels For the Historians describing the advantages of the ground of which they had made choice the exquisite order of their Armies their Retrenchments their Bodies of Reserve and all the other circumstances which denote the experience of brave Commanders then having spoken of their famous Exploits with astonishment at last do accuse malicious Fortune for their unhappy success which humane Wisdome knew not how to prevent But les us rather say that our knowledge is limited that our sight is very dim in the discovery of future things that certain bounds are prescrib'd to our Wisdome which it can never pass and as that has its Natural imperfections so the affairs of the World have their ordinary revolutions I do not intend by shewing that the Events of things are not accidental to render them so necessary that we should banish Prudence from the management of our concerns for I should conclude absurdly if I should affiâ—m that we ought with duli patience Nullum numen abeâ— si sit prudeâ—tia tecum Juvenal to expect every thing that should happen to us On the contrary I conceive that we are workers of our own Fortune and our good or bad Conduct is often the source of our good or evil without seeking a more remote cause I must confess that the most piercing Wits who seem to know things perfectly and to their very roots do not always see their own affairs prosper because they depend from many other different Causes which it is impossible by the force of our judgement to penetrate and forasmuch as we know nothing but by our Senses which deceive us every moment how can we judge truly of what will befal us and what certain consequences can we draw from such uncertain principles The Pyrrhonians had so bad an opinion of them that they taught that humane Sense was altogether uncapable of knowledge that we were not assured of any thing we saw with our eyes or heard with our cars that our Discourse and Reason which proceed only from the Idea's which external Objects presented to our Senses were nothing else but Errour and Illusion We must not therefore be amaz'd if Events deceive us seeing we know not their Principles and Causes yet we may reasonably say that although our Senses sometimes deceive us yet experience teaches us that they do not always so and the most ingenious and understanding persons being happily endow'd with an excellent disposition of Organs and an exact temperament of Body have brighter lights and a more distinct knowledge of Affairs than other men and consequently are the seldomest mistaken in their judgements and not so subject to those unexpected accidents which the Antients called Fortune This was that which in my Opinion caused the â—oet to say that they were happy Fâ—â—lix qui putâ—â—t rerâ—m cognoscere causas who could know the causes of things for indeed to know the causes is to know their Natures their Principles and their Motions from whence proceed the Events which can establish our good or our evil I profess with him that this happiness is beyond comparison but it is not to be found but in the imagination and ought to be rather the Object of our desires than of our hopes I have no designe to draw the pourtraict of an infallible man I know there was never any such and if I had such a thought I should my self be guilty of that errour from which I endeavour to keep others It is sufficient to represent one not of the weakest who by his own experience can give us some Precepts whereby to serm the happiness of our life without depending absolutely on the capriciousness of that Fortune to whom the Wisest men would never owe any thing CHAP. II. That Persons of Quality ought to seek their fortune at Court EVery man hunts after Honour and Wealth these are the two grand Wheels upon which the whole world is moved these are the two Springs of our disquiet these are the two Ignes fatui which lead us so often out of our way We propound to our selves this Honour and this Wealth as the aim and end of our hopes we engage our selves in the pursuit of them with the greatest vigour not considering that the ways to arrive at our ends are full of trouble and uncertainty that they require every minute of our time and our whole life is almost spent in Care and Toil when we begin to reap the Fruit of our labours There are two causes of this disorder the one is that our designes are too extravagant the other that we carry them on indiscreetly The first default touches certain Wits whose Presumption blinds their Judgement who framing in themselves a false Idea of their own worth even as so many Ixion's never embrace any thing but the empty Clouds I esteem this sort of people better qualiâ—'d for the Colledge of Madmen than for
