it the Emulation of Aristotle with the Rhetoricians of his time and the experience of Cicero hath made them in their Workes of Rhetorickes exceede themselues Againe the excellencie of Examples of Eloquence in the Orations of Demosthenes and Cicero added to the perfection of the Precepts of Eloquence hath doubled the progression in this Arte And therefore the Deficiences which I shall note will rather bee in some Collections which may as Hand-maydes attend the Art than in the Rules or vse of the Art it selfe Notwithstanding to stirre the Earth a little about the Rootes of this Science as we haue done of the rest The dutie and Office of Rhetoricke is To apply Reason to Imagination for the better moouing of the will For wee see Reason is disturbed in the Administration thereof by three meanes by Illaqueation or Sophisme which pertaines to Logicke by Imagination or Impression which pertaines to Rhetoricke and by Passion or Affection which pertaines to Moralitie And as in Negotiation with others men are wrought by cunning by Importunitie and by vehemencie So in this Negotiation within our selues men are vndermined by Inconsequences sollicited and importuned by Impressions or Obuersations and transported by Passions Neither is the Nature of Man so vnfortunately built as that those Powers and Arts should haue force to disturbe Reason and not to establish and aduance it For the end of Logicke is to teach a fourme of Argument to secure Reason and not to entrappe it The end of Moralitie is to procure the Affections to obey Reason and not to inuade it The end of Rhetoricke is to fill the Imagination to second Reason and not to oppresse it for these abuses of Arts come in but Ex oblique for Caution And therfore it was great Iniustice in Plate though springing out of a iust hatred of the Rhetoricians of his time to esteeme of Rhetoricke but as a voluptuarie Art resembling it to Cookerie that did marre wholsome Meates and helpe vnwholesome by varietie of sawces to the pleasure of the tast For wee see that speech is much more conuersant in adorning that which is good than in colouring that which is euill for there is no man but speaketh more honestly than he can doe or thinke And it was excellently noted by Thucidides in Cleon that because he vsed to hold on the bad side in Causes of estate therefore hee was euer inueying against Eloquence and good speech knowing that no man can speake faire of Courses sordide and base And therefore as Plato sayd elegantly Thâ—…t vertue if shee could be seen would mooue great loue and affection So seeing that she cannot bee shewed to the Senca by corporall shape the next degree is to shewe her to the Imagination in liuely representation for to shewe her to Reason only in subtilitie of Argument was a thing euer derided in Chrysippus and many of the Stoykes who thought to thrust vertue vppon men by sharpe disputations and Conclusions which haue no Sympathy with the will of Man Againe if the affections in themselues were plyant and obedient to Reason it were true there shoulde bee no great vse of perswasions and insinuations to the will more than of naked proposition and Proofes but in regard of the continuall Mutinies and Seditions of the Affections Video meliora Proboque Dâ—…teriora sequor Reason would become Captiue and seruile if Eloquence of Perswasions did not practise and winne the Imagination from the affections part and contract a Confederacie betweene the Reason and Imagination against the Affections For the Affections themselues carrie euer an appetite to good as Reason doth The difference is That the Affection beholdeth meerely the present Reason behouldeth the future and summe of time And therefore the Present filling the Imagination more Reason is commonly vanquished But after that force of Eloquence and perswasion hath made thinges future and remote appeare as present than vppon the reuolt of the Imagination Reason preâ—…ayleth Wee conclude therefore that Rhetoricke can bee no more charged with the colouring of the worse part than Logicke with Sophistrie or Moralitie with Vice For wee knowe the Doctrines of Contraries are the same though the vse be opposite It appeareth also that Logicke differeth from Rhetoricke not onely as the fist from the pawme the one close the other at large but much more in this that Logicke handleth Reason exacte and in truth and Rhetoricke handleth it as it is planted in popular opinions and Manners And therefore Aristotle doth wisely place Rhetoricke as betweene Logicke on the one side and Morall or Ciuile Knowledge on the other as participating of both for the Proofes and Demonstrations of Logicke are toward all men indifferent and the same But the Proofes and perswasions of Rhetoricke ought to differ according to the Auditors Orpheus in Syluis inter Delphinas Arion Which application in perfection of Idea ought to extend so farre that if a Man should speake of the same thing to seuerall persons he should speake to them all respectiuely and seuerall wayes though this Politique part of Eloquence in priuate Speech it is easie for the greatest Orators to want whilest by the obseruing their well graced fourmes of speech they leese the volubilitie of Application and therefore it shall not be amisse to recommend this to better enquirie not being curious whether we place it heere or in that part which concerneth Policie Nowe therefore will I descend to the deficiences which as I sayd are but Attendances and first I doe not finde the Wisedome and diligence of Aristotle well poursued who began to make a Collection of the popular signes and colours of good and euill both simple and comparatiue which are as the Sophismes of Rhetoricke as I touched before For Example SOPHISMA Quod laudatur bonum Quod vttuperatur malum REDARGVTIO Laudat vaenales qui vult extrudere merces Malum est Malum est inquit Emptor sed cum reâ—…rit tumgloriabitur The defects in the labour of Aristotle are three One that there be but a few of many another that their Elenches are not annexed and the third that hee conceiued but a part of the vse of them for their vse is not onely in probation but much more in Impression For many fourmes are equall in Signification which are differing in Impression as the difference is great in the piercing of that which is sharpe and that which is flat though the strength of the percussion be the same for there is no man but will be a little more raysed by hearing it sayd Your enemies will be glad of this Hos I thacus velit magnomercentur Atridae Than by hearing it sayd only This is euill for you Secondly I do resume also that which I mentioned before touching Prouision or Praeparatorie store for the Furniture of speech and readinesse of Inuention which appeareth to be of two sorts The one in resemblance to a shoppe of peeces vnmade vp the other to a shopp of thinges ready made
vpon and not to be lightly passed ouer for if any man shall thinke by view and enquiry into these sensible and material things to attaine that light whereby he may reueale vnto himselfe the nature or will of God then indeed is he spoyled by vaine Philosophie for the contemplation of Gods Creatures and works produceth hauing regard to the works and creatures themselues knowledge but hauing regard to God no perfect knowledg but wonder which is brokē knowledge And therefore it was most aptly sayd by one of Platoes Schoole That the sence of man caryeth a resemblance with the Sunne which as we see openeth and reuealeth all the terrestriall Globe but then againe it obscureth and concealeth the stars celestiall Globe So doth the Sence discouer naturall thinges but it darkeneth and shutteth vp Diuine And hence it is true that it hath proceeded that diuers great learned men haue beene hereticall whilest they haue sought to flye vp to the secrets of the Deitie by the waxen winges of the Sences And as for the conceite that too much knowledge should encline a man to Atheisme and that the ignorance of second causes should make a more deuoute dependance vppon God which is the first cause First it is good to aske the question which Iob asked of his friends Will you lye for God as one man will doe for another to gratifie him for certaine it is that God worketh nothing in Nature but by second causes and if they would haue it otherwise beleeued it is meere imposture as it were in fauour towardes God and nothing else but to offer to the Author of truth the vncleane sacrifice of a lye But further it is an assured truth and a conclusion of experience that a little or superficiall knowledge of Philosophie may encline the minde of Man to Atheisme but a further proceeding therein doth bring the mind backe againe to Religion for in the entrance of Philosophie when the second Causes which are next vnto the sences do offer themselues to the minde of Man if it dwell and stay there it may induce some obliuion of the highest cause but when a man passeth on further and seeth the dependance of causes and the workes of prouidence then according to the allegorie of the Poets he will easily beleeue that the highest Linke of Natures chaine must needes be tyed to the foote of Iupiters chaire To conclude therefore let no man vppon a weake conceite of sobrietie or an ill applyed moderation thinke or maintaine that a man can search too farre or bee too well studied in the Booke of Gods word or in the Booke of Gods workes Diuinitie or Philosophie but rather let men endeauour an endlesse progresse or proficience in both only let men beware that they apply both to Charitie and not to swelling to vse and not to ostentation and againe that they doe not vnwisely mingle or confound these learnings together And as for the disgraces which learning receiueth from Politiques they bee of this nature that learning doth soften mens mindes and makes them more vnapt for the honour and exercise of Armes that it doth marre and peruert mens dispositions for matter of gouernement and policie in making them too curious and irresolute by varietie of reading or too peremptorie or positiue by stricktnesse of rules and axiomes or too immoderate and ouerweening by reason of the greatnesse of examples or too incompatible and differing from the times by reason of the dissimilitude of examples or at least that it doth diuert mens trauailes from action and businesse and bringeth them to a loue of leasure and priuatenesse and that it doth bring into States a relaxation of discipline whilst euerie man is more readie to argue than to obey and execute Out of this conceit Cato surnamed the Censor one of the wisest men indeed that euer liued when Carneades the Philosopher came in Embassage to Rome and that the young men of Rome began to flocke about him being allured with the sweetnesse and Maiestie of his eloquence and learning gaue counsell in open Senate that they should giue him his dispatch with all speede least hee should infect and inchaunt the mindes and affections of the youth and at vnawares bring in an alteration of the manners and Customes of the State Out of the same conceite or humor did Virgill turning his penne to the aduantage of his Countrey and the disaduantage of his owne profession make a kind of separation betweene policie and gouernement and betweene Arts and Sciences in the verses so much renowned attributing and challenging the one to the Romanes and leauing yeelding the other to the Grecians Turegere imperio populos Romane mem◅to Hae tibi erūt artes c. so likewise we see that Anytus the accuser of Socrates layd it as an Article of charge accusation against him that he did with the varietie and power of his discourses and disputations withdraw young men from due reuerence to the Lawes and Customes of their Countrey and that he did professe a dangerous and pernitious Science which was to make the worse matter seeme the better and to suppresse truth by force of eloquence and speech But these and the like imputations haue rather a countenance of grauitie than any ground of Iustice for experience doth warrant that both in persons and in times there hath beene a meeting and concurrence in learning and Armes flourishing and excelling in the same men and the same ages For as for men there cannot be a better nor the like instance as of that payre Alexander the Great and Iulius Caesar the Dictator whereof the one was Aristotles Scholler in Philosophie and the other was Ciceroes Riuall in eloquence or if any man had rather call for Schollers that were great Generals then Generals that were great Schollers let him take Epaminondas the Thebane or Xenophon the Athenian whereof the one was the first that abated the power of Sparta and the other was the first that made way to the ouerthrow of the Monarchie of Persia And this concurrence is yet more visible in times than in persons by how much an age is greater obiect than a Man For both in Aegypt Assyria Persia Grecia and Rome the same times that are most renowned for Armes are likewise most admired for learning so that the greatest Authors and Philosophers and the greatest Captaines and Gouernours haue liued in the same ages neither can it otherwise be for as in Man the ripenesse of strength of the bodie and minde commeth much about an age saue that the strength of the bodie commeth somewhat the more early So in States Armes and Learning whereof the one correspondeth to the bodie the other to the soule of Man haue a concurrence or nere sequence in times And for matter of policie and gouernement that Learning should rather hurt than inable thereunto is a thing verie improbable we see it is accounted an errour to commit a naturall bodie to Emperique Phisitions which commonly haue a
fewe pleasing receits whereupon they are confident and aduenturous but know neither the causes of diseases nor the complexions of Patients nor perill of accidents nor the true methode of Cures We see it is a like error to rely vpon Aduocates or Lawyers which are onely men of practise and not grounded in their Bookes who are many times easily surprised when matter falleth out besides their experience to the preiudice of the causes they handle so by like reason it cannot be but a matter of doubtfull consequence if States bee managed by Emperique Statesmen not well mingled with men grounded in Learning But contrary wise it is almost without instance contradictorie that euer any gouernement was disastrous that was in the hands of learned Gouernors For howsoeuer it hath beene ordinarie with politique men to extenuate and disable learned men by the names of Pedantes yet in the Records of time it appeareth in many particulers that the Gouernements of Princes in minority notwithstanding the infinite disaduantage of that kinde of State haue neuerthelesse excelled the gouernement of Princes of mature age euen for that reason which they seek to traduce which is that by that occasion the state hath been in the hands of Pedantes for so was the State of Rome for the first fiue yeeres which are so much magnified during the minoritie of Nero in the handes of Seneca a Pedanti So it was againe for ten yeres space or more during the minoritie of Gordianus the younger with great applause and contentation in the hands of Misiâ—…heus a Pedanti so was it before that in the minoritie of Alexander Seuerus in like happinesse in hands not much vnlike by reason of the rule of the women who were ayded by the Teachers and Preceptors Nay let a man looke into the gouernement of the Bishops of Rome as by name into the gouernement of Pius Quintus and Sexâ—… Quintus in out times who were both at their entrance esteemed but as Pedanticall Friers and he shall find that such Popes doe greater thinges and proceed vpon truer principles of Estate than those which haue ascended to the Papacie from an education breeding in affaires of Estate and Courts of Princes for although men bred in Learning are perhaps to seeke in points of conuenience and accommodating for the present which the Italians call Ragioni di 〈◊〉 whereof the same Pius Quintus could not heare spoken with patience tearming them Inuentions against Religion and the morall vertues yet on the other side to recompence that they are perfite in those same plaine grounds of Religion Iustice Honour and Morall vertue which if they be well and watchfully pursued there will bee seldome vse of those other no more than of Phisicke in a sound or well dieted bodie neither can the experience of one mans life furnish examples and presidents for the euents of one mans life For as it happeneth sometimes that the Graund child or other descendent resembleth the Ancestor more than the Sonne so many times occurrences of present times may sort better with ancient examples than with those of the later or immediate times and lastly the wit of one man can no more counteruaile learning than one mans meanes can hold way with a common purse And as for those particular seducements or indispositions of the minde for policie and gouernement which learning is pretended to insinuate if it be graunted that any such thing be