Selected quad for the lemma: cause_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
cause_n	good_a	life_n	work_n	7,030	5	6.3476	4	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A18903	A true and admirable historie, of a mayden of Confolens, in the prouince of Poictiers that for the space of three yeeres and more hath liued, and yet doth, vvithout receiuing either meate or drinke. Of whom, his Maiestie in person hath had the view, and, (by his commaund) his best and chiefest phisitians, haue tryed all meanes, to find, whether this fast & abstinence be by deceit or no. In this historie is also discoursed, whether a man may liue many dayes, moneths or yeeres, without receiuing any sustenance. Published by the Kings especiall priuiledge.; Abstinens Confolentanea. English	Citois, François, 1572-1652.; Munday, Anthony, 1553-1633.; Coeffeteau, Nicolas, 1574-1623, attributed name.	1603 (1603)	STC 5326; ESTC S118585	35,171	122

comes to yeeld it selfe vnder the tirannie of one alone giues therby reasonably to vnderstand that the course of life keeps it selfe for so long time as naturall heat dooth aboundantly disperse it selfe with the radicall humour and that the elementarie qualities doe hold a good simpathie among them selues in their harmony kind accord which wee call temperature And therefore it is blamelesse to define life by these two causes that is to say heat and temperature because it behooueth to take the definition by the cause which is most neere Now heat is the most neere instrument of the soule the temper next that of naturall heat which disposeth and accommodates it to diuers actions Then this causall definition is well deriued from the chiefe and principall occasion of life which heere wee haue alleaged by the authoritic of Aristotle Neuerthelesse Haruet goes after another fashion he defines the life of man to be an action of the reasonable soule produced into the bodie of man but this definition is not subtile enough For first formost life is no action at all of the soule otherwise it should be the soule that liueth and not the body but life is an abiding as hath bin said or an vnion of the soule with the body according as Aristotle describeth in another of his bookes wherof soone 8. Metaph. after proceedeth action Heere I add that the actions of life beeing to vnderstand to smell to mooue and to nourish if life be an action then it were an action of an action which is most absurd Or els if life be an action of the reasonable soule in so much then as shee is reasonable the corporal parts should then be driuen to performe they● operations as receiuing foode for nourishment to beget her like onely by reason and the intellect not by any naturall sence But peraduenture Haruet hauing drawn his definition from others hath read that life is an act of the reasonable soule which word of act he hath conuerted into action Or act is that which the Greeks call E●telecheia which is a perfection efficacie and moouing power of it selfe far enough differing from that which they call Ergon And so one may to some purpose define life an act of the soule in the body that is to say a power vertue of the soule by the vnion thereof with the body VVhence is casie to be vnderstood that taking life generally it should rather be imputed to naturall heat as to the organe of the soule then vnto reason in case notwithstanding that this heat still abides alwaies vnited with the radicall moisture which although that day by day it be consumed by this heate yet neuerthelesse nature prouideth a subrogation daily of new which she borrows from the nouritures we receiue as it hath bin said already heeretofore But Haruet imagineth that these nourishments serue yet to another vse which is saith he to relieue fortifie the spirits the which I●ubert hath omitted as if vnder this name of radicall moisture we should comprehend onely moisture by it selfe not the spirits likewise And what is he who will denie that the spirits are not restored strengthened both by eating and drinking Yee haue in very truth great store of things heere chawed and eaten vnprofitably and to little purpose And of abounding that vvhich he proposeth against Hippocrates in the 14. Aphorisme of his 2. Booke is altogether paradoxicall to wit that hee in whom heate is most languishing hath the more neede of nourishment which hee proues by the example of a forty-yeeres aged man who saith he receiueth more food then any infant of two or three dayes in whom notwithstanding there is an aduantage of this heat according to Hippocrates himselfe Behold in my iudgement an argument very feeble if one should bring in all that he failes in if also we should oppose the organs of the twaine the one against the other For to the end that vnder this word Infant no cauillation may be couered I call all them Infants which are vnder 14. yeeres of age in the same maner as the Greekes do vnderstand this word Paidi● They I say that according to the proportion of their maw or little belly doe take more foode then men of middle perfect age as well by reason of the power of the facultie which seethes or boiles the foode whence proceedeth a speedie riddance thereof as by their frequent exercises during the which time good store of their substance glides it selfe thorow the pores into the skinne to the end I may be silent also in the two necessities alleaged by Hippocrates that infants haue of eating to wit for nourishing to giue encreasing to the bodie Now the strength of the facultie which boiles the meate in our stomack depends much vppon temperature and moderation but that is when it is excited and prouoked on by the heat natural which although that after one food is digested shee introduceth not then of herselfe any other nouriture as saith Haruet neuerthelesse because