which attends the society of Friends and the diversion of an honest Oeconomy CHAP. IV. The speediest way is to insinuate himself into the Pleasures of the Prince THe other way of advancing a man's Fortune by applying himself to the person of the Prince is to contribute to his divertisements which is indeed the most casie and the most infallible the great secret is to render himself agreeable to use complaisance and be diligent and very expert in those Exercises in which he chiefly delights which ought to be manag'd with such discretion that no opportunitie must be omitted of giving him all the advantage at them and never to maintain any thing obstinately against him It is likewise a prudent part in a Courtier to loose sometimes at Play on purpose to put his Master in a good humour For to command is such an innate quality in Princes that they cannot permit without regret that any person should out do them These precepts are also more necessary to be observed in conversation which ought always to be with respect and if there be an occasion of contending that it be done in such terms as propound our Opinion only not establish it The most gallant things loose their lustre when spoken unseasonably and men are not easily convinc'd of any thing by others disputing too imperiously there is nothing so frequently used and therefore requires our greatest circumspection Every man is satisfi'd of his own Sense and Understanding and it is this which makes us so outragious against those who pretend to have more than our selves Truly there is nothing more irksome than to give car to those people who have seen every thing who understand every thing and who have done every thing A Gallant and an accomplisht person ought not to relate his own deeds he that cannot forbear doing it passes ordinarily for ridiculous and is accounted but a lyer if we have performed worthy actions Laus in ore proprio sordescit Proverb it does not become us to publish them he is ever an impertinent Orator who makes his own Panegyrique I will not advise one to flatter the Prince Flattery is so base a thing that it is unworthy of a person of Honour but I do very well approve that we should entertain him with some obliging discourse and praise that in which he most delights and which he best understands In doing which the air of the Action contributes extreamly to the insinuating us into his favour Indeed the Respect that is due to his Person obliges us to banish our ill humour from his presence There are I know not what spirits in our eyes which imprint their qualities on those that behold us If we are dull we inspire Melancholy if we are brisk we seem to rejoyce those with whom we converse Nescio quis teneros oculus mihi fascinat agnos Virg. The Ancients were so perswaded of the force of these Rayes that they would never suffer old and deformed Women to come neer their Children And my Lord Bacon assures us that a passionate Lover does very much advance his affairs Oculi sunt in amore duces Ovid. when he can stedfastly gaze upon the eyes of his Mistris because says he certain enflamed Spirits proceeding from his to her eyes do communicate to them this invisible Poyson which diffusing it self in the Mass of bloud is convey'd to the heart it self This may be proved by an Effect obvious to all persons We can scarce refrain spending a tear with those that weep and we cannot look stedfastly on Red or Blear-eyes Dum speclant oculi laesos laeduntur ipsi Muâ—taqâ—e corporibus transitionenocent Ovid. Amor l. 2. without resenting some pain or at least some alteration both these Effects proceeding from no other cause but the emission of Rays If it be true that eyes which look upon us with anger inspire an aversion into us why should I not conclude that they may inspire an affection if they look upon us with love Nature has made some men amiable these are happy and have nothing more to do but let her act freely But if she has made us melancholick let us correct her imperfections by habituating our selves to mirth and gayety and by keeping a continual guard we shall at last wholly prevail against them Socrates consented to him that judged of his manners by his Physiognomy viz. that he was naturally inclin'd to debauchery but the Precepts of Philosophy had made him vertuous Above all let the Courtier endeavour to perswade his Master that he loves his Person better than his Dignity Curtius says of the two grand Favourites Craterus and Ephaestion that the one loved the King the other Alexander The love which men have for us is a snare wherein the whole World is catch'd and even when a person has no qualities to recommend him if by his perseverance and continual application he makes us believe that he loves us and is wholly at our service Ut amêris ama we can hardly deny him our affection This Compassion extends it self even to Beasts In Holland I saw a Mastiff make his fortune This poor Dog singled out the late Prince of Orange in the midst of his Army before Maestricht and notwithstanding that the Guards often beat him away yet he always return'd to the door of the Tent and when he saw the Prince come out this Animal leapt for joy faun'd upon him and followed him At last the Prince in stead of being offended esteem'd this kindness worthy of acceptance and made much of him giving a charge to one of his Servants to take care of him and afterwards permitted him to come always into his Chamber and lie at his Beds-feet However we ought to take great heed not to become importunate by our addresses the highest point of wisdome is to nick the time But above all a Gentleman who is well in the favour of his Master ought never to pretend to understand those Affairs which the Prince would keep private There is nothing which so soon creates hatred of him and consequently his ruine No man can endure that any one should pry into his secrets without his consent Confidence is inconsistent with constraint Forasmuch as our Soul is born free and seeing she has nothing but the disposing of our Will which is really hers independant of all other Power whatsoever she is jealous of her secrets and must not be forced to reveal them by the indiscretion of our Friends It is common civility not to approach neer them that read Letters or discourse privately Davilt This indiscretion succeeded very ill with one of the Duke of Anjou's Gentlemen the Dake having with confidence imparted to him Charles the IX's designe of extirpating the Hugonots on St. Bartholomew's day this Gentleman discoursing in private with the King hapned to mention this Secret His Majesty very much surpriz'd to see it discovered dissembled his anger and supposing that the Queen-Mother was the