it must be remembred withall that learning ministreth in euery of them greater strength of medicine or remedie than it offereth cause of indisposition or infirmitie For if by a secret operation it make men perplexed and irresolute on the other side by plaine precept it teacheth them when and vpon what ground to resolue yea and how to carrie thinges in suspence without preiudice till they resolue If it make men positiue and reguler it teacheth them what thinges are in their nature demonstratiue what are coniecturall and aswell the vse of distinctions and exceptions as the latitude of principles and rules If it mislead by disproportion or dissimilitude of Examples it teacheth men the force of Circumstances the errours of comparisons and all the cautions of application so that in all these it doth rectifie more effectually than it can peruert And these medicines it conueyeth into mens minds much more forcibly by the quicknesse and penetration of Examples for let a man looke into the errours of Clement the seuenth so liuely described by Guicciardine who serued vnder him or into the errours of Cicero painted out by his owne pensill in his Epistles to Atticus and he will flye apace from being irresolute Let him looke into the errors of Pâ—…ion and he will beware how he be obstinate or inflexible Let him but read the Fable of Ixion and it will hold him from being vaporous or imaginatiue let him look into the errors of Cato the second and he will neuer be one of the Antipodes to tread opposite to the present world And for the conceite that Learning should dispose men to leasure and priuatenesse and make men slouthfull it were a strange thing if that which accustometh the minde to a perpetuall motion and agitation should induce slouthfulnesse whereas contrariwise it may bee truely affirmed that no kinde of men loue businesse for it selfe but those that are learned for other persons loue it for profite as an hireling that loues the worke for the wages or for honour as because it beareth them vp in the eyes of men and refresheth their reputation which otherwise would weare or because it putteth them in mind of their fortune and giueth them occasion to pleasure and displeasure or because it exerciseth some faculty wherein they take pride and so entertaineth them in good humor and pleasing conceits toward themselues or because it aduanceth any other their ends So that as it is sayd of vntrue valors that some mens valors are in the eyes of them that look on So such mens industries are in the eyes of others or at least in regard of their owne designements onely learned men loue businesse as an action according to nature as agreable to health of minde as exercise is to health of bodie taking pleasure in the action it selfe not in the purchase So that of all men they are the most indefatigable if it be towards any businesse which can hold or detaine their minde And if any man be laborious in reading and study and yet idle in busines action it groweth froÌ„ some weakenes of body or softnes of spirit such as Seneca speaketh of Quidam tam sunt vmbratiles vt putent in turbido esse quicquid in luce est and not of learning wel may it be that such a point of a mans nature may make him giue himselfe to learning but it is not learning that breedeth any such point in his Nature And that learning should take vp too much time or leasure I answere the most actiue or busie man that hath
reserue for the last of all as the Hauen and Sabbath of all Mans contemplations wee will nowe proceede to NATVRALL PHILOSOPHIE If then it bee true that Democritus sayde That the truthe of Nature lyeth hydde in certaine deepe Myâ—… and Caues And if it bee true likewise that the Alchymists doe so much inculcate That Vulcan is a second Nature and imitateth that dexterouslie and compendiouslie which Nature worketh by ambages length of time It were good to deuide Naturall Phylosophie into the Myne and the Fornace and to make two professions or occupations of Naturall Philosophers some to bee Pionners and some Smythes some to digge and some to refine and Hammer And surely I doe best allowe of a diuision of that kinde though in more familiar and scholasticall tearmes Namely that these bee the two parts of Naturall Philosophie the INQVISITION OF CAVSES and the PROâ—…VCTION OF EFFECTS SPECVLATIVE and OPERATIVE NATVRALL SCIENCE and NATVRALL PRVDENCE For as in Ciuile matters there is a wisedome of discourse and a wisedome of direction So is it in Naturall And heere I will make a request that for the latter or at least for a parte thereof I may reviue and reintegrate the misapplyed and abused Name of NATVRALL MAGICKE which in the true seâ—…se is but NATVRALL WISEDOME or NATVRALL PRVDENCE taken according to the ancient acception purged from vanitie superstition Now although it bee true and I know it well that therâ—… is an entercourse betweene Causes and Effâ—… so as both these knowledges 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a great connexion betweene themselues yet because all true and frutefull NATVRALL PHILOSOPHIE hath A double Scale or Ladder Ascendent and Descendent ascending from experiments to the Inuention of causes and descending from causes to the Inuention of newe experiments Therefore I iudge it most requisite that these two parts be seuerally considered and handled NATVRALL SCIENCE or THEORY is deuided into PHISICKE and METAPHISICKE wherein I desire it may bee conceiued that I vse the word METAPHISICKE in a differing sense from that that is receyued And in like manner I doubt not but it will easilie appeare to men of iudgement that in this and other particulers wheresoeuer my Conception Notion may differ from the Auncient yet I am studious to keepe the Auncient Termes For hoping well to deliuer my selfe from mistaking by the order and perspicuous expressing of that I doe propounde I am otherwise zealous and affectionate to recede as little from Antiquitie either in tearms or opinions as may stand with truth the proficience of knowledge And herein I cannot a little maruaile at the Philosopher Aristotle that did proceede in such a Spirit of difference contradiction towards all Antiquitie vndertaking not only to frame new wordes of Science at pleasure but to confound and extinguish all ancient wisedome insomuch as hee neuer nameth or mentioneth an Ancient Author or opinion but to confute and reproue wherein for glorie and drawing followers and disciples he tooke the right course For certainly there commeth to passe hath place in humane truth that which was noted and pronounced in the highest truth Veni in nomine Patris nec recipitis Me Si quis venerit in nomine suo eum recipietis But in this diuine Aphorisme considering to whom it was applied Namely to Antichrist the highest deceiuer wee may discerne well that the comming in a Man 's owne name without regard of Antiquitie or paternitie is no good signe of truth although it bee ioyned with the fortune and successe of an Eum recipietis But for this excellent person Aristotle I will thinke of him that hee learned that humour of his Scholler with whom it seemeth hee did emulate the one to conquer all Opinions as the other to conquer all Nations Wherein neuerthelesse it may bee hee may at some mens hands that are of a bitter disposition get a like title as his Scholler did Foelix terrarum Praedo non vtile mundo Editus exemplum c. So Foelix doctrinae Praedo But to me on the other side that do desire as much as lyeth in my Penne to ground a sociable entercourse betweene Antiquitie and Proficience it seemeth best to keepe way with Antiquitie vsque ad aras And therefore to retaine the ancient tearmes though I sometimes alter the vses and definitions according to the Moderate proceeding in Ciuill gouernment where although there bee some alteration yet that holdeth which Tacitus wisely noteth Eadem Magistratuum vocabula To returne therefore to the vse and acception of the tearme METAPHISICKE as I doe nowe vnderstand the word It appeareth by that which hath bene alreadie saide that I intend PHILOSOPHIA PRIMA SVMMARIE PHILOSOPHIE and METAPHISICK which heretofore haue beene confounded as one to bee two distinct things For the one I haue made as a Parent or common Auncestor to all knowledge And the other I haue now brought in as a Branch or descendent of NATVRALL SCIENCE It appeareth likewise that I haue assigned to SVMMARIEPHILOSOPHIE the common principles and Axiomes which are promiscuous and indifferent to seuerall Sciences I haue assigned vnto it likewise the inquirie touching the operation of the Relatiue and aduentiue Characters of Essences as Quantitie Similitude Diuersitie Possibilitie and the rest with this distinction and prouision that they bee handled as they haue efficacie in Nature and not logically It appeareth likewise that NATVRAL THEOLOGIE which hereto fore hath beene handled confusedly with METAPHISICKE I haue inclosed and bounded by it selfe It is therefore now a question what is left remaining for METAPHISICKE wherein I may without preiudice preserue thus much of the coÌ„ceit of Antiquitie that PHISICKE should contemplate that which is inherent in Matter therefore transitorie and METAPHISICKE that which is abstracted fixed And againe that PHISICKE shoulde handle that which supposeth in Nature onely a being and mouing and METAPHISICKE should handle that which supposeth furder in Nature a reason vnderstanding and platforme But the difference perspicuously expressed is most familiar and sensible For as wee deuided NATVRALL PHILOSOPHY in GENERALL into the ENQVIRIE of CAVSES PRODVCTIONS of EFFECTS So that part which concerneth the ENQVIRIE of CAVSES wee doe subdiuide according to the receiued and sound diuision of CAVSES The one part which is PHISICKE enquireth and handleth the MATERIALL EFFICIENT CAVSES the other which is METAPHISICKE handleth the FORMAL and FINALCAVSES PHISICKE taking it according to the deriuation not according to our Idiome for MEDICINE is scituate in a middle tearme or distance between NATVRALL HISTORY METAPHISICKE For NATVRAL HISTORY describeth the varietie of things PHISICKE the CAVSES but VARIABLE or RESPECTIVE CAVSES and METAPHISICKE the FIXED and CONSTANT CAVSES Limus vt hic durescit haec vt Cara liquescit Vno eodemque igni Fire is the cause of induration but respectiue to clay Fire is the cause of colliquatioÌ„ but respectiue to Waxe But fire is noe constant cause either of induration or colliquation So
Inferiour to Vertue and and an Enemy to Meditacion for wisedome of Gouernmente they acquite themselues well when they are called to it but that happeneth to fewe But for the wisedome of Businesse wherein mans life is moste conuersant there bee noe Bookes of it excepte some fewe scattered aduertisementes that haue noe proportion to the magnitude of this subiecte For if bookes were written of this as the other I doubt not but learned men with meane experience woulde farre excell men of longe experience withoute learning and outshoote them in their owne bowe Neither needeth it at all to be doubted that this knowlddge shoulde bee so variable as it falleth not vnder precept for it is much lesse infinite then science of Gouernmente which wee see is laboured and in some parte reduced Of this wisedome it seemeth some of the auncient Romanes in the saddest and wisest times were professors for Cicero reporteth that it was then in vse For Senators that had name and opinion for generall wisemen as Ceruncanius Curius Loelius and manie others to walke at certaine howers in the Place and to giue audience to those that would vse their aduise and that the particuler Citizens would resort vnto them and consulte with them of the marriage of a daughter or of the imploying of a sonne or of a purchase or bargaine or of an accusatioÌ„ and euery other occasion incident to mans life so as there is a wisedome of Counsaile and aduise euen in priuate Causes arisinge out of an vniuersall insight into the affayrs of the world which is vsed indeede vpon particuler cases propouÌ„ded but is gathered by generall obser uation of causes of like nature For so wee see in the Booke which Cicero writeth to his brother De petitione consultatus being the onely booke of businesse that I know written by the auncients although it coÌ„cerned a particuler action then on foote yet the substance thereof consisteth of manie wise and pollitique Axioms which containe not a temporary but a perpetuall direction in the case of popular Elections But chiefly wee may see in those Aphorismes which haue place amongest Divine writings composed by Salomon the King of whom the scriptures testifie that his hearte was as the sandes of the sea incompassing the world and all worldly matters we see I saie not a few profound and excellent cautions precepts positions extending to much varietie of occasions wherevpon wee will staie a while offering to consideracion some number of Examples Sed eunctis sermonibus qui dicuntur ne accommodes aurem tuam uè fortè audiaes seruum tuum maledicentem tibi Heere is concluded the prouidente staye of enquiry of that which we wolde be loathe to finde as it was iudged greate wisedome in Pompetus Magnus that he burned Sertorius papers vnperused Vir sapiens si cum stulto contenderit siue irascaetur siue rideat uon inueniet requiem Here is described the great disaduantage which a wise man hath in vndertaking a lighter person then himselfe which is such an ingagemente as whether a man turne the matter to ieast or turne it to heate or howsoeuer hee change copye hee can no wayes quitte himselfe well of it Qui delicatè à pueritia nutrit seruum suum postea sentiet eum contumacem Heere is signified that if a man beginne too highe a pitche in his fauoures it doeth commonlye end in vnkindnesse and vnthankfulnesse Vidisti virum velocem in opere suo coram regibus stabit nec erit inter ignobiles Here is obserued that of all vertues for rising to honoure quicknesse of dispatche is the best for superiours many times loue not to haue those they imploy too deep or too sufficient but redy and diligent Vidi cunctos viuentes qui ambulant sub sole cum adoadolescente secundo qui consurgit pro eo Here is expressed that which was noted by Sylla first and after him by Tiberius Plures adorant solem orientem quam occidentem vel meridianum Si spiritus potestaâ—…m habentis ascenderit super te locum tuum ne dimiseris quia Curatio faciet cessare peccata maxima Here caution is giuen that vpon displeasure retiring is of all courses the vnfittest for a man leaueth thinges at worst and depriueth himselfe of meanes to make them better Erat Ciuitas parua pauci in ea viri venit contra eam rex magnus vadauit eam instrxuitque munitiones per Gyrum perfecta est obsidio inuentusquae est in ea vir pauper sapiens liberauit eam per sapientiam suam nullus deinceps recordatus est hominis illius pauperis Here the corruptions of states is sette foorh that esteeme not vertue or merite longer then they haue vse of it Mollis responsio frangit iram Here is noted that silence or rough Answeare exasperateth but an answear present and temperate pacifieth Iter pigrorum quasisepes spinarum Here is liuelie represented how laborious sloth prooueth in the end for when thinges are differred till the laste instant and nothing prepared before hande euerye stepp findeth a Bryer or Impediment which catcheth or stoppeth Melior est finis orationis quam principium Here is taxed the vanitie of formall speakers that study more about prefaces and inducements then vpon the conclusions and issues of speache Qui cognoscit in iudicio faciem non bene facit iste et pro buccella panis desâ—…ret veritatem Here is noted that a iudge were better be a briber then a respecter of persons for a corrupt Iudge offendeth not so lightly as a facile Vir pauper calumnians pauperes similis est imbrivehementi in quo paratur fames here is expressed the extreamiâ—…y of necessitous extortions figured in the aunciente fable of the full and the hungry horse-leech Fons turbatus pede vena corrupta est iustus cadens coram impio here is noted that one iudiciall and exemplar iniquity in the face of the world doth trouble the fountaines of Iustice more then many particuler Iniuries passed over by conniuence Qui subtrahit aliquid a patre a matre dicit hoc non esse peccatuÌ„ particeps est homicidij here is noted that whereas men in wronging theyr best frindes vse to extenuat their faulte as if they moughte presume or bee bolde vpon them it doth contrariwise indeede aggrauate their fault turneth it from Iâ—…iury to impiety Noli esse amicus homini iracundo nec ambulato cum homine furioso here caution is giuen that in the election of our friends wee doe principalliy avoide those which are impatiente as those that will espouse vs to many factions and quarels Qui conturbat domum suam possidebit ventum here is noted that in domesticall separations breaches men doe promise to themselues quietting of theire minde and contentemente but still they are deceived of theire expectation and it turneth to winde Pilius sapiens laetificat patrem filius vero stultus maestieia est matri sueae Here is