that this first is thus digested by heate there growes incontinently a feeling of penurie and want of foode at the mouth of the ventricle which we call hunger For this cause Ioubert referres only to heate as the principall agent the quantitie of those foodes which we take immediatly after and they are ruled by the appetite of hunger The facilitie of supporting Com. 2. Apho. 13. hunger saith Galen makes it selfe knowne thus when any one hath no appetite at all and yet neuerthelesse he feeles no endamagement or defect VVhich Haruet thus brings in that such as are restored from sicknesse haue a good appetite and yet notwithstanding no such meates are then giuen them as their appetite doth desire but when aduise is giuen for restoring of the powers it beho●es also to haue regard to the 〈…〉 of the naturall heate 〈…〉 is not to be any way iniuried but still supported This is thus done because that the temperature beeing not yet thorowlie reseated the naturall faculties feele themselues as yet to be diseased the organes cannot boile the foodes receiued in too great a quantity Now Ioubert in his demonstration purposed to speake of the healthfull not of the sick or else of them which are neither And therefore he concluds that olde men haue not need of meate often because they doo not desire or appetite often principally considering that they haue colde bodies whereto Haruet in no wise will agree for he saith that all the action of mixed bodies comes from the qualitie which winnes the vpper hand in the assembling of the elements So is it in liuing bodies heate ruleth ouer the other qualities of which heate all action hath his originall and not of colde I willingly admit the proposition with Aristotle so farre foorth as to mixte things inanimate or without soule which know the simple formes of the elements for their principles But in animate bodies hauing soules which haue a forme

about yawning Tertullian hath auouched as much in his Lib. De Mant. he nourisheth himselfe ●aith hee speaking of the Cameleon in yasking and yawning he chawes and blowes vp himselfe like a foot-ball 2. Hist ani Chap. 13. ● Hist nat Chap. 25. the winde is all his foode The Crocodile by the testemonie of Aristotle and Plinie after him passeth alwayes six monethes of winter in her Caue without eating Aelianus ●aith that she remaineth three score dayes onely so hidden during which time shee ●areth nothing Symmachus a man of good qualitie an Oratour among the auncient Romaines caused Crocodiles to be brought into the Theatre before the people after that he had made them to fast fiftie dayes Long time afterward he kept two of them without giuing them any foode reseruing them to haue them seene at Symmach lib. 8. Epist 44. 8. Hist an Ch●p 2. the arriuall of certaine frends of his Although saith hee they made shewe not to liue long time without eating As for that which Harue● alleageth from Aristotle that the Crocodile beeing out of the water cannot liue any long time this receiueth his interpretation by the same place also where he writes that albeit the Crocodile delights herselfe in the water in such sorte as she cannot liue beeing enclosed out of watrie places neuerthelesse she dies if she receiue not ayre as she is wunt to doo and in nourishing her young-ones out of the water For so much then as she is a creature partly waterie and partly earthie he holdes that shee is to bee rancked among those creatures called That liue as wel on land as on water Lib. 2. Cap. 20. * Amphibii and which are of a nature not stayed whom he calleth Epamphoterizonta Other-wise hee should contrarie himselfe hauing written before that she spends the day on the land and the night in the water both the one and the other by reasō of the heat she loueth And this he would haue vnderstood of the time wherin she doth not hide herselfe at all by reason that colde is so contrarie to her as when it is faire seasonable weather she must needes bee on the land in the day time in the water all the night I might auouch heere the Indian birde without feete which the sacrifisers to Mahomet did some time make the King of the Moluques to beleeue that it dropte downe out Paradise because she is not found but in vnknowne places seperate from the troupes of the world by reason whereof they of that countrie call it the Birde of Paradise She liues euermore in the ayre neuer at any time toucheth the earth till after she be dead wheron she lyeth and preserueth herselfe a long time without corrupting This Bird doth not nourish herselfe on Mushromes or other semblable insect things as Sparrowes Swallowes doe for she liueth in the middle region of the ayre where are no creatures knowne vnto men whereon she may feede but vppon the ayre onely or on the vapour arising from the Iles of the Moluques which doe send foorth on all sides a very sweet and Aromaticall sauour Cardanus holds that she cannot liue of the ayre alone and perfectly because it is very subtile in those countries But he that hath giuen her the ayre for foode hath also power so to thicken that ayre as to render it selfe apt enough for her nourishment And no lesse admirable is the bird In vita Ar●oxer which Plutarch calleth Rhintaces very common in Persia which hath nothing emptie in her body but is within all full of fat as are the Bennarics in Languedoc and yet notwithstanding this Author saith that she liues not but of the ayre and of the dew therein ●ib 5. hist ●ni cap. 19. ●lin lib. 11. Cap. 36. Aristotle the Prince of truth writes that in the Furnases where the Melters casters of Copper are in Cypres they haue a little creature of the bignes of a great Fly which they call Pyrausta the which hath wings soure feet So long as there is fire in the Furnace this worme or Fly liueth but let it be neuer so little off