Fortune of the World depends on a Sound and a Vapour A Defamation cunningly insinuated into the minde of the Prince is sufficient to overthrow this huge Structure which he looks upon as the work of his own hands The Exhalations and vapours of Wine ascending to the brain are of force enough to confound all the Species of imagination and make him abhor that which he lov'd before What I assert proceeds from the Universal cause of our Nature which the Philosopher terms the Principle of motion and rest Pleasures themselves are no pleasures but because of their variety they change and succeed one another Chiron was weary of being God of the Poets because all their Sacrifices were of the same kinde And Polycrates complain'd that he had been too long happy Those who are subject to violent Passions do not remain long of the same minde commonly they are as easily inclin'd to hate as to love Time blots out of our memory the Idea's which our Senses had presented for the forming our Ratiocination and Passions and there is no friendship so dear that a long habit will not at last render importunate It is like to Flambo's the Wax is the cause that the fire takes and the flame vanishes when that matter is consum'd As Conversation contracts friendships so it like wise dissolves them Men are naturally weary one of another and this axiome is true in all respects Ab assuetis non fit Passio Aristot that Custom destroys Passion From hence I make this inference that a Ceurtier ought to look upon his condition as wavering and naturally unstable and use all the Rules of Prudence to uphold it 'T is by observing this Rule that wise man have been less obnoxious to those Accidents which are called Fortune for having penetrated into the causes of things they prevent their effects by their discreet management CHAP. VII An Example of a wise Favourite IN my judgement Examples are not useless when conjoyn'd with the Maximes of Reason and Policie The Marshal de Rhetz may serve for one to them who knew how he manag'd his Fortune and the Favours of the King his Master This wise Courtier had always such a bâ—haviour as pleased all people after he had advanc'd himself he took delight to serve his Friends but when he begged any favour for them he beseecht his Majesty to do it in person to the end that they receiving it immediately from his hand might be the more sensibly oblig'd to acknowledge it by their services and their loyalty By this means the King was not importun'd with his prayers and this submission was by so much the more acceptable as it seem'd to have no other Object but the designe of gaining the Peoples affection to his Majesty without intermingling his own Interest Nevertheless his Friends were not less oblig'd to him and did not omit the acknowledgeing him to be the Author of those Graces they receiv'd from the King The Access to his Person was ever easie his Humour not morose his Countenance serene and when the necessity of Affairs or private Reasons oblig'd him not to grant a Petition it was with such terms that sweetned the discontent of the unsuccesful Never man upheld his Rank and Dignity with less arrogance and never was complaisance like to his Therefore never was there a Favourite in France less envi'd It is most certain that Reason and Experience are two admirable lights to guide our Actions by their assistance we may with safely pass by all Precipices But yet we must confess that our Temperament and the easiness of our Humour do extreamly contribute to the rendring us accomplisht A man naturally cholerick and proud may appear pleasing and civil by the effort of his Reason Gaudeant henè nati Si quid enim placet si quid dulce hominum sensibus influit debentur tepidis omnia gratiis Horat. but it is distasteful to keep a continual guard over himself and a very long habit is requisite to subdue those Passions which are innate It was not therefore without ground that the Antients so often said They might rejoyce that were well born If I might have my choice I would chuse this rich present of Nature before all the recompenses of Philosophy A good Disposition is ever peaceable in it self and agreeable to others it performs good without constraint and resists evil without trouble CHAP. VIII The Method of living with our Friends at Court I Am very sensible that neither the Prudence nor the gifts of natural Qualifications of which we have already treated can promise continual happiness to a Courtier forasmuch as the Court consists of divers persons who aspire to the same Fortune Whose principal study is to take advantage from one anothers Misfortunes A Favourite will seldom finde a Friend so faithful as not to succeed him if he thought it lay in his power to undermine him Cabinet-councils are always full of Intrigues Fraud and Dissimulation reign there as in their proper Sphere 't is here that a wise man hears much and speaks little by which means 〈◊〉 learns the secret of the more heedless while he conceals his own from the most cautious There is