tender sence and ◅ast obligation of dutie which learning doth endue the minde withall howsoeuer fortune may taxe it and many in the depth of their corrupt principles may despise it yet it will receiue an open allowance and therefore needes the lesse di◅proofe or excusation Another fault incident commonly to learned men which may be more probably defended than truely denyed is that they fayle sometimes in ap◅lying themselus to particular persons which want of exact application ar◅eth from two causes The one because the largenesse of their minde can hardly confine it selfe to dwell in the exquisite obseruation or examination of the nature and customes of one person for it is a speech for a Louer not for a wise man Satis magnum alter alteri Theat◅um sumus◅ Neuerthelesse I shall yeeld that he that cannot contract the sight of his minde aswell as disperse and dilate it wanteth a great sacultie But there is a second cause which is no inabilitie but a rejection vpon choise and iudgement For the honest and iust bounds of obseruation by one person vpon another extend no further but to vnderstand him sufficiently whereby not to giue him offence or wherby to be able to giue him faithfull Counsel or wherby to stand vpon reasonable guard and caution in respect of a mans selfe But to be speculatiue into another man to the end to know how to worke him or winde him or gouerne him proceedeth from a heart that is double and clouen and not entire and ingenuous which as in friendship it is want of integritie so towards Princes or Superiors is want of dutie For the custome of the Leuant which is that subiects doe forbeare to gaze or fixe their eyes vpon Princes is in the outward Ceremonie barbarous but the morall is good For men ought not by cunning and bent obseruations to pierce and penetrate into the hearts of Kings which the scripture hath declared to be inscrutable There is yet another fault with which I will conclude this part which is often noted in learned men that they doe many times fayle to obserue decencie and discretion in their behauiour and carriage and commit errors in small and ordinarie points of action so as the vulgar sort of Capacities doe make a Iudgement of them in greater matters by that which they finde wanting in them in smaller But this consequence doth oft deceiue men for which I doe referre them ouer to that which was sayd by Themistocles arrogantly and vnciuily being applyed to himselfe out of his owne mouth but being applyed to the generall state of this question pertinently and iustly when being inuited to touch a Lute he sayd He could not fiddle but he could make a small Towne a great state So no doubt many may be well seene in the passages of gouernement and policie which are to seeke in little and punctuall occasions I referre them also to that which Plato sayd of his Maister Socrates whom he compared to the Gally-pots of Apothecaries which on the out side had Apes and Owles and Antiques but contained with in soueraigne and precious liquors and confections acknowledging that to an externall report he was not without superficiall leuities and deformities but was inwardly replenished with excellent vertues and powers And so much touching the point of manners of learned men But in the meane time I haue no purpose to giue allowance to some conditions and courses base and vnworthy wherein diuers Professors of learning haue wronged themselues and gone too farre such as were those Trencher Philosophers which in the later age of the Romane State were vsually in the houses of great persons being little better than solemne Parasites of which kinde Lucian maketh a merrie description of the Philosopher that the great Ladie tooke to ride with her in her Coach and would needs haue him carie her little Dogge which he doing officiously and yet vncomely the Page scoffed and sayd That he doubted the Philosopher of a Stoike would turne to be a Cynike But aboue all the rest the grosse and palpable flatterie whereunto many not vnlearned haue abbased abused their wits and pens turning as Du Bartas saith Hecuba into Helena and Faustina into Lucretia hath most diminished the price and estimation of Learning Neither is the morall dedications of Bookes and Writings as to Patrons to bee commended for that Bookes such as are worthy the name of Bookes ought to haue no Patrons but Truth and Reason And the ancient custome was to dedicate them only to priuate and equall friendes or to intitle the Bookes with their Names or if to Kings and great persons it was to some such as the argument of the Booke was fit and proper for but these and the like Courses may deserue rather reprehension than defence Not that I can taxe or condemne the morigeration or application of learned men to men in fortune For the answere was good that Diogenes made to one that asked him in mockerie How it came to passe that Philosophers were the followers of rich men and not rich men of Philosophers He answered soberly and yet sharpely Because the one sort knew what they had need of the other did not And of the like nature was the answere which Aristippus made when hauing a petition to Dionisius and no eare giuen to him he fell downe at his feete wheupon Dionisius stayed and gaue him the hearing and graunted it and afterward some person tender on the behalfe Philosophie reprooued Aristippus that he would offer the Profession of Philosophie such an indignitie as for a priuat Suit to fall at a Tyrants feet But he answered It was not his fault but it was the fault of Dionisius that had his eares in his feete Neither was it accounted weakenesse but discretion in him that would not dispute his best with Adrianus Caesar excusing himselfe That it was reason to yeeld to him that commaunded thirtie Legions These and the like applications and stooping to points of necessitie and conuenience cannot bee disallowed for though they may haue some outward basenesse yet in a Iudgement truely made they are to bee accounted submissions to the occasion and not to the person Now I proceede to those errours and vanities which haue interueyned amongst the studies themselues of the learned which is that which is principall and proper to the present argument wherein my purpose is not to make a iustification of the errors but by a censure and separation of the errors to make a iustificatiō of that which is good sound and to deliuer that from the aspersion of the other For we see that it is the manner of men to scandalize and depraue that which retaineth the state and vertue by taking aduantage vpon that which is corrupt and degenerate as the Heathens in the primitiue Church vsed to blemish and taynt the Christians with the faults and corruptions of Heretiques But neuerthelesse I haue no meaning at this time to make any exact animaduersion of
with any vaine or fayned matter and yet on thother saâ—…e hath cast all prodigious Narrations which he thought worthy the recording into one Booke excellently discerning that matter of manifest truth such wherevpon obseruation and rule was to bee built was not to bee mingled or weakened with matter of doubtfull credite and yet againe that rarities and reports that seeme vncredible are not to be suppressed or denyed to the memorie of men And as for the facilitie of credite which is yeelded to Arts opinions it is likewise of two kinds either when too much beleefe is attributed to the Arts themselues or to certaine Authors in any Art The Sciences themselues which haue had better intelligence and confederacie with the imagination of man than with his reason are three in number Astrologie Naturall Magicke and Alcumy of which Sciences neuerthelesse the ends or pretences are noble For Astrologie pretendeth to discouer that correspondence or concatenation which is betweene the superiour Globe and the inferiour Naturall Magicke pretendeth to cal reduce natural Philosophie from variety of speculations to the magnitude of works And Alcumy pretendeth to make separation of all the vnlike parts of bodies which in mixtures of nature are incorporate But the deriuations and prosecutions to these ends both in the theories and in the practises are full of Errour and vanitie which the great Professors themselues haue sought to vaile ouer and conceale by euigmaticall writings and referring themselues to auricular traditions and such other deuises to saue the credite of Impostures and yet surely to Alcumy this right is due that it may be compared to the Husband man whereof Aesope makes the Fable that when he died told his Sonnes that he had left vnto them gold buried vnder ground in his Vineyard and they digged ouer all the ground and gold they found none but by reason of their stirring and digging the mold about the rootes of their Vines they had a great Vintage the yeare following so assuredly the search and stirre to make gold hath brought to light a great number of good and fruitfull inuentions and experiments as well for the disclosing of Nature as for the vse of mans life And as for the ouermuch credite that hath beene giuen vnto Authors in Sciences in making them Dictators that their wordes should stand and not Counsels to giue aduise the dammage is infinite that Sciences haue receiued thereby as the principall cause that hath kept them lowe at a stay without groweth or aduancement For hence it hath comen that in arts Mechanicall the first deuiser coms shortest and time addeth and perfecteth but in Sciences the first Author goeth furthest and time leeseth and corrupteth So we see Artillerie sayling printing and the like were grossely managed at the first and by time accommodated and refined but contrary wise the Philosophies and Sciences of Aristotle Plato Democritus Hypocrates Euclidâ—…s Archimedes of most vigor at the first and by time degenerate and imbased whereof the reason is no other but that in the former many wits and industries haue 〈◊〉 contributed in one and in the later many wits and industries haue ben spent about the wit of some one whom many times they haue rather depraued than illustrated For as water will not ascend higher than the leuell of the first spring head from whence it descendeth so knowledge deriued from Aristotle and exempted from libertie of examination will not rise againe higher than the knowledge of Aristotle And therfore although the position be good Oportet discentem credere yet it must bee coupled with this Oportet edoctum iudicare for Disciples doe owe vnto Maisters onely a temporarie beleefe and a suspension of their owne iudgement till they be fully instructed and not an absolute resignation or perpetuall captiuitie and therefore to conclude this point I will say no more but so let great Authors haue theire due as time which is the Author of Authors be not depriued of his due which is furder and furder to discouer truth Thus haue I gone ouer these three diseasses of learning besides the which there are some other rather peccant humors then fourmed diseases which neuertheles are not so secret and intrinsike but that they fall vnder a popular obseruation and traducement and therefore are not to be passed ouer The first of these is the extreame affecting of two extreamities The one Antiquity The other Nouelty wherein it seemeth the children of time doe take after the nature and mallice of the father For as he deuowreth his children so one of them seeketh to deuoure and suppresse the other while Antiquity enuieth there should be new additions and Nouelty cannot be content to add but it must deface Surely the aduise of the Prophet is the true direction in this matter State super vias antiquas videte quaenam sit via recta bona ambulate in ea Antiquity deserueth that reuereÌ„ce that men should make a stand thereupon and discouer what is the best way but when the discouery is well taken then to make progression And to speake truly Antiquita seculi Iuuentus Mundi These times are the ancient times when the world is ancient not those which we count antient Ordine retrogrado by a computacion backward from our selues Another Error induced by the former is a distrust that any thing should bee now to bee found out which the world should haue missed and passed ouer so long time as if the same obiection were to be made to time that Lucian maketh to Iupiter and other the heathen Gods of which he woondreth that they begot so many Children in old time and begot none in his time and asketh whether they were become septuagenarie or whether the lawe Pappia made against old mens mariages had restrayned them So it seemeth men doubt least time is become past children and generation wherein contrary wise we see commonly the leuitie and vnconstancie of mens iudgements which till a matter bee done wonder that it can be done and assoone as it is done woonder againe that it was no sooner done as we see in the expedition of Alexander into Asia which at first was preiudged as a vast and impossible enterprize and yet afterwards it pleaseth Liuye to make no more of it than this Nil aliud quam bene ausus vana contemnere And the same happened to Columbus in the westerne Nauigation But in intellectuall matters it is much more common as may be seen in most of the propositions of Euclyde which till they bee demonstrate they seeme strange to our assent but being demonstrate our mind accepteth of them by a kind of relation as the Lawyers speak as if we had knowne them before Another Errour that hath also some affinitie with the former is a conceit that of former opinions or sects after varietie and examination the best hath still preuailed and suppressed the rest So as if a man should beginne the labour of a newe search hee were but like
her selfe these things I say considered as I could not haue chosen an instance so recent and so proper so I suppose I could not haue chosen one more remarqueable or eminent to the purpose nowe in hand which is concerning the coniunction of learning in the Prince with felicitie in the people Neither hath Learning an influence and operation onely vpon ciuile merit and morall vertue and the Arts or temperature of peace and peaceable gouernement but likewise it hath no lesse power and efficacie in inablement towards martiall and militarie vertue and prowesse as may be notably represented in the examples of Alexander the Great and Caesar the Dictator mentioned before but now in fit place to bee resumed of whose vertues and Acts in warre there needes no note or recitall hauing beene the wonders of time in that kind But of their affections towardes learning and perfections in learning it is pertinent to say somewhat Alexander was bred and taught vnder Aristotle the great Philosopher who dedicated diuers of his Bookes of Philosophie vnto him he was attended with Callisthenes and diuers other learned persons that followed him in Campe throughout his Iourneyes and Conquests what price and estimation hee had learning in doth notably appeare in these three particulars First in the enuie he vsed to expresse that he bare towards Achilles in this that he had so good a Trumpet of his prayses as Homers verses Secondly in the iudgement or solution he gaue touching that precious Cabinet of Darius which was found among his Iewels whereof question was made what thing was worthy to be put into it and he gaue his opinion for Homers workes Thirdly in his letter to Aristotle after hee had set sorth his Bookes of Nature wherein he expostulateth with him for publishing the secrets or misteries of Philosophie and gaue him to vnderstand that himselfe esteemed it more to excell other men in learning knowledge than in power and Empire And what vse he had of learning doth appeare or tather shine in all his speeches and answeres being full of science and vse of science and that in all varietie And herein againe it may seeme a thing scholasticall and somewhat idle to recite things that euery man knoweth but yet since the argument I handle leadeth mee thereunto I am glad that men shall perceiue I am as willing to flatter if they will so call it an Alexander or a Caesar or an Antoninus that are dead many hundreth yeeres since as any that now liueth for it is the displaying of the glorie of Learning in Soueraigntie that I propound to my selfe and not an humour of declayming in any mans praises Obserue then the speech hee vsed of Diogenes and see if it tend not to the true state of one of the greatest questions of morall Philosophie whether the enioying of outward thinges or the contemning of them be the greatest happinesse for when he saw Diogenes so perfectly contented with so little he sayd to those that mocked at his condition Were I not Alexander I would wish to be Diogenes But Seneca inuerteth it and sayth Plus erat quod hic nollet accipere quam quod ille posset dare There were more things which Diogenes would haue refused thā those were which Alexander could haue giuen or enioyed Obserue again that speech which was vsuall with him That hee felt his mortality