from it it presently dies and yet notwithstanding this creature is most cold hauing no other maintenaunce then the heat of the fire onelie But why should I dwell on these examples whereof Haruet in euerie place holds that wee can draw no consequent by them to men Peraduenture then some examples deduced from men themselues may make him to acknowledge a truth And therefore I will produce one which is out of all scruple whereof Princes worthy of beleefe made recitall to King Henry the third being in Poland Hee had there many great Lords of Fraunce Councellours c. He had also diuers Phisitians in his Court among others Monsieur Piduxius our Deane skilfull not onely in Phisicke but likewise in whatsoeuer concerned the knowledge of the naturall historie Hee was then Phisitian to my Lord the Duke of Neuers and called to councell with the Kings owne Phisitians From him was it that wee verbally heard this Historie which also is written by Alexander Guaguinus of Verona Captaine of the footmen in the Cittadell of Vitebcka on the limits of Moscouia and in his description of the said Country Hee saith that there are certaine people in Lucomoria which is a Region in the vtmost confines of the Sarmates towards the North which dye or rather remaine entraunced like your Frogges and Swallowes euery yeare the 27. of the moneth Nouember by reason of the extreame colde in that part of the countrie Afterward at the returne of Spring-time the 24. of Aprill they come to life againe These people make their commerces with the Grustintzians and Sperponomptzians their neighbours after this manner VVhen they feele the time of their entrauncing to draw neere they then lock vp their merchandises in certaine places and the Grustintzians and Sperponomptzians there take them and leaue other in their sted of answerable value The time being come of their reui●ing they take the merchandises which were left in exchaunge of theirs if they perceiue they haue profit by them if not they demaund back their owne againe whereby ariseth oftentimes quarrels and warres betweene them By this sleepie traunce the natural heate in these bodies which otherwise are accustomed to this ayre and boyled againe as sayth Albertus Cr●●tzius by the freezing is no whit extinct because that al the places por●s passages and conuoys being lockt vp and stopte it gathers it selfe about the entrailes and by this Antiperistasis or repulsion of euery part she encreaseth herselfe and makes her power the more vigorous for the Spring-time ensuing Aboue all other partes of the bodie the daunger is principallie of the braine which hath great store of large openings and among others the nostrilles were it not that whē they beginne to wexe stiffe with colde a tarte rheume or moisture distilleth from the nostrilles which by report of the said Lord Piduxius Their eyes ●ares nostrilles and mouthes are softlye frozen vp be●ore they fall into their ●●ance euen as it flowes congeales it selfe no lesse then the spettle it selfe doth and so it wexeth hard before they fall to the grounde according as Sigismond de Herbestein describeth in the Historie of Moseouis By meanes whereof the nostrilles and other parts being lockt vp the mallice of the ayre cannot so easilie pierce vp vnto the braine And if any one of them to shunne this colde vnfreendlines of the ayre thinkes by couering himselfe with skinnes and other things to forestall the Isicles hanging at the nostrilles and mouth c immediatly the ayre being excessiuely cold steps vp into the braine and there extinguisheth the naturall heate so that these Lucomorians in sted of a temporall entrauncing do then fall into a perpetuall and endlesse But the time being come that the Sunne getteth rule ouer the colde and brings in agayne the sweetnes of the Spring season the ycie moisture at the parts before named melting it selfe the heate by little little insinuates into the bones the feeling and vigour creepes againe into all the mēbers and then hath the bodie the same O●conomie which it had before Haruet concludes his whole discourse by the fasting of holy personages Moyses Elias our blessed Sauiour the which saith hee should be held for no miracle at all if according to nature so long an abstinence may be made Ioubert hath answered that in sick persons and such as are much subiect to sicknesse a long fast or abstinence is naturall but supernaturall in such persons who otherwise are perfectly well and of good temperature Harnet obiecteth the place of Auice● cited by Ioubert That the same might also happen to healthful men For our owne selues we will embrace the oppinion of Io●bert in such sort as we doo holde concerning the accident heere happening among vs to whom this abstinence is yet so easie that it hath bin occasioned by a sicknesse against nature albeit some others in like manner diseased haue afterward bin healthfull againe But as for persons of such rare sanctitie we thinke not their fast to haue bin by any sicknesse but only by the speciall will of God and that naturall appetite then returned at the time limitted by his prouidence Last of all where he exhorteth euerie one to imitate a certaine Gentleman who by care and dilligence discouered the imposture of an Hermite in Sauoy that by feigned fastings had long time dece●ued the peoples oppinion As for our selues not knowing how to goe against the authoritie of so many rare and cleare sighted Phisitians nor yet how to steale into our eyes the credence of what they haue seene we loue rather to leaue it euen to the most curious reseacher into the causes of the extraordinari● workes of nature then like the companions to Vlisses charmed with the fruite of the * A●●ee in Affrick called the Lot ●●● Alyfier or fatall tree to serue or know no other Gods then Edusa and Potina FINIS