no place where confidence is more difficult to be chosen because here it is ordinarily accompany'd with some danger A Trifle in the mouth of an ingenious man may be so neatly disguis'd that it shall be taken for a business of consequence A wise man shows nothing but his outside and it is certain Nulli crede unquà m quod tu â—idm feceris Paling Zod. vit that never any man reveal'd a Secret of importance of which he did not afterwards repent him for although he receiv'd no damage there by yet he could never free himself from disquiet I conceive the answer of that Italian very witty who had publish'd a Libel against Pope Sixtus His Holiness being extreamly offended at it promised a considerable sum to any one that should discover the Author Some days being past without hearing any news thereof they found these words written at the bottom of the Pasquil No'l sapray Santissimo Padre quando so feci cra solo which is to say Most Holy Father you shall never know it when I made it I was alone Palingenius says Seâ—per amicum habeas ùm darat jâ—â—dus at igsum posst putes boâ—â—em fiâ—â—i Paling that those who are so ready to disclose their minds are most commonly weak and heedless and that we ought to consider our present Friend as our future Enemy But for my part I do not approve of this reservedness friendsâ—â—p demands something more free And to finde some qualification for this Opinion I conceive that we ought not to impart those things that may prejudice our concerns when discovered and not benefit our Friends when they know them To do otherwise is in my Opinion rather a mark of Imprudence than a testimony of Friendship We do not perceive that we satisfie our own natural
proceeded to Logick and to the other Parts of Philosophy which consist in establishing certain and manifest Principles to draw therefrom infallible Conclusions This Science was followed by the Rules of Rhetorick which instructed them to put in good order what the other Sciences had taught them and by sweet expressions joyn'd with the grace of tropes and figures both to delight and perswade the Auditory The study of that age was to resolve difficult Questions to discover the causes of Things to learn the most apparent by Experiments and the more occult by Reasoning They were better perswaded by their Perception that fire has a hot quality than by the Physitians authority who taught that its property was to heat and to burn Their Sciences were beyond comparison more noble than ours Sydera seu terrâ distant ita nostra vetustis secula temporibus forasmuch as they were more free they acknowledged onely demonstrative Reason for their Mistress without submitting themselves to the tyranny or capriciousness of Authors This method of studying multipli'd the Sects of Philosophers and every one maintain'd his Opinion as he understood it Obest plerumque iis qui aiscere volunt authoritas eorum qui docent Archesilaus But in our days men would be accounted ignorant by the Regents of our Universities if they should contradict any Opinion of their Aristotle They cause our Studies to degenerate into Religion and the Sciences into Faith It suffices to cite the Philosopher for to impose silence on the Assertor of the most reasonable and most sound Opinion of the World if it does not agree to his Maximes I am perswaded that the inconstancie of times is sufficient both to destroy and abolish this Errour In S. Augustin's days men were excommunicated for teaching or reading the Books of this Philosopher Geographers who described our Antipodes were condemn'd for Hereticks and Astronomers pass'd for Magicians when they predicted the Eclipses of Sun and Moon Thomas Aquinas the most clear and most judicious Wit of the World restablisht the honour of these unhappy men and recalling them from the Cabinets of the Curious whither Ignorance had banisht them restored them to that liberty of which the Anathema's of the Church had deprived them His Authority made them appear reasonable and his Sanctity purged all the malice from the minds of Students After this consider whether these Regents ought so imperiously to render themselves Masters of our sentiments and who will assure us that they shall not be one day suppress'd and that our Posterity shall not think them as frivolous and weak as we conceive them worthy and great This uncertainty of our judgements denotes without doubt both their weakness and our own and makes me conclude with great probability that an ingenious person may seek among this diversity of Opinions the most sound by profound and free contemplations and embrace that without offence which seems to him the best and the most reasonable I hope I shall be pardon'd for speaking after this manner for I must acknowledge my self more indebted to Nature than to my Tutours and having spent more than half of my life in Armies I have had little converse with Books but have applied my self chiefly to the study of the World to furnish and succour my Speculations with some slight observations This method of Studying has taught me not to envy the esteem of the Learned and to comfort my self without regret that I have not been able to arrive at the least glimpse of their glory I look upon them as men who have written much but not as such as are never deceived I do not wonder that they have so establisht their errours among the generality of Students seeing the greatest part are not always of the best sense and Truth which suffers neither