chiefely in two thinges Sleepe Lust see if it were not a speech extracted out of the depth of naturall Philosophie and liker to haue comen out of the mouth of Aristotle or Democritus than from Alexander See againe that speech of Humanitie and poesie when vppon the bleeding of his wounds he called vnto him one of his flatterers that was wont to ascribe to him diuine honor and said Looke this is very blood this is not such a liquor as Homer speaketh of which ran from Venus hand when it was pierced by Diomedes See likewise his readinesse in reprehension of Logique in the speech hee vsed to Cassander vppon a complaint that was made against his Father Antipater for when Alexander happed to say Doe you thinke these men would haue come from so farre to complaine except they had iust cause of griefe and Cassander answered Yea that was the matter because they thought they should not be disprooued sayd Alexander laughing See the subtil◅ies of Aristotle to take a matter both wayes Pro Contra c. But note againe how well he could vse the same Art which hee reprehended to serue his owne humor when bearing a secret grudge to Callisthenes because he was against the new ceremonie of his adoration feasting one night where the same Callisthenes was at the table it was mooued by some after supper for entertainement sake that Callisthenes who was an eloquent man might speake of some theame or purpose at his owne choise which Callisthenes did chusing the praise of the Macedonian Nation for his discourse performing the same with so good maner as the hearers were much rauished whereupon Alexander nothing pleased sayd It was easie to be eloquent vpon so good a subiect But saith hee Turne your stile and let vs heare what you can say against vs which Callisthenes presently vndertooke and did with that stinge life that Alexander interrupted him sayd The goodnesse of the cause made him eloquent before and dispig◅t made him cloquent then againe Consider further for tropes of Rhetorique that excellent vse of a Metaphor or translation wherewith he taxed Antipater who was an imperious and tyrannous Gouernor for when one of Antipaters friends commended him to Alexander for his moderation that he did not degenerate as his other Lieftenants did into the Persian pride in vse of purple but kept the anciēt habit of Macedon of black True saith Alexander but Antipater is all purple within Or that other when Parmenio came to him in the plaine of Arbella and shewed him the innumerable multitude of his enemies specially as they appeared by the infinite number of lights as it had beene a new firmament of starres and thereupon aduised him to assayle them by night whereupon he answered That he would not steale the Victorie For matter of policie weigh that significant distinction so much in al ages embraced that he made between his two friends Ephestion and Craterus whē he sayd That the one loued Alexander and the other loued the King describing the principall difference of Princes best seruants that some in affection loue their person and other in dutie loue their crowne Weigh also that excellent taxation of an Errour ordinarie with Counsellors of Princes that they counsell their Maisters according to the modell of their owne mind and fortune and not of their Masters when vpon Darius great offers Parmenio had said Surely I would accept these offers were I as Alexander sayth Alexander So would I were I as Parmenio Lastly weigh that quicke and acute reply which he made when he gaue so large gifts to his
owne times yet so as the impression of her good gouernement besides her happie memorie is not without some effect which doth suruiue her But to your Maiestie whom God hath alreadie blessed with so much Royall issue worthie to continue and represent you for euer and whose youthfull and fruitfull bedde doth yet promise manie the like renouations It is proper and agreeable to be conuersant not only in the transitory parts of good gouernment but in those acts also which are in their nature permanent perpetuall Amongst the which if affection do not transport mee there is not any more worthie then the further endowement of the world with sound and fruitfull knowledge For why should a fewe receiued Authors stand vp like Hercules Columnes beyond which there should be no sayling or discouering since wee haue so bright and benigne a starre as your Ma to conduct and prosper vs To returne therefore where wee left it remaineth to consider of what kind those Acts are which haue bene vndertaken performed by Kings and others for the increase and aduancement of learning wherein I purpose to speake actiuely without digressing or dylating Let this ground therfore be layd that all workes are ouercōmen by amplitude of reward by soundnesse of direction and by the coniunction of labors The first multiplyeth endeuour the second preuenteth error and the third supplieth the frailty of man But the principal of these is direction For Claudus in via antevertit cursorem extra viam And Salomon excellently setteth it downe If the Iron be not sharpe it requireth more strength But wisedome is that which preuaileth signifying that the Inuention or election of the Meane is more effectuall then anie inforcement or accumulation of endeuours This I am induced to speake for that not derogating from the noble intention of any that haue beene deseruers towards the State of learning I do obserue neuerthelesse that their workes and Acts are rather matters of Magnificence and Memorie then of progression and proficience and tende rather to augment the masse of Learning in the multitude of learned men then to rectifie or raise the Sciences themselues The Works or Acts of merit towards learning are conversant about three obiects the Places of learning the Bookes of learning and the Persons of the learned For as water whether it be the dewe of heauen or the springs of the earth doth scatter and leese it selfe in the ground except it be collected into some Receptacle where it may by vnion comfort and sustaine it selfe And for that cause the Industry of Man hath made framed Spring heads Conduits Cesternes and Pooles which men haue accustomed likewise to beautifie and adorne with accomplishments of Magnificence and State as wel as of vse and necessitie So this excellent liquor of knowledge whether it descend from diuine inspiration or spring from humane sense would soone perishe and vanishe to oblyuion if it were not preserued in Bookes Traditions Conferences and Places appoynted as Vniuersities Colledges and Schooles for the receipt comforting of the same The works which concerne the Seates and Places of learning are foure Foundations and Buyldings Endowments with Reuenewes Endowmēts with Franchizes and Priuiledges Institutions and Ordinances for gouernment all tending to quietnesse and priuatenesse of life and discharge of cares and troubles much like the Stations which Virgil prescribeth for the hyuing of Bees Principio sedes Apibus statioque petenda Quo neque sit ventis aditus c. The workes touching Bookes are two First Libraries which are as the Shrynes where all the Reliques of the ancient Saints full of true vertue and that without delusion or imposture are preserued and reposed Secondly Newe Editions of Authors with more correct impressions more faithfull translations more profitable glosses more diligent annotations and the like The workes pertaining to the persons of learned men besides the aduancement and countenancing of them in generall are two The reward and designation of Readers in Sciences already extant and inuented and the reward and designation of Writers and Enquirers concerning any partes of Learning not sufficiently laboured and prosecuted These are summarilie the workes and actes wherein the merites of manie excellent Princes and other worthie Personages haue beene conuersant As for any particular commemorations I call to minde what Cicero saide when hee gaue generall thanks Di◅ffcile non aliquem ingratum quenquam praeterire Let vs rather according to the Scriptures looke vnto that parte of the Race which is before vs then looke backe to that which is alreadie attained First therfore amongst so many great Foundations of Colledges in Europe I finde strange that they are all dedicated to Professions and none left free to Artes and Sciences at large For if men iudge that learning should bee referred to action they iudge well but in this they fall into the Error described in the ancient Fable in which the other parts of the body did suppose the stomache had beene ydle because it neyther performed the office of Motion as the lymmes doe nor of Sence as the head doth But yet notwithstanding it is the Stomache that digesteth and distributeth to all the rest So if any man thinke Philosophie and Vniuersalitie to be idle Studies hee doth not consider that all Professions are from thence serued and supplyed And this I take to bee a great cause that hath hindered the progression of learning because these Fundamental knowledges haue bene studied but in passage For if you will haue a tree beare more fruite then it hath vsed to do it is not any thing you can do to the boughes but it is the styrring of the earth and putting newe moulde about the rootes that must worke it Neyther is it to bee forgotten that this dedicating of Foundations and Dotations to professory Learning hath not onely had a Maligne aspect and influence vpon the growth of Scyences but hath also beene preiudiciall to States and gouernments For hence it proceedeth that Princes find a solitude in regard of able men to serue them in causes of estate because there is no education collegiate which is free wher such as were so disposed mought giue themselues to Histories moderne languages bookes of pollicie and ciuile discourse and other the like inablements vnto seruice of estate And because founders of Colledges doe plant and founders of Lectures doe water it followeth wel in order to speake of the defect which is in Publique Lectures Namely in the smalnesse and meanesse of the salary or reward which in most places is assigned vnto them whether they be Lectures of Arts or of Professions For it is necessary to the progression of Scyences that Readers be of the most able and sufficient men as those which are ordained for generating and propagating of Scyences and not for transitorie vse This cannot be except their condition endowmēt be such as may cōtent the ablest man to appropriate his whole labour and continue his whole age in that
vppon common and familiar examples The other because from the Wonders of Nature is the neerest Intelligence and passage towardes the Wonders of Arte For it is no more but by following and as it were hounding Nature in her wandrings to bee able to leade her afterwardes to the same place againe Neyther am I of opinion in this HISTORY of MARVAILES that superstitious Narrations of Sorceries Witchecraftes Dreames Diuinations and the like where there is an assurance and cleere euidence of the fact be altogether excluded For it is not yet knowne in what cases and how farre effectes attributed to superstition do participate of Naturall causes and therefore how-soeuer the practise of such things is to bee condemned yet from the Speculation and sideration of them light may be taken not onely for the discerning of the offences but for the further disclosing of Nature Neither ought a Man to make scruple of entring into these things for inquisition of truth as your Maiestie hath shewed in your owne example who with the two cleere eyes of Religion and naturall Philosophy haue looked deepely and wisely into these shadowes and yet proued your selfe to be of the Nature of the Sunne which passeth through pollutions and it selfe remaines as pure as before But this I hold fit that these Narrations which haue mixture with superstition be sorted by themselues and not to be mingled with the Narrations which are meerely and sincerely naturall But as for the Narrations touching the Prodigies and Miracles of Religions they are either not true or not Naturall and therefore impertinent for the Storie of Nature For HISTORY of NATVRE WROVGHT or MECHANICALL I finde some Collections Made of Agriculture and likewise of Manuall Arts but commonly with a reiection of experiments familiar and vulgar For it is esteemed a kinde of dishonour vnto Learning to descend to enquirie or Meditation vppon Matters Mechanicall except they bee such as may bee thought secrets rarities and speciall subtilties which humour of vaine and supercilious Arrogancie is iustly derided in Plato where hee brings in Hippias a vanting Sophist disputing with Socrates a true and vnfained inquisitor of truth where the subiect beeing touching beautie Socrates after his wandring manner of Inductions put first an example of a faire Virgine and then of a faire Horse and then of a faire pot well glazed whereat Hippias was offended and said More then for curtesies sake hee did thinke much to dispute with any that did alledge such base and Sordide instances whereunto Socrates answereth you haue reason and it becomes you well beeing a man so trimme in your vesâ—…ments c. and so goeth on in an Ironie But the truth is they bee not the highest instances that giue the securest information as may bee well expressed in the tale so common of the Philosopher that while he gazed vpwardes to the Starres fell into the water for if hee had looked downe hee might haue seene the Starres in the water but looking aloft hee coulde not see the water in the Starres So it commeth often to passe that meane and small things discouer great better then great can discouer the small and therefore Aristotle noteth well that the nature of euery thing is best seene in his smallest portions and for that cause hee enquireth the nature of a Common-wealth first in a Family and the Simple ConiugatioÌ„s of Man and Wife Parent and Child Maister and Seruant which are in euery Cottage Euen so likewise the nature of this great Citie of the world and the policie thereof must bee first sought in meane concordances and small portions So we see how that secret of Nature of the turning of Iron touched with the Loadestone towardes the North was found out in needels of Iron not in barres of Iron But if my iudgement bee of any waight the vse of HISTORIEMECHANICAL is of all others the most radicall and fundamentall towardes Naturall Philosophie such Naturall Philosophie as shall not vanish in the fume of subtile sublime or delectable speculation but such as shall bee operatiue to the endowment and benefit of Mans life for it will not onely minister and suggest for the present Many ingenious practizes in all trades by a connexion and transferring of the obseruations of one Arte to the vse of another when the experiences of seuerall misteries shall fall vnder the consideration of one mans minde But surder it will giue a more true and reall illumination concerning Causes and Axiomes then is hetherto attained For like as a Mans disposition is neuer well knowen till hee be crossed nor Proteus euer chaunged shapes till hee was straightened and held fast so the passages and variations of Nature cannot appeare so fully in the libertie of Nature as in the trialls and vexations of Art FOr CIVILE HISTORY it is of three kinds not vnfitly to be compared with the three kinds of Pictures or Images for of Pictures or Images wee see some are Vnfinished some are parfite and some are defaced So of Histories wee may finde three kindes MEMORIALLS PARFITE HISTORIES and ANTIQVITIES for MEMORIALLS are Historie vnfinished or the first or rough draughts of Historie and ANTIQVITIES are Historie defaced or some remnants of History which haue casually escaped the shipwrack of time MEMORIALLS or PREPARATORY HISTORY are of two sorts wherof the on may be tearmed COMMENTARIES the other REGISTERS COMMENTARIES are they which set downe a continuance of the naked eueÌ„ts actioÌ„s without the motiues or designes the counsells the speeches the pretexts the occasions and other passages of action for this is the true nature of a commentarie though Caesar in modestie mixt with greatnesse did for his pleasure apply the name of a commentarie to the best Historie of the world REGISTERS are collectioÌ„s of Publique Acts as Decrees of counsell Iudiciall proceedings Declarations and Letters of estate Orations and the like without a perfect continuance or contexture of the threed of the Narration ANTIQVITIES or Remnants of History are as was saide tanquam Tabula Naufragij when industrious persons by an exact and scrupulous diligence and obseruation out of MonumeÌ„ts Names Wordes Prouerbes Traditions Priuate Recordes and Euidences Fragments of stories Passages of Bookes that concerne not storie and the like doe saue and recouer somewhat from the deluge of time In these kindes of vnperfect Histories I doe assigne no deficience for they are tanquam imperfectè Mista and therefore any deficience in them is but their nature As for the CorruptioÌ„s and Mothes of Historie which are Epitomes the vse of them deserueth to be banisht as all men of sound Iudgement haue confessed as those that haue fretted and corroded the sound bodies of many excellent Histories and wrought them into base and vnprofitable dregges HISTORY which may be called IVST and PARFITE Historie is of three kinds according to the obiect which it propoundeth or pretendeth to represent for it either represeÌ„teth a TIME or a PERSON or an ACTION The first we call CHRONICLES