contrariety nor division does never remain constant among them This consideration makes me take the liberty not to consent always to the sentiments of the Multitude and to assert according to my first Project that the Opinion is very ridiculous which deprives a Gentleman of the Charge of Secretary And if I was a great Lord I would alter this custom in my house for indeed what antipathy is there between the Pen and the Sword If they grant that a Learned man may be Valiant will they not also allow that a Valiant man may be a Secretary Knowledge and a good Apprehension are not less requisite for Conduct than a great Courage for dangerous and desperate Attempts CHAP. XIV That a Gentleman who perceives in himself a natural disposition to Study ought to apply himself thereto And that no man can be learned without his inclination I Will not deny that a Souldier cannot well be without the politeness of discourse and knowledge which are necessary for an expert Secretary so I look not upon this Employ as a thing to which every Nobleman can aspire I pretend only to prove that it is not beneath a Gentleman and that such as are sensible they have Wit and Capacity enough to discharge themselves well thereof ought not to contemn it I farther add to this proposition that the Designe being to make his Fortune he comprehends very ill his own Interest to refuse the most certain means that conduce thereto when they are honourable and I see no reason why he who knows how to serve a Prince-in his Cabinet with his Pen should not serve him honourably with his Sword against his Enemies I have formerly said that there is no Obligation in cumbent on a Gentleman to render himself learned if he designes to follow the War But I have ever recourse to the General Thesis which I establish'd that every one ought to know his own inclination and natural disposition This would render a person unworthy of the benefits of Nature not to improve a good Wit the love of learning which she inspires into him is a signe that being not able to prevail against Destiny nor the Laws which deprive him of worldly Goods she has reserv'd for his Portion Worth and the Sciences It is his duty to advantage himself by this Present which he ought so much the less to neglect as it is impossible to obtain it whithout her succour 'T is she that carries the Flambo before him when he searches to discover obscure and difficult matters 't is she that makes him admired in the Pulpit 't is she that makes him prevail in Councils 't is she that sweetens his Manners and rendering him amiable to all the World raises him from the dust to exalt him above other men It would most certainly be a very judicious and advantageous Law not to permit any to the study of the Arts and Sciences but such as Nature has disposed thereto There is no fear that by the retrenching of Scholars the number of the Learned would be diminished This promiscuous throng of all sorts of People who flock to the gates of Colledges and who loyter under Tutors scarce produces one
Extraction and trample Gallantry under their Feet they must as the younger Brothers of Bretagne let their Nobility ly dormant and not be too inquisitive or curious to inform themselves of the Extraction or parts of their Masters from whom they expect their advancement Poverty is a Monster which is to be vanquisht with all sorts of Weapons it is dangerous to suffer her to be too long engaged with Generosity if that should triumph over her it would but obtain a Victory full of regret and Melancholy let them then keep this sotrish glory silent which holds the Reigns so straight that they cannot troop to a Man whom Fortune has raised let them rather think that they have an advantage by approaching to him let them consider that a Diamond does not loose its value when it is set in Steel and that the Sun as glorious as it is sometimes suffers Eclipses let them also take a great care not to confound Glory and Vanity together the one is the recompence of Vertue the other is an effect of our Folly If Nature has made one a Gentleman and if the Laws of his Country or some other mishap has rendred him poor let him thank Heaven for his Extraction and endeavour to remedy the unhappiness of his Fortune let him know that Life without Wealth is a tedious and insupportable affliction that the yoak of Poverty is heavier than that of a Treasurer and that if he be ingenious he may become as great a Lord as his Master Then he shall revive his Quality and from obscure and hidden as it was in the Country he shall render it glorious and Triumphing in the midst of the Better sort let him not fear the reproach of having been Clerk or Commissioner when they shall see him seated in the Privy Council Ut quisque Fortunâ utitur ita praeceliet atque exindè sapere illum dicimus His Birth will wipe out all the blemishes of his Servitude 'T is not in the War only that men mount to higher Offices from the Inferiour The Law and the Treasury have also their degrees through which he must pass for to render himself capable of the greater Employs The Art is to behave himself discreetly and the greatest happiness is to arrive at them by the way of Honour Prudence and Honesty CHAP. XXI Whether the Rules of Prudence are sufficient to render us happy BUt in conclusion do all these Observations which follow so exactly the Rules of Reason and the Maximes of Experience infallibly produce the effects at which we aim Will our Honesty and Sufficiency once known to the World stop the mouths of the Envious and frustrate the Machinations of our Enemies Will the Princes whom we have served do us that Justice which our Services have merited at their hands And will the tedious Travels wherein we have withered the Flower of our Age be recompenced with that good Fortune which was the motive of our cares and the object of our Hopes Will our Prudence in the choice of our Masters our Foresight in our Enterprizes and our Conduct in our Actions render our Life happy either by the pleasing Charms of Liberty to which our acquired Wealth shall restore us or by the sweetness of our Servitude continued under a Master who will love us as his Children and treat us as his Friends At last are there any Precepts in Morality sufficient to defend us against bad Fortune and to Espouse us to Prosperity The Question is good and worthy of the curiosity of an accomplisht person It you conâ—uâ—t with Philosophy she will tell you that she knows not the future and that the Knowledge of things pre-supposes their formal existence If you demand it of Experience she will inform you that the same cause may produce different effects that she has seen such variety of things that she knows nothing certain but uncertainty it self And if you ask Reason she will answer you that she concerns her self onely to instruct men and not to regulate the events of things Those who guide Travellers cannot assure them that they shall not meet with Thieves that their Horses shall neither stumble nor fall that the Winds shall be favourable and the Weather fair Their Function is to shew them the best and directest way but not to secure them from the insults of Robbers or the injuries of the Weather Humane Prudence has too weak a sight to penetrate into general and particular Causes notwithstanding they are all determined and admit of nothing that is Fortuitous yet their infinite number surpasses our knowledge and capacity Poor Aeschylus whom the Stars threatned with a fall that should crush him to death under its weight got but little by living in the open Fields having no other Canopy but Heaven an Eagle kill'd him by a great Tortoise which it let fall upon the Bald Head of this unhappy Philosopher Men will say that this was an effect of his bad Fortune if they follow Vulgar opinions but if they examine the thing better they will judge quite otherwise Aeschylus had reason to leave the abode of covered places seeing he knew that a House or a Tree might sooner fall upon his Head than the Heavens of which he had made choice for a Covering These neighbouring Causes offered themselves to his Sense his Reason found out a probable remedy to prevent them but he did not divâ—ne that an Eagle should mistake his Bald Pate for a Stone upon which she would let fall a Tortoise to break the Shell that she might feed on the Animal which it encloâ—ed The one and the other made a determined action Aeschylus's end was to avoid the fall of Houses and Trees the Eagle's to break the Shell of the Tortoise the Accident which happened proceeded from the ignorance of Aeschylus who foresaw not the flight of the Eagle and from the mistake of the Eagle which took the Head of the Philosopher for a Rock The Pyrronians banisht all cares and Prudence from the Conduct of Man's Life they believed that they ought not to turn out of the Road when they met either a Cart or a Horse because they were perswaded that every thing was determined that the causes necessarily produced their effects and that our Knowledge uncertain as it is was not capable of discovering them for to avoid them Moreover they thought they should offend Providence by presuming to prevent or alter her Eternal Decrees But alas how weak is our Reason in every thing and how difficult is it to establish one sound opinion These poor people were not sensible that their Principles destroyed themselves when they neither affirmed nor judged of any thing and that their Philosophy was founded upon a manifest contradiction They would affirm nothing and yet the foundation of their Science was an affirmative viz. All things are uncertain to our knowledge and consequently there 's no Science in the Mindes of men To this may be answered If all things are uncertain there
is somewhat certain to our knowledge forasmuch as this uncertainty is infallible You affirm something in saying that every thing is uncertain and from hence I conclude that your Science is false in its Principles CHAP. XXII Of the Vanity of Judicial Astrology Of the Folly of Men And that Honesty really makes our Fortune LEt us rather say that all things are certain but our Senses are deceitful because we are not perfect notwithstanding this our Ignorance would know every thing it is not contented to examine the operations of Nature and to rake in her Secrets it would also pry into future things Quod stat ante pedes nemo spectat coeli scrutantur plagas Ci. cero which have no being it imagines to read in the Constellations as in a large Book every thing that shall come to pass here below and figuring to it self admirable rencounters from the Aspects and Conjunctions of the Planets it draws from thence consequences as remote from Truth as the Stars themselves are from the Earth I confess I have ever esteemed this Science vain and ridiculous for indeed it must either be true or false if true that which it predicts is infallible Ne utile quidem est scire quod futurum sit miserum enim est nihil