because reason cannot bee so sensible nor examples so fit But there remaineth yet another vse of POESY PARABOLICAL opposite to that which we last mentioned for that tendeth to demonstrate and illustrate that which is taught or deliuered and this other to retire and obscure it That is when the Secrets and Misteries of Religion Pollicy or Philosophy are inuolued in Fables or Parables Of this in diuine Poesie wee see the vse is authorised In Heathen Poesie wee see the exposition of Fables doth fall out sometimes with great felicitie as in the Fable that the Gyants beeing ouerthrowne in their warre against the Gods the Earth their mother in reuenge thereof brought forth Fame Illam terra Parens ira irritata Deorū Progenuit Extremam vt perhibent Coeo Enceladoque Sororem expounded that when Princes Monarchies haue suppressed actuall and open Rebels then the malignitic of people which is the mother of Rebellion doth bring forth Libels slanders and taxatiōs of the states which is of the same kind with Rebellion but more Feminine So in the Fable that the rest of the Gods hauing conspired to binde Iupiter Pallas called Briareus with his hundreth hands to his aide expounded that Monarchies neede not feare any courbing of their absolutenesse by Mightie Subiects as long as by wisedome they keepe the hearts of the people who will be sure to come in on their side So in the fable that Achilles was brought vp vnder Chyron the Centaure who was part a man part a beast expounded Ingenuously but corruptly by Machiauell that it belongeth to the education and discipline of Princes to knowe as well how to play the part of the Lyon in violence and the Foxe in guile as of the man in vertue and Iustice. Neuerthelesse in many the like incounters I doe rather think that the fable was first and the exposition deuised then that the Morall was first thereupon the fable framed For I finde it was an auncient vanitie in Chrisippus that troubled himselfe with great contention to fasten the assertions of the Stoicks vpon fictions of the ancient Poets But yet that all the Fables and fictions of the Poets were but pleasure and not figure I interpose no opinion Surely of those Poets which are now extant euen Homer himselfe notwithstanding he was made a kinde of Scripture by the later Schooles of the Grecians yet I should without any difficultie pronounce that his Fables had no such inwardnesse in his owne meaning But what they might haue vpon a more originall tradition is not easie to affirme for he was not the inuentor of many of them In this third part of Learning which is Poesie I can report no deficience For being as a plant that commeth of the lust of the earth without a formall seede it hath sprung vp and spread abroad more then any other kinde But to ascribe vnto it that which is due for the expressing of affections passions corruptions and customes we are beholding to Poets more thē to the Philosophers workes and for wit and eloquence not much lesse then to Orators harangues But it is not good to stay too long in the Theater let vs now passe on to the iudicial Place or Pallace of the Mind which we are to approach and view with more reuerence and attention The knowledge of Man is as the waters some descending from aboue and some springing from beneath the one informed by the light of Nature the other inspired by diuine reuelation The light of Nature consisteth in the Notions of the minde and the Reports of the Sences for as for knowledge which Man receiueth by teaching it is Cumulatiue and not Originall as in a water that besides his own spring-heade is fedde with other Springs and Streames So then according to these two differing Illuminations or Originals Knowledge is first of al deuided into DIVINITIE and PHILOSOPHIE In PHILOSOPHY the contemplations of Man doe either penetrate vnto God or are circumferred to Nature or are reflected or reuerted vpon himselfe Out of which seuerall inquiries there doe arise three knowledges DIVINE PHILOSOPHY NATVRAL PHILOSOPHY and HVMANE PHILOSOPHY or HVMANITIE For all things are marked and stamped with this triple Character of the power of God the difference of Nature and the vse of Man But because the distributions and partitions of knowledge are not like seuerall lines that meete in one Angle and so touch but in a point but are like branches of a tree that meete in a stēme which hath a dimension and quantitie of entyrenes and continuance before it come to discontinue break it self into Armes and boughes therfore it is good before wee enter into the former distribution to erect constitute one vniuersal Science by the name of PHILOSOPHIA PRIMA PRIMITIVE or SVMMARIEPHILOSOPHIE as the Maine and common way before we come where the waies part and deuide themselues which Sciēce whether I should report as deficient or noe I stand doubtfull For I finde a certaine Rapsodie of Naturall Theologie and of diuers parts of Logicke And of that part of Naturall Philosophie which concerneth the Principles and of that other part of Naturall Philosophy which concerneth the Soule or Spirit all these strangely commixed and confused but being examined it seemeth to mee rather a depredation of other Sciences aduanced and exalted vnto some height of tearmes then any thing solide or substantiue of it selfe Neuerthelesse I cannot bee ignorant of the distinction which is currant that the same things are handled but in seuerall respects as for example that Logicke considereth of many things as they are in Notion this Philosophy as they are in Nature the one in Apparance the other in Existence But I finde this difference better made then pursued For if they had considered Quantitie Similitude Diuersitie and the rest of those Externe Characters of things as Philosophers and in Nature their inquiries must of force haue beene of a farre other kinde then they are For doth anie of them in handeling Quantitie speake of the force of vnion how and how farre it multiplieth vertue Doth any giue the reason why some things in Nature are so common and in so great Masse and others so rare and in so small quantitie Doth anie in handling Similitude and Diuersitie assigne the cause why Iron should not mooue to Iron which is more like but mooue to the Loadestone which is lesse like why in all Diuersities of things there should bee certaine Participles in Nature which are almost ambiguous to which kinde they should bee referred But there is a meere and deepe silence touching the Nature and operation of those Common adiuncts of things as in Nature and onely a resuming and repeating of the force and vse of them in speeche or argument Therefore because in a Wryting of this Nature I auoyde all subtilitie my meaning touching this Originall or vniuersall Philosophie is thus in a plaine and grosse description by Negatiue That it bee a Receptacle for all such
waies of sapience are not much lyable either to particularitie or chance The 2. part of METAPHISICKE is the ENQIRY of FINAL CAVSES which I am moued to report not as omitted but as misplaced And yet if it were but a fault in order I would not speake of it For order is matter of illustration but pertaineth not to the substance of Sciences But this misplacing hath caused a deficience or at least a great improficience in the Sciences themselues For the handling of finall causes mixed with the rest in Phisicall enquiries hath intercepted the seuere and diligent enquirie of all reall and phisicall causes and giuen men the occasion to stay vpon these satisfactorie and specious causes to the great arrest and preiudice of furder discouerie For this I finde done not onely by Plato who euer ancreth vppon that shoare but by Aristotle Galen and others which doe vsually likewise fall vppon these flatts of discoursing causes For to say that the haires of the Eye-liddes are for a quic-sette and fence about the Sight Or That the firmenesse of the Skinnes and Hides of liuing creatures is to defend them from the extremities of heate or cold Or That the bones are for the columnes or beames whereupon the Frame of the bodies of liuing creatures are built Or That the leaues of trees are for protecting of the Fruite Or That the cloudes are for watering of the Eearth Or That the solidnesse of the Earth is for the station and Mansion of liuing creatures and the like is well inquired collected in METAPHISICKE but in PHISICKE they are impertinent Nay they are indeed but Remoraes and binderances to stay and slugge the Shippe from furder sayling and haue brought this to passe that the search of the Phisicall Causes hath beene neglected and passed in silence And therefore the Natural Philosophie of Democritus and some others who did not suppose a Minde or Reason in the frame of things but attributed the form thereof able to maintaine it self to infinite essaies or proofes of Nature which they tearme fortune seemeth to mee as farre as I can iudge by the recitall and fragments which remaine vnto vs in particularities of Phisicall causes more reall and better enquired then that of Aristotle and Plato whereof both intermingled final causes the one as a part of Thelogie and the other as a part of Logicke which were the fauourite studies respectiuely of both those persons Not because those finall causes are not true and worthy to bee inquired beeing kept within their owne prouince but because their excursions into the limits of Phisicall causes hath bred a vastnesse and solitude in that tract For otherwise keeping their precincts and borders men are extreamely deceiued if they thinke there is an Enmitie or repugnancie at all betweene them For the cause rendred that the haires about the Eye liddes are for the safegard of the sight doth not impugne the cause rendred that Pilositie is incident to Orisices of Moisture Muscosi fontes c. Nor the cause rendred that the firmenesse of hides is for the armour of the body against extremities of heate or cold doth not impugne the cause rendred that contraction of pores is incident to the outwardest parts in regard of their adiacence to forreine or vnlike bodies and so of the rest both causes beeing true and compatible the one declaring an intention the other a consequence onely Neither doth this call in question or derogate from diuin◅ Prouidence but highly confirme and exalt it Fo◅s in ciuill actions he is the greater and deeper pollitique that can make other men the Instruments of his will and endes and yet neuer acquaint them with his purpose So as they shall doe it and yet not knowe what they doe then hee that imparteth his meaning to those he employeth So is the wisdome of God more admirable when Nature intendeth one thing and Prouidēce draweth forth another then if hee had communicated to particular Creatures and Motions the Characters and Impressions of his Prouidence And thus much for METAPHISICKE the later part wherof I allow as extant but wish it confined to his proper place Neuerthelesse there remaineth yet another part of NATVRALL PHILOSOPHIE which is commonly made a principall part and holdeth ranke with PHISICKE speciall and METAPHISICKE which is Mathematicke but I think it more agreable to the Nature of things and to the light of order to place it as a Branch of Metaphisicke For the subiect of it being Quantitie not Quantitie Indefinite which is but a Relatiue and belongeth to Philosophia Prima as hath beene said but Quantitie determined or proportionable it appeareth to bee one of the essentiall formes of things as that that is causatiue in Nature of a number of Effects insomuch as wee see◅ the Schooles both of Democritus and of Pithagoras that the one did ascribe Figure to the first seedes of things and the other did suppose numbers to bee the principalles and originalls of things And it is true also that of all other formes as wee vnderstand formes it is the most abstracted and separable from matter and therefore most proper to Metaphisicke which hath likewise beene the cause why it hath beene better laboured and enquired then any of the other formes which are more immersed into Matter For it beeing the Nature of the Minde of Man to the extreame preiudice of knowledge to delight in the spacious libertie of generalities as in a champion Region and not in the inclosures of particularitie the MATHEMATICKS of all other knowledge were the goodliest fieldes to satisfie that appetite But for the placing of this Science it is not much Materiall onely we haue endeuoured in these our Partitions to obserue a kind of perspectiue that one part may cast light vpon another The MATHEMATICKS are either PVRE or MIXT To the PVRE MATHEMATICKS are those Sciēces belonging which handle Quantitie determinate meerely seuered from any Axiomes of NATVRALL PHLOSOPHY and these are two GEOMETRY and ARITHMETICKE The one handling Quantitie continued and the other disseuered MIXT hath for subiect some Axiomes or parts of Naturall Philosopie and considereth Quantitie determined as it is auxiliarie and incident vnto them For many parts of Nature can neither be inuented with sufficient subtiltie nor demonstrated with sufficient perspicuitie nor accommodated vnto vse with sufficient dexteritie without the aide and interueyning of the Mathematicks of which sorte are Perspectiue Musicke Astronomie Cosmographie Architecture Inginarie and diuers others In the Mathematicks I can report noe deficience except it be that men doe not sufficiently vnderstand the excellent vse of the pure Mathematicks in that they doe remedie and cure many defects in the Wit and Faculties Intellectuall For if the wit bee to dull they sharpen it if to wandring they fix it if to inherent in the sense they abstract it So that as Tennis is a game of noe vse in it selfe but of great vse in respect it maketh a quicke Eye and a bodie readie to put it selfe
first digestion And therefore it was not without cause that so many excellent Philosophers became Sceptiques and Academiques and denyed any certaintie of Knowledge or Comprehension and held opinion that the knowledge of man extended onely to Appearances and Probabilities It is true that in Socrates it was supposed to be but a fourme of Irony Scientiam dissimulando simulauit For hee vsed to disable his knowledge to the end to inhanse his Knowledge like the Humor of ◅iberius in his beginnings that would Raigne but would not acknowledge so much And in the later Academy which Cicero embraced this opinion also of Acatalepsia I doubt was not held sincerely for that all those which excelled in Copie of speech seeme to haue chosen that Sect as that which was fittest to giue glorie to their eloquence and variable discourses being rather like Progresses of pleasure than Iourneyes to an end But assuredly many scattered in both Academyes did hold it in subtiltie and integritie But heere was their cheefe ◅rrour They charged the deceite vppon the THE SENCES which in my Iudgement notwithstanding all their Cauillations are verie sufficient to certifie and report truth though not alwayes immediately yet by comparison by helpe of instrument and by producing and vrging such things as are too subtile for the sence to some effect comprehensible by the sence and other like assistāce But they ought to haue charged the deceit vpon the weaknes of the intellectual powers vpon the maner of collecting concluding vpon the reports of the sences This I speake not to disable the minde of man but to stirre it vp to seeke helpe for no man be he neuer so cunning or practised can make a straight line or perfect circle by steadinesse of hand which may bee easily done by helpe of a Ruler or Compasse This part of Inuention concerning the Inuention of Sciences I purpose if God giue mee leaue hereafter to propound hauing digested it into two partes whereof the one I tearme Experientia literata and the other Interpretatio Naturae The former being but a degree and rudiment of the later But I will not dwell too long nor speake too great vpon a promise The Inuention of speech or argument is not properly an Inuention for to Inuent is to discouer that we know not not to recouer or resūmon that which wee alreadie knowe and the vse of this Inuention is no other But out of the Knowledge whereof our minde is alreadie possest to drawe foorth or call before vs that which may bee pertinent to the purpose which wee take into our consideration So as to speake truely it is no Inuention but a Remembrance or Suggestion with a Application Which is the cause why the Schooles doe place it after Iudgement as subsequent and not precedent Neuerthelesse because wee doe account it a Chase aswell