proficientem angi Cicero and inevitatable and consequently unuseful to be foreknown For what will it advantage me to understand the Evil that shall happen to me if it is not in my power to prevent it and what will it benefit an unhappy man to be advertised that he shall loose his Head by the hands of a Hangman but onely burthen his Soul with grief and disquiet becoming miserable twenty years before he ought to be And if Prosperity and happiness shall be my lot what necessity is there that I should entertain with care and anxiety this hope which will at last infallibly make me happy But if it is false as it may easily be evinced to be would not a man of Sense be blamed to apply his minde to and loose his time in the Study thereof It ought to be the occupation of a Shallow brain that feeds himself with Chimerical Fancies or of an Impostor who makes a mystery of every thing which he understands not for to deceive Women and Credulous people Folly is certainly a Malady which has many different Symptomes Stultorum infinitus numerus Ecclesiast Stultorum plena sunt omnia Cicero it reigns so Universally that I admire for what cause the Antients have not Dedicated Temples to her as well as to Fortune If we should make reflexions on our Prudence and on our most discreet Conduct we could not but acknowledge that the most clear and sound Reason is oftentimes subject to strange Convulsions The most true cause of our Extravagancies is that the Object which should terminate our desires is seldom fixt and determined Pyrrhus making one day great preparations to invade Italy Cineus the Philosopher askt him what he designed to do when he should have subdued the Romans He answered I will then pass with my Army into Sicily And whither then replied the Philosopher I will said the King if Fortune favours me carry my Arms into Africa and make my self Lord of Carthage and Lybia And if you should be Victorious replied Cineus what will you then do I will answered the King resolve on some greater Exploits Enterprizes And at last said the Philosopher what shall be the end of your toils and labour Repose repli'd the King Then the Philosopher exclaim'd Oh Prince enjoy it from this instant to what purpose will you make such vast Projects to conquer that which you have already under your command Can your ambition be reconcil'd with Prudence to deprive your self out of a gayety of humour of that pleasure which you perfectly enjoy without stirring from your Palace to engage your self in the most extreme perils for an uncertain Victory and most inevitable Evils Men might have said as much to Charlemaigne to Francis the First to Charles the Fifth and to the King of Sweden A Prince by extending his Dominions increases the sound of his Name and contributes nothing to his repose but on the contrary multiplies his cares and troubles by creating to himself new Enemies Nevertheless the World admires the Conquerours there is no Divinity so reverenc'd as the Valour of these illustrious Robbers who sacrifice the wealth life and liberty of men to their ambition Men fear their arms whilst they live when dead they praise them nay sometimes they are canoniz'd Never was any thing so unreasonable but it found abettors A famous Orator of Athens spent his life in making a Panegyrick of the third Ague Poverty bereaves the whole World of its repose and Riches ravisht it from Anacreon in such manner that he return'd again to Polycrates Tyrant of Samos the ten thousand Ducats which he had presented him because they disturb'd his sleep As every one has his peculiar Sense so every one has his peculiar Folly they follow their temperament in this as in all other things There is great Probability Alter ridebat quoties à limine moverat unum Protuleratque pedem flebat contrarius alter that Democritus was of a Sanguine Complexion Heraclitus of a Melancholick The one made the principle of his Philosophy to deride the World and to make all serious things ridiculous the other establisht his upon Lamentations and Tears perhaps a third person would have been more reasonable as less interessed There are few States governed by the same Policy they tend all to the same end by divers ways Religion it self as holy as it is could never Universally be the same in all parts of the world The diversity of our judgements is the Origine of all these things and ignorance which is natural to us is the Source of the diversity of our judgements Truth is so stately and majestick that she disdains men as being unworthy to behold her she conceals her self under so many shapes that there is hardly one wise man in an age whom she admits to her sight She communicates her self unmask'd to Faith alone because that is the Creature of the Eternal Truth 'T is that which gives us infallible lessons for our Conduct as well as for our Salvation without it our Reason is blinde and leads us into precipices Her precepts are always just and her promises are never ineffectual If we give ear to her she will tell us in two words the whole method we should observe to advance our fortunes viz. first of all seek the Kingdom of God and all your affairs shall succeed happily This precept is an admirable abridgment of the best Morality in the world and deserves both our belief and our consideration For what is it but to follow Vertue which guides us in the path and slie Vice which leads us astray The examination of this Proposition shall make the Epilogue to this Discourse Vertue is a