of Deere in an inclosed Parke as in a Forrest at large and that it hath alreadie obtayned the the name Let it bee called Inuention so as it be perceyued and discerned that the Scope and end of this Inuention is readynesse and present vse of our knowledge and not addition or amplification thereof To procure this readie vse of Knowledge there are two Courses PREPARATION and SVGGESTION The former of these seemeth scarcely a part of Knowledge consisting rather of Diligence than of any artificiall erudition And heerein Aristotle wittily but hurtfully doth deride the Sophists neere his time saying They did as if one that professed the Art of Shooe-making should not teach howe to make vp a Shooe but onely exhibite in a readin◅sse a number of Shooes of all fashions and Sizes But yet a man might reply that if a Shooe-maker should haue no Shooes in his Shoppe but onely worke as hee is bespoken hee should bee weakely customed But our Sauiour speaking of Diuine Knowledge sayth That the Kingdome of Heauen is like a good Ho◅sholder that bringeth foo◅th both n◅we and ould store And wee see the ancient Writers of Rhetoricke doe giue it in precept That Pleaders should haue the Places whereof they haue most continuall vse readie handled in all the varietie that may bee as that To speake for the literall Interpretation of the Lawe against Equitie and Contrarie and to speake for Presumptions and Inferences against Testimonie and Contrarie And Cicero himselfe being broken vnto it by great experience deliuereth it plainely That whatsoeuer a man shall haue occasion to speake of if hee will take the paines he may haue it in effect premeditate and handled in these So that when hee commeth to a particular he shall haue nothing to doe but to put too Names and times and places and such other Circumstances of Indiuiduals We see likewise the exact diligence of Demosthenes who in regard of the great force that the entrance and accesse into causes hath to make a good impression had readie framed a number of Prefaces for Orations and Speeches All which Authorities and Presidents may ouer way Aristotles opinion that would haue vs chaunge a rich Wardrobe for a paire of Sheares But the Nature of the Collection of this Prouision or Preparatorie store though it be common both to Logicke and Rhetoricke yet hauing made an entrye of it heere where it came first to be spoken of I thinke fitte to referre ouer the further handling of it to Rhetoricke The other part of INVENTION which I terme SVGGESTION doth assigne and direct vs to certaine Markes or Places which may excite our Minde to returne and produce such Knowledge as it hath formerly collected to the end wee may make vse thereof Neither is this vse truely taken onely to furnish argument to dispute probably with others But likewise to Minister vnto our Iudgement to conclude aright within our selues Neither may these places serue onely to apprompt our Inuention but also to direct our enquirie For a facultie of wise interrogating is halfe a knowledge For as Plato saith Whosoeuer seeketh knoweth that which he seeketh for in a generall Notion Else how shall he know it when he hath found it And therfore the larger your Anticipation is the more direct and compendious is your search But the same Places which will help vs what to produce of that which we know alreadie will also helpe vs if a man of experience were before vs what questions to aske or if we haue Bookes and Authors to instruct vs what points to search and reuolue so as I cannot report that this part of Inuention which is that which the Schooles call Topiques is deficient Neuertheles Topiques are of 2. sorts general speciall The generall we haue spokē to but the particular hath ben touched by some but reiected generally as inartificial variable But leauing the humor which hath raigned too much in the Schooles which is to be vainly subtile in a few thinges which are within their command and to reiect the rest I doe receiue particular Topiques that is places or directions of Inuention and Inquirie
negatiue or Priuatiue So that a fewe times hitting or presence counteruayles oft times fayling or absence as was well answered by Diagoras to him that shewed him in Neptunes Temple the great number of pictures of such as had scaped Shippe-wracke and had paide their Vowes to Neptune saying Aduise nowe you that thinke it folly to inuocate Neptune in tempest Yea but sayth Diagoras where are they painted that are drowned Lette vs behould it in another instance namely That the spirite of man beeing of an equall and vnifourme substance doth vsually suppose and faine in Nature a greater equalitie and vniformitie than is in truth Hence it commeth that the Mathematitians cannot satisfie themselues except they reduce the Motions of the Celestiall bodyes to perfect Circles reiecting spirall lynes and laboring to be discharged of Eecentriques Hence it commeth that whereas there are many thinges in Nature as it were Monodica sui Iuris Yet the cogitations of Man doe fayne vnto them Relatiues Parallelles and Coniugates whereas no such thinge is as they haue fayned an Element of Fire to keepe square with Earth Water and Ayre and the like Nay it is not credible till it bee opened what a number of fictions and fantasies the similitude of humane Actions Arts together with the making of Man Communis Mensura haue brought into naturall Philosophie not much better than the Heresie of the Anthropomorphites bredde in the Celles of grosse and solitarie Monkes and the opinion of Epicurus answearable to the same in heathenisme who supposed the Gods to bee of humane Shape And therefore Velleius the Epicurian needed not to haue asked why God should haue adorned the Heauens with Starres as if he had beene an Aedilis One that should haue set foorth some magnificent shewes or playes for if that great Worke master had beene of an Humane disposition hee woulde haue caste the starres into some pleasant and beautifull workes and orders like the frettes in the Roofes of Houses whereas one can scarce finde a Posture in square or triâ—…angle or streight line amongest such an infinite numbers so differing an Harmonie there is betweene the spirite of Man and the spirite of Nature Lette vs consider againe the false appearances imposed vpon vs by euerie Man 's owne indiuiduall Nature and Custome in that fayned supposition that Plato maketh of the Caue for certainely if a childe were continued in a Grotte or Caue vnder the Earth vntill maturitie of age and came suddainely abroade hee would haue strange and absurd Imaginations So in like manner although our persons liue in the view of Heauen yet our spirites are included in the Caues of our owne complexions and Customes which minister vnto vs infinite Errours and vaine opinions if they bee not recalled to examination But heereof wee haue giuen many examples in one of the Errors or peccant humours which wee ranne briefely ouer in our first Booke And lastly lette vs consider the false appearances that are imposed vpon vs by words which are framed and applyed according to the conceit and capacities of the Vulgar sorte And although wee thinke we gouerne our wordes and prescribe it well Loquendum vt Vulgus sentiendum vt sapientes Yet certaine it is that wordes as a â—…artars Bowe doe shoote backe vppon the vnderstanding of the wisest and mightily entangle and pernert the Iudgement So as it is almost necessarie in all controuersies and disputations to imitate the wisedome of the Mathematicianâ—… in setting downe in the verie beginning the definitions of our wordes and termes that others may knowe howe wee accept and vnderstand them and whether they concurre with vs or no. For it commeth to passe for want of this that we are sure to end there where wee ought to haue begun which is in questions differences about words To conclude therefore it must be confessed that it is not possible to diuorce our selues from these fallacies and false appearances because they are inseparable from our Nature and Condition of life So yet neuerthelesse the Caution of them for all Elenches as was saide are but Cautions doth extreamely importe the true conducte of Humane Iudgement The particular Elenches or Cautions against these three false appearances I finde altogether deficient There remayneth one parte of Iudgement of great excellencie which to mine vnderstanding is so sleightly touched as I maye reporte that also deficient which is the application of the differinge kindes of Proofes to the differing kindes of Subiects for there beeing but foure kindes of demonstrations that is by the immediate consent of the Minde or Sence by Induction by Sophisme and by Congruitie which is that which Aristotle calleth Demonstration in Orbe or Circle and not a Notioribus euerie of these hath certaine Subiects in the Matter of Sciences in which respectiuely they haue chiefest vse and certaine other from which respectiuely they ought to be excluded and the rigour and curiositie in requiring the more seuere Proofes in some thinges and chiefely the facilitie in contenting our selues with the more remisse Proofes in others hath beene amongest the greatest causes of detryment and hinderance to Knowledge The distributions and assignations of demonstrations according to the Analogie of Sciences I note as deficient The Custodie or retayning of Knowledge is either in WRITING or MEMORIE whereof WRITINGE hath twoo partes The Nature of the CHARACTER and the order of the ENTRIE for the Art of Characters or other visible notes of Wordes or thinges it hath neerest coniugation with Grammar and therefore I referre it to the due place for the Disposition and Coâ—…ocation of that Knowledge which wee preserue in Writing It consisteth in a good Digest of Common Places wherein I am not ignorant of the preiudice imputed to the vse of Common-Place Bookes as causing a retardation of Reading and some sloth or relaxation of Memorie But because it is but a counterfeit thing in Knowledges to be forward and pregnant except a man bee deepe and full I hould the Entrie of Common places to bee a matter of great vse and essence in studying as that which assureth copie of Inuention and contracteth Iudgment to a strength But this is true that of the Methodes of Common places that I haue seen there is none of any sufficient woorth all of them carying meerely the face of a Schoole and not of a World and referring to vulgar matters and Pedanticall Diuisions without all life or respect to Action For the other Principall Parte of the Custodie of Knowledge which is MEMORIE I finde that facultie in my Iudgement weakely enquired of An Art there is extant of it But it seemeth to me that there are better Precepts than that Art and better practises of that Art than those receiâ—…ed It is certaine the Art as it is may bee raysed to points of ostentation prodigious But in vse as it is nowe mannaged it is barrein not burdensome nor dangerous to Naturall Memorie as is imagined but barren that is not
appetere vt non metuas sunt animi pusilli diffidentis And it seemeth to me that most of the doctrines of the Philosophers are more fearefull and cautionary then the Nature of things requireth So haue they encreased the feare of death in offering to cure it For when they would haue a mans whole life to be but a discipline or preparation to dye they must needes make men thinke that it is a terrible Enemy against whom there is no end of preparing Better saith the Poet Qui sinem vitae extremum inter Munera ponat Naturae So haue they sought to make mens minds to vniforme and harmonicall by not breaking them sufficiently to cōtrary Motions the reason whereof I suppose to be because they themselues were men dedicated to a pri uate free and vnapplied course of life For as we see vpon the lute or like Instrument a Ground though it be sweet and haue shew of many changes yet breaketh not the hand to such strange and hard stoppes and passages as a Set song or Voluntary much after the same Manner was the diuersity betweene a Philosophicall and a ciuile life And therefore men are to Imitate the wisedome of Iewellers who if there be a graine or a cloude or an I se which may be ground forth without taking to much of the stone they help it but if it should lessen and abate the stone to much they will not meddle with it So ought men so to procure Serenity as they destroy not magnanimity Hauing therefore deduced the Good of Man which is priuate particular as far as seemeth fit wee will now returne to that Good of man which respecteth and be beholdeth Society which we may terme Duty bicause the term of duty is more propper to a minde well framed disposed towards others as the terme of vertue is applyed to a mind well formed cōposed in it selfe though neither can a man vnderstand vertue without some relation to Society nor duety without an inwarde disposition This part may seem at first to pertaine to Science Ciuile and Politicke but not if it be wel obserued For it concerneth the Rcgimēt gouernment of euery man over himself not ouer others And as in architectur the directiō of framing the postes beames other parts of building is not the same with the maner of ioyning them and erecting the building And in mechanicalls the direction how to frame an Instrument or Engyne is not the same with the manner of setting it on woorke and imploying it and yet neuerthelesse in expressing of the one you incidently expresse the Aptnesse towardes the other So the doctrine of Coniugation of men in Socyety differereth from that of their conformity therevnto This part of Duty is sudiuided into two parts the common duty of euery man as a Man or member of a State The other the respectiue or speciall duty of euery man in his prosession vocation and place The first of these is extāt wel laboured as hathbeen said The secōd like wise I may report rather dispersed thē dcficiēt which maner of dispersed writing in this kind of Argumēt I acknowledge to be best For who cā take vpō him to write of the proper duty vertue cha and right of euery seuerall vocation profession and place For although sometimes a Looker on may see more then a gamester and there be a Prouerb more arrogant theu sound That the vale best discouereth the hill yet there is small doubt but that men can write best and most really materialy in their owne professions that the writing of speculatiue men of Actiue Matter for the most part doth seeme to men of Experience as Phormioes Argument of the warrs seemed to Hannibal to be but dreames and dotage Onely there is one vice which accompanieth them that write in their own professions that they magnify thē in excesse But generally it were to be wished as that which wold make learning indeed solide fruit ful that Actiue men woold or could become writers In which kind I cannot but mencion Honoris causa your Maiesties exellent book touching the duty of a king a woorke ritchlye compounded of Diuinity Morality and Policy with great aspersion of all other artes being in myne opinion one of the moste sound healthful writings that I haue read not distempered in the heat of inuention nor in the Couldnes of negligence not sick of Dusinesse as those are who leese themselues in their order nor of Convulsions as those which Crampe in matters impertinent not sauoring of perfumes paintings as those doe who seek to please the Reader more then Nature beareth and chiefelye wel disposed in the spirits thereof beeing agreeable to truth and apt for action and farre remooued from that Naturall insirmity whereunto I noted those that write in their own professions to be subiect which is that they exalt it aboue measure For your Maiesty hath truly described not a king of Assyria or Persia in their extern glory but a Moses or a Dauid Pastors of their people Neither can I euer leese out of my remembraunce what I heard your Maiesty in the same sacred spirite of Gouernment deliuer in a great cause of Iudicature which was That Kings ruled by theyr lawes as God did by the lawes of Nature and ought as rarely to put in vse theyr supreme Prerogatiue as God doth his power of working Miracles And yet notwithstandiug in your book of a free Monarchy you do well giue men to vnderstand that you know the plenitude of the power and right of a King as well as the Circle of his office and duty Thus haue I presumed to alledge this excellent writing of your Maiesty as a prime or eminent example of Tractates concerning speciall respectiue dutyes wherin I should haue said as much if it had beene written a thousand yeares since Neither am I mooued with cer tain Courtly decencyes which esteeme it flattery to prayse in presence No it is flattery to prayse in absence that is when eyther the vertue is absent or the occasion is absent and so the prayse is not Naturall but forced either in truth or in time But let Cicerobe read in his Oration pro Marcello which is nothing but an excellent Table of Caesars vertue and made to his face besides the example of many other excellent per sons wiser a great deale then such obseruers and we will neuer doubt vpon a full occasion to giue iust prayses to present or absent But to return there belongeth further to the handling of this partie touching the duties of professions and vocations a Relatiue or opposite touching the fraudes cautels impostures vices of euery profession which hath been likewise handled But howe rather in a Satyre Cinicaly then seriously wisely for men haue rather sought by wit to deride and traduce much of that which is good in professions then with Iudgement to discouer and seuer that which is corrupt For
virtuti nullaest via and the like being takē and vsed as spurs to Industry and not as stirops to insolency rather for resolution then for the presumption or outwarde declaration haue beene euer thoughte sounde and good and are no question imprinted in the greatest mindes who are so sensible of this opinion as they causcarce containe it within As we see in Augustus Caesar who was rather diuerse from his vncle then inferiour in vertue how when he died he desiered his friénds aboute him to giue him a Plaudite as if hee were consciente to himselfe that he had played his parte wel vpon the stage This parte of knowledge we doe reporte also as deficient not but that it is practised too much butit hath not beene reduced to writinge And therefore least it shoulde seme to any that it is not comprehensible by Axiome It is requisite as wee did in the former that wee set down some heads or passages of it Wherein it maye appeare at the first a newe and vnwoonted Argumente to teach men how to raise and make theire fortune a doctrine wherein euery man perchance will bee ready to yeeld himselfe a disciple til he seethe difficulty for fortune layeth as heauy impositions as vertue and it is as harde and severe a thinge to bee a true Pollipolitique as to be truelye morall But the handlinge hereof concerneth learning greatly both in honour and in substance In honour because pragmaticall men may not goe away with an opinion that learning is like a Larke that can mount and singe and please her selfe and nothing else but may knowe that she houldeth as well of the hauke that can soare aloft and can also descend and strike vpon the pray In substance because it is the perfite lawe of enquiry of trueth That nothing bee in the globe of matter which should not be likewise in the globe of Crystall or Fourme that is that there be not any thing in being action which should not bee drawne and collected into contemplation and doctrine Neyther doth learning admire or esteeme of this Architecture of fortune otherwise then as of an inferiour worke For no mans fortune can be an end woorthy of his being and many times the woorthiest men doe abandon theyr fortune willingly for better respects but neuerthelesse fortune as an organ of vertue and merit deserueth the consideration First therefore the precept which I conceiue to bee most summary towardes the preuayling in fortune is to obtaine that windowe which Momus did require who seeing in the frame of mans heart such Angles and recesses sounde fault there was not a windowe to looke into them that is to procure good informacions of particulars touching persons their Natures their desires ends their customs and fashions theyr helpes and aduantages and wherby they cheesly stand so againe their weaknesses and disaduantages and where they lye most open and obnoxious their friendes factions dependaunces and againe theyr opposites enuiors competitors theyr moods and times Sola viri molles adytus tēporanoras theyr principles rules and obseruacions and the like And this not onely of persons but of actions what are on foote from time to time and how they are con ducted fauoured opposed and how they importe and the like For the knowledge of present Actions is not onely materiall in itselfe but without it also the knowledge of persons is very erronious for men chaunge with the actions and whiles they are in pursuite they are one and when they retourne to theyr Nature they are another These Informations of particulars touching persons and actions are as the minor propositions in euery actiue syl logisme for no excellencye of observacions which are as the maior propositions can suffice to ground a conclusion if there be error and mistaking in the minors That this knowledge is possible Salomon is our surety who sayeth Consilium in corde viri tanquam aqua profunda sed vir prudens exhauriet illud And although the knowledge it selfe falleth not vnder precept because it is of Indiuiduals yet the Instructions for the obtaining of it may We will beginne therefore with this precept according to the aunciente opinion that the Synewes of wisedome are slownesse of beleefe and distrust That more trust bee giuen to Countenances and Deedes then to wordes and in wordes rather to suddaine passages and surprised wordes then to set and purposed wordes Neither let that be feared which is sayde fronti nulla fides which is meant of a generall outward behauiour and not of the priuate and subtile mocions and labours of the countenance and gesture which as Q. Cicero elegantly sayth is Animi Ianua the gate of the Mynd None more close then Tyberius and yet Tacitus sayth of Gallus Etenim vultu offersionem coniectauerat So againe noting the disfering Character and manner of his commending Germanicus and Drusus in the Senate he sayeth touching his fashion wherein hee carried his speeche of Germunicus thus Magis in fpeciem adornatis verbis quam vt penitus sentire crederetur but of Drusus thus Paucioribus sed intentior fida oratione and in another place speaking of his character of speech when he did any thing that was gratious and populer he sayeth That in other thinges hee was velut eluctantium verborum but then againe Solutius loquebatur quando subueniret So that there is no such artificer of dissimulation nor noe such commaunded countenaunce vulius tussus that can seuer from a fained tale some of these fashions either a more sleight and carelesse fashion or more set sormall or more tedious and wandring or comming from a mā more drily and hardly Neither are Deedes such assured pledges as that they may be trusted without a iudicious cōsideraciō of their magnitude and nature Fraus sibi in paruis fidem praestruit vt maiore emolumento sallat and the Italian thinketh himselfe vpon the point to be bought and sould when he is better vsed then he was woont to be without manifest cause For small fauoures they doe but lull men a sleepe both as to Caution and as to Industry and are as Demosthenes calleth them Alimenta socordiae So againe we see how false the nature of some deeds are in that particular which Mutianus practised vpon Antonius Primus vpon that hollowe and vnfaithfull reconcilement which was made between them whereupon Mutianus aduanced many of the friends of Antonius Simul amicis eius praesecturas tribunatus largitur wherein vnder pretence to strengthen him he did desolate him and won from him his dependances As for words though they be like waters to Phisitions ful of flattery and vncertainty yet they are not to be dispised specially with the aduantage of passion and affection For so wee see Tyberius vpon a stinging and incensing speech of Agrippina came a step foorth of his dissimulacion when he sayd You are hurt because you doc not raigne of which Tacitus sayeth Audita hec raram occulti pectoris
voccm elicuere correplamque Groeco versu admonuit ideo laedi quia non regnaret And therefore the Poet doth elegantly cal passions tortures that vrge men to confesse theyr secrets Vino tortus ira And experience sheweth there are few men so true to themselues and so setled but that sometimes vpon heate sometimes vpon brauerye sometime vpon kindenesse sometimes vpon trouble of minde and weaknesse they open themselues specially if they be put to it with a counter-dissimulatioÌ„ according to the prouerb of Spain Dimentira y sacar as verdad Tell a lye and find a truth As for the knowing of men which is at second hand from Reportes mens weakenesse and faultes are best knowne from theyr Enemies theyr vertues and abilityes from theyr friendes theyr customes and Times from theyr seruauntes their conceites and opinions from theyr familiar friends with whom they discourse most Generall fame is light the opinions conceiued by superiors or equals are deceitful for to such men are more masked Verior sama è domesticis emanat But the soundest disclosing and expounding of men is by theyr natures and endes wherein the weakest sorte of men are best interpreted by theyr Natures and the wisest by theyr endes For it was both pleasauntlye and wiselye sayde though I thinke verye vntruely by a Nuntio of the pope returning from a certayne Nation where hee serued as LIDGER whose opinion beeing asked touching the appointemente of one to goe in his place hee wished that in anye case they did not send one that was too wise because no very wise man would euer imagine what they in that country were like to doe And certaynelye it is an errour frequent for men to shoot ouer and to suppose deeper ends and more compasse reaches then are the Italian prouerb being elegant for the most part true Di danari di senno e di fede C'n è manco che non credi There is commonly lesse mony Iesse wisedome and lesse good faith then men doe accompt vpon But Princes vpon a farre other Reason are best interpreted by their natures and priuate persons by theyr ends For Princes beeing at the toppe of humane desires they haue for the most part no particular endes whereto they aspire by distaunce from which a man mought take measure and scale of the rest of theyr actions and desires which is one of the causes that maketh theyr heartes more inscructable Neyther is it sufficient to infourme onr selues in mens endes and natures of the variety of them onely but also of the predominancy what humour reigneth most and what end is principally sought For so wee see when Tigellinus sawe himselfe out-stripped by Petrouius Turpilianus in Neroés humours of pleasures Metus eius rimâ—… he wrought vpon Neroes fears wherby he brake the others neck But to all this parte of Enquierie the most compendious waye resteth in three thinges The first to haue generall acquaintaunce and in wardnesse with those which haue generall atquaintance and looke most into the worlde and speciallye according to the diuersitie of Businesse and the diuersitye of Persons to haue priuacye and conuersation with some one friend at least which is parfite and well intelligenced in euery seuerall kinde The seconde is to keepe a good mediocritye in libertie of speeche and secrecy in most thinges libertye secrecy where it importeth for libertye of speeche inuiteth and prouoketh libertye to bee vsed againe and so bringeth much to a mans knowledge and secrecie on the other side induceth trust and inwardnesse The last is the reducing of a mans selfe to this watchfull and serene habite as to make accompte and purpose in euerye conference and action aswell to obserue as to acte For as Epictetus would haue a Philosopher in eue ry particular action to say to himselfe Et hoc volo etiam institutum seruare so a politique man in euerye thing should say to himself Et hoc volo ac etiam aliquid addifcere I haue staied the longer vpon thit precept of obtaining good information because it is a maine part by it selfe which aunswereth to all the rest But aboue al things Caution must be taken that Men haue a good staye and houlde of themselues and that this much knowing doe not draw on much medling For nothing is more vnfortunate then light and rash intermeddling in many matters So that this variety of knowledge tendeth in conclusion but onely to this to make a better freer choise of those actions which may concern vs to conduct them with the lesse error and the more dexterity The second precept concerning this knowledge is for men to take good informacion touching they re own person and well to vnderstand themselues know ing that as S. Iames sayth though men looke oft in a glasse yet they do sodainly forget themselues wherin as the diuine glasse is the word of God so the politique glasse is the state of the world or times wherin we liue In the which we are to behould our selues For men ought to take an vnpartiall viewe of their owne abilities and vertues and againe of their wants and impediments accounting these with the most those other with the least and from this view and examination to frame the considerations following First to consider how the constitution of their nature sorteth with the generall state of the times which if they find agreeable and fit then in all things to giue themselues more scope and liberty but if differing and dissonant then in the whole course of theyr life to be more close retyred and reserued as we see in Tyberius who was neuer seen at a play and came not into the Senate in 12. of his last yeers whereas Augustus Caesar liued euer in mens eyes which Tacitus obserueth Alia Tiberio morum via Secondly to consider how their Nature sorteth with professions and courses of life accordingly to make election if they be free and if ingaged to make the departure at the first opportunity as we see was doone by Duke Valentine that was designed by his father to a sacerdotal profession but quitted it soon after in regard of his parts and inclination being such neuerthelesse as a man cannot tel wel whether they were worse for a Prince or for a Priest Thirdly to consider how they sorte with those whom they are like to haue Competitors and Concurrents and to take that course wherin there is most solitude and themselues like to be most eminent as Caesar Iulius did who at first was an Orator or Pleader but when he saw the excellency of Cicero Hortensius Catulus and others for eloquence and sawe there was no man of reputation for the warres but Pompeius vpon whom the State was forced to relie he forsooke his course begun toward a ciuile and popular greatnesse and transgressed his designes to a marshall greatnesse Fourthly in the choyse of their friends and dependaunces to proceeed according to the Composition of their own nature as we may
see in Caesar all whose friends and followers were men actiue and effectuall but not solemn or of reputation Fiftly to take speciall heed how they guide them selues by examples in thinking they can doe as they see others doe whereas perhappes their natures and carriages are farre differing in which Error it seemeth Pompey was of whome Cicero sayeth that hee was woont often to saye Sylla potuit Ego non potero wherein he was much abused the natures and proceedinges of himselfe and his example beeing the vnlikest in the worlde the one being fierce violent and pressing the fact the other solemn and full of Maiesty and circumstance and therefore the lesse effectuall But this precept touching the politicke knowledge of our selues hath many other branches whereupon we cannot insist Next to the wellvnderstanding and discerning of a mans selfe there followeth the well opening and reuealing a mans selfe wherein we see nothing more vsuall then for the more able man to make the lesse shewe For there is a greate aduantage in the well setting foorthe of a mans vertues fortunes merites and againe in the artificiall couering of a mans weakenesses defectes disgraces staying vpon the one slyding from the other cherishing the one by circumstaunces gracing the other by exposition and the like wherein we see what Tacitus sayth of Mutianus who was the greatest politique of his time Omnium quae dixerat fecer atque arte quadam ostentator which requireth indeed some arte least it turne tedious and arrogant but yet so as ostentation though it be to the first degree of vanity seemeth to me rather a vice in Manners then in Policye for as it is sayd Audacter calumniari semper aliquid haeret So except it be in a ridiculous degree of deformity Audacter te vendita semper aliquid haeret For it will sticke with the more ignoraunt and inferiour sort of men though men of wisedome and ranke doe smile at it and despife it and yet the authority wonne with many doth counteruaile the difdaine of a few But if it be carried with decency and gouernement as with a naturall pleasaunt and ingenious fashion or at times when it is mixte with some perill and vnsafety as in Military persons or at tymes when others are most enuied or with easie and carelesse passage to it and from it without dwelling too long or being too serious or with an equall freedome of taxing a mans selfe aswell as gracing himselfe or by occasion of repelling or putting downe others iniurye or insolencie It doth greately adde to reputation and surelye not a fewe solide natures that wante this ventositye and cannot saile in the heighth of the windes are not without some preiudice and disaduantage by they re moderacion But for these flourishes and inhansements of vertue as they are not perchaunce vnnecessary So it is at leaste necessary that vertue be not disualewed and imbafed vnder the iust price which is doon in three manners By offering and obtruding a mans selfe wherein men thinke he is rewarded when he is accepted By doing too much which wil not giue that which is well done leaue to settle and in the end induceth saciety and By finding to soone the fruit of a mans vertue in commendation applause honour fauoure wherein if a man be pleased with a little let him heare what is truly said Caue ne insuetus rebus maioribus videaris si haec te res parua sicuti magna delectat But the couering of defects is of no lesse importance then the valewing of good parts which may be doone likewise in three manners by Caution by Colour and by Confidence Caution is when men doe ingeniously and discreetely auoyde to be put into those things for which they are not propper wheras contrarywise bould and vnquiet spirits will thrust themselues into matters without difference and so publish and proclaime all their wantes Coloure is when men make a way for themselues to haue a construction made of their faultes or wantes as proceedinge from a better cause or intended for some other purpose for of the one it is well sayde Saepe latet vitium proximitateboni And therefore whatsoeuer want a man hath he must see that he pretend the vertue that shadoweth it as if he be Dull he must affect Grauitie if a Cowarde Mildenesse and so the rest for the second a man must frame some probable cause why he should not doe his best and why he should dissemble his abilities and for that purpose must vse to dissemble those abilities which are notorious in him to giue colour that his true wants are but industries and dissimulations for Confidence it is the last but the surest remedie namely to depresse and seeme to despise whatsoeuer a man cannot attaine obseruing the good principle of the Marchantes who endeuour to raise the price of their owne commodities and to beate down the price of others But there is a confidence that passeth this other which is to face out a mans own defects in seeming to conceiue that he is best in those things wherein he is failing and to help that againe to seeme on the other side that he hath least opinion of himselfe in those things wherein he is best like as we shall see it commonly in Poets that if they shew their verses and you except to any they will say That that lyne cost them more labour then any of the rest and presently will seeme to disable and suspect rather some other lyne which they know well enough to be the best in the number But aboue al in this righting and helping of a mans selfe in his owne carriage he must take heed he shew not himselfe dismantelled and exposed to scorne and iniury by too much dulcenesse goodnesse and facility of nature but shew some sparkles of liberty spirit and edge Which kind of fortified cariage with a readye rescussing of a mans selfe from scornes is somtimes of necessity imposed vpon men by somwhat in their person or fortune but it euer succeedeth with good felicity Another precept of this knowledge is by all possible endeauour to frame the mind to be pliaunt and obedient to occasion for nothing hindereth mens fortunes so much as this Idem manebat nequeidem decebat Men are where thty were when occasions turne and therefore to Cato whom Liuie maketh such an Architect of fortune hee addeth that he had Versatile Ingenium And thereof it commeth that these graue solemne wittes which must be like themselues and cannot make departures haue more dignity then foelicity But in some it is nature to bee somewhat viscouse and inwrapped and not easie to turne In some it is a conceipte that is almost a nature which is that men can hardlie make themselâ—…ns beleeue that they oughte to chaunge their course when they haue found good by it in former experience For Macciaue noteth wisely how Fabius Maximus would haue been temporizing still according to his ould biasse when the nature of the warre was altered
that other that monies weretl◅e sinews of the warres wheras saith he the true sinews of the warres are the sinews of mens Armes that is a valiant populous and Military Nation he voucheth aptly the authority of Solon who when Craesus shewed him his treasury of goalde saide to him that if another came that had better Iron he woulde be maister o◅ his Gould In like manner it may be truly affirmed that it is not monies that are the sinews of fortune but it is the sinews and steele of mens Mynds Witte Courage Audacity Resolution Temper Industry and the like In thirde place I set down Reputation because of the peremptory Tides Currants it hath which if they bee not taken in their due time are sildome recouered it beinge extreame harde to plaie an after game of reputation And lastly I place honoure which is more easily wonne by any of the other three much more by all then any of them can bee purchased by honour To conclude this precepte as there is order and priority in Matter so is there in Time the proposterous placing whereof is one of the commonest Errors while men fly to their ends when they shoulde intend their beginninings and doe not take things in order of time as they come on but marshall them according to greatnes and not according to instance not obseruing the good precepte Quod nunc instat agamus Another precept of this knowledge is not to imbrace any matters which doe occupie to great a quantity of time but to haue that sounding in a mans eares Sed fugit interea fugit irreparabile tempus and that is the cause why those which take their course of rising by professions of Burden as Lawyers Orators painefull diuines and the like are not commonlie so politique for their owne fortune otherwise then in their ordinary way because they want time to learne particulars to waite occasions and to deuise plottes Another precept of this knowledge is to imitate nature which doth nothing in vaine which surely a man may do if he do well interlace his businesse and bend not his mind too much vpon that which he prin cipally intendeth For a man ought in euery particular action so to carry the motions of his mind and so to haue one thing vnder another as if he cannot haue that he seeketh in the best degree yet to haue it in a second or so in a third and if he can haue no parte of that which he purposed yet to turn the vse of it to sōwhat els and if he cannot make any thing of it for the present yet to make it as a seed of somwhat in time to come and if he can contriue no effect or substaunce from it yet to win som good opinion by it or the like so that he should exact an account of himself of euery action to reape somwhat and not to stand amazed and confused if he saile of that he chiefly meant for nothing is more impollitique then to mind actions wholly one by one For he that dooth so leeseth infinite occasions which enterveine and are many times more proper and propitious for somewhat that he shall need afterwards then for that which he vrgeth for the present and therfore men must be parfite in that rule Haec oportet facere illa non omittere Another precept of this knowledge is not to ingage a mans selfe peremptorily in any thing though it seem not liable to accident but euer to haue a window to flie out at or away to retyre following the wisedom in the ancient fable of the two frogs which consulted when their plash was drie whether they should go and the one mooued to go down into a pit because it was not likely the water would dry there but the other answered True but if it do how shall we get out againe Another precept of this knowledge is that ancient precept of Bias construed not to any point of perfidiousnesse but only to caution and moderation Et ama tanquam inimicus suturus odi tanquam amaturus For it vtterly betraieth al vtility for mē to imbarque them selues to far into vnfortunate friendships troublesom spleans childish humorous enuies or aemulatiōs But I continue this beyond the measure of an example led because I wold not haue such knowledges which I note as deficient to be thought things Imaginatiue or in the ayre or an obseruation or two much made of but thinges of bulke and masse whereof an end is hardlier made then a beginning It must be likewise conceiued that in these pointes which I mencion and set downe they are far from complete tractates of them but onelye as small peeces for patternes And lastlye no man I suppose will thinke that I meane fortunes are not obteyned without all this adoe For I know they come tumblinge into some mens lappes and a nomber obtaine good fortunes by dilligence in a plaine way Little intermedlinge and keeping themselues from grosse errors But as Cicero when he setteth down an Idea of a parfit Orator doth not mean that euery pleader should be such and so likewise when a Prince or a Courtier hath been described by such as haue handled those subiects the mould hath vsed to be made accordinge to the perfectiō of the Arte and not according to cō mon practise So I vnderstand it that it ought to be done in the description of a Pollitique man I meane pollitique for his owne fortune But it must be remembred al this while that the precepts which we haue set down are of thatkind which may be coūted called Bonae Artes as for euill arts if a man would set down for himselfe that principle of Machiauel That a man seeke not to attaine vertue it selfe But the apparance onely thereof because the credite of vertue is a helpe but the vse of it is cumber or that other of his principles That he presuppose that men are not fitly to be wrought otherwise but by feare and therefore that he seeke to haue euery mā obnoxius lowe in streight which the Italiās cal seminar spine to sowe thornes or that other principle cōteined in the verse which Cice ro cyteth cadant amici dūmodo Inimici intercidāt as the Trium virs which fould euery one to other the liues of their friends for the deaths of theire enemiees or that other protestation of L. Catilina to set on fire trouble states to the end to fish in droumy waters to vnwrappe their fortunes Ego si quid in fortunis meis excitatum sit incendium id non aqua sed ruina restinguam or that other principle of Lysāder That childrē are to be deceiued with cōfittes men with othes the like euil and corrupt positions whereof as in al things there are more in number then of the good Certainly with these dispensations from the lawes of charity integryty the pressing of a mans fortune may be more ha sty and compendious But it
wisedome distinguished a subiect tending to much like ende as that I noted before for as that other were likely to abate the nomber of controuersies So this is like to abate the heate of manie of them Wee see Moses when he sawe the Israelite and the Egyptian fight hee did not say Why striue you but drew his sworde and slewe the Egyptian But when hee sawe the two Israelites fight hee said You are brethren why striue you If the point of doctrine bee an Egyptian it must bee slaine by the sword of the spirit and not reconciled But if it be an Israelite though in the wrong then Why striue you We see of the foundamentall points our Sauiour penneth the league thus Hee that is not with vs is against vs but of points not fundamentall thus Hee that is not against vs is with vs. So wee see the Coate of our Sauiour was entier without seame and so is the Doctrine of the Scriptures in it selfe But the gouernment of the Churche was of diuers colours and yet not deuided wee see the chaffe may and ought to be seuered from the corne in the Eare But the Tares may not be pulled vp from the corne in the field So as it is a thing of great vse well to define what and of what latitude those points are which doe make men meerely aliens and disincorporate from the Church of God For the obtaining of the information it resteth vpon the true sound Interpretation of the Scriptures which are the fountaines of the water of life The Interpretations of the Scriptures are of two sorts Methodical and Solute or at large for this diuine water which excelleth so much that of Iacobs Well is drawne forth much in the same kinde as Naturall Water vseth to bee out of Wells and Fountaines either it is first forced vp into a Cesterne and from thence fetcht and deriued for vse or else it is drawne and receiued in Buckets and Vessels immediately where it springeth The former sort whereof though it seeme to bee the more readie yet in my iudgement is more subiect to corrupt This is that Methode which hath exhibited vnto vs the scholasticall diuinitie whereby diuinity hath bin reduced into an Art as into a Cesterne the streames of doctrine or positions fetcht and deriued from thence In this Men haue sought three things a summarie breuitie a compacted strength and a compleate perfection whereof the two first they faile to finde and the last they ought not to seeke For as to breuitie wee see in all summarie Methodes while men purpose to abridge they giue cause to dilate For the summe or abridgement by contraction becommeth obscure the obscuritie requireth exposition and the exposition is diduced into large comentaries or into common places and titles which growe to be more vast then the originall writings whence the summe was at first extracted So we see the volumes of the schoole-men are greater much then the first writings of the fathers whence the Maister of the sentēces made his summe or collection So in like manner the volumes of the modern Doctors of the Ciuil Law exceed those of the ancient Iurisconsults of which Tribonian compiled the digest So as this course of summes cōmentaries is that which doth infallibly make the body of Sciēces more immense in quantitie and more base in substance And for strength it is true that knowledges reduced into exact Methodes haue a shew of strength in that each part seemeth to support sustaine the other But this is more satisfactorie then substantiall like vnto buildings which stand by Architecture and compaction which are more subiect to ruine then those that are built more stronge in their seuerall parts though lesse compacted But it is plaine that the more you recede from your grounds the weaker doe you conclude as in nature the more you remoue your selfe from particulars the greater peril of Error you doe incur So much more in Diuinitie the more you recede from the Scriptures by inferences and consequences the more weake and dilute are your positions And as for perfection or compleatnes in diuinitie it is not to be sought which makes this course of Artificiall diuinitie the more suspecte For hee that will reduce a knowledge into an Art will make it round and uniforme But in Diuinitie manie things must bee left abrupt and concluded with this O altitudo Sapientiae scientiae Dei quam incomprehensibilia sunt Iudicia eius non inuestigabiles viae eius So againe the Apostle saith Eu parte scimus and to haue the forme of a totall where there is but matter for a part cannot bee without supplies by supposition and presumption And therefore I conclude that the true vse of these Summes and Methods hath place in Institutions or Introductions preparatorie vnto knowledge but in them or by diducement from them to handle the mayne bodie and substance of a knoweledge is in all Sciences preiudiciall and in Diuinitie dangerous As to the Interpretation of the Scriptures solute and at large there haue beene diuers kindes introduced deuised some of them rather ruinous and vnsafe then sober and warranted Notwithstāding thus much must be confessed that the Scriptures being giuen by inspiration and not by humane reason doe differ from all other books in the Author which by consequence doth drawe on some difference to be vsed by the Expositor For the Inditer of them did knowe foure things which noe man attaines to knowe which are the misteries of the kingdome of glorie the perfection of the Lawes of Nature the secrets of the heart of Man and the future succession of all ages For as to the first it is said He that presseth into the light shall be oppressed of the Glorie And againe Noe man shall see my face and liue To the second When he prepared the heauens I was present when by lawe and compasse he enclosed the deepe To the third Neither was it needefull that any should beare witnesse to him of Man for he knewe well what was in Man And to the last From the beginning are knowne to the Lord all his workes From the former two of these haue beene drawne certaine senses and expositions of Scriptures which had need be contained within the bounds of sobrietie The one Anagogicall and the other Philosophicall But as to the former Man is not to preuent his time Videmus nune per speculum in Aenigmate tunc autem facie adfaciem wherein neuerthelesse there seemeth to be a libertie graunted as farre forth as the polishing of this glasse or some moderate explication of this Aenigma But to presse too farre into it cannot but cause a dissolution and ouerthrowe of the spirite of man For in the body there are three degrees of that we receiue into it Aliment Medecine and Poyson whereof Aliment is that which the Nature of Man can perfectly alter ouercom Medecine is that which is partly conuerted by Nature partly conuerteth