Apoph Rom. The second point of prudence in passions is to conceale as much as thou canst thy inclinations oâ— that passion thou knowest thy selfe most prone to follow and this for two causes first for credite secondarily for many inconueniences that may thereby ensue It impeacheth questionlesse greatly a graue mans credite a great mans authoritie and a ciuile mans good conuersation to be subiect to some one only inordinate passion for such a corrupt iudgement hath now so much preuailed with men yea and euer hath ben that they will contemne the whole for some one notable defect as for example if we see a picture of a man or woman drawne with exquisit colours great proportion and art yet if there be but one eye one arme yea or one finger out of square men will say the image is spoyled for that one defect yea the first thing almost we marke is the improportion or disquaring of that part How many prize almost nothing their geldings because they lacke their tailes eares mane or good colours Euen so we trie by dayly talke that commonly men descant vpon other mens doings they will say such a nobleman is resolute in warres goodly in person but subiect to choller too much addicted vnto his owne iudgement such a maÌ„ excelleth in learning yea but pride ouerruleth him such a Senatour iudgeth profoundly but is impatient in hearing of causes such a man raigneth in the Pulpit but blinded with couetousnesse such a man passeth in Musicke but is buried for the most part in the tauerne such a man giueth great almes but attendeth too much to good cheere and in fine there is no man so well qualified but alwayes the world will condemne him because they iudge him stained with some passion therefore great prudence wisemen account it for graue and great persons not to lay their passions open to the censure of the world Many inconueniences may follow if others know what passions men are subiect vnto for if thy enemies would bee reuenged of thee no fitter meanes they might sleightly vse than to procure some way whereby thy passions should be stirred and put in execution for by often ministring matter thy passions would easily subdue thee as a Spanish souldier and a Dutchman after many bragges of their valour and feats of armes aptly insinuated for sayd the Spanish souldier with one Spaniard a hundred buttes of wine I would kill a whole armie of Dutchmen because I would set my wine at night in such a place where I knew the Dutch troupes should lodge and then I know they would neuer leaue drinking while there remained any wit in their braines and so buried with drinke it were no great masterie to despatch them all Nay quoth the Dutchman without any man I would destroy a troupe of Spaniards onely by sending against them a multitude of women for they might easily make of them a massacre like Paris or an euensong of Sicilie at midnight in their beds These two knew well the inclinations of both Countries and consequenly perceiued the way how one might ouerthow the other yet although they were simple and souldierlike discourses for many things may be in common auoided which in particular may be hardly escaped neuerthelesse they knew how easie a thing it was by ministring matter to passions to cast a baite with a hooke to draw them into their owne ruine But some would be glad to know how a man might well conceale his passions so that the world should not iudge him passionatâ— I answere that this question yeeldeth some difficultie for hardly can a passionate man bridle so his affections that they appeare not But yet if he be neuer so passionat and would but follow a litle direction I thinke he might albeit not wholy yet in great part auoyd the infamie of a passionate person The way may be thus in great assemblies or at such times as most men marke our actions wordes and gestures then if a man haue an occasion of choler indignation lust pride feare or such like passion if he refraine but a little all those will at least suspect that he permitteth not his passions wholy to ouerrunne him For all historiographers which Basil in hom de legend lib. Gent. write of Alexander the great highly commend his continencie and especially moued with the carriage of himselfe when Darius wife and her daughters were taken prisoners and subiect to his power they being beautifull he in the prime of yeeres yet because he would but scarcely looke on them hee woon for euer the name of Continencie Besides it were good to dispraise in words before others that passion thou art most addicted vnto for by so doing thou shalt make men beleeue in deed that thou abhorrest much that â—ice questionlesse if the passion be not too pregnantly known such words will blemish a great part of mens conceits for according to the Italian Prouerbe Buone parole cattiui fatti Ingannano li sauij li matti That is Wordes good and workes ill Makes fooles and wisemen leese their skill I say not this because I would haue a man to doe one thing and speake another but that if he cannot but sometime of fragilitie slide it may bee a good way to recall him againe and not to fall so often if he speake in dispraise of his owne fault for men will be ashamed to commit often that they themselues dispraise eagerly and besides it repaireth anew his credit almost cracked with the former passion The third point may be Not to vex and trouble thy selfe too much wheÌ„ a passion seizeth vpoÌ„ thee but diuerting thy mind from it and restraining thy consent as well as thou canst from yeelding vnto it and in short time thou shalt see it vannish away as wee prooue in daily temptations of ire sadnesse loue lust and such like which fall and consume away euen by themselues either because the humour which was mooued returneth to his former seat or the impression made in the imagination deminisheth or the attention of the soule destracted with other matters faileth or some other passion expelleth it or the deuill ceaseth to tempt either I say all these or most of them mittigat consume and wholy subuert that passion which before so troubled vs and seemed insuperable The fourth poynt which ought principally to bee considered and well waighed of those whose passions are most vehement and inordinate is this that they which perceiue in themselues such disordered affections ought first to know the root of them to bee self-selfe-loue and the greater they find the boughs of their passions the greater and deeper root let them bee assured lieth hidden vnder the bottome of their soule for which cause such men must persuade themselues to haue great difficultie to vertue and extreame facilitie to vice that as they loue pleasures of the body exceedingly so they hate all that may hinder or oppose it selfe thereunto mightily That they bee blinded as battes in their owne
Nathan propounded to David his owne fault as another mans case how the rich man by force bereaved the poore man of his sheepe having so many of his owne because he knew that Davids iudgement in his owne cause might easily be corrupted the selfesame did the good woman Thecuites to David for the recalling of Absolon And indeede the Passions not vnfittely may bee compared to greene spectacles which make all thinges resemble the colour of greene even so he that loveth hateth or by any other passion is vehemently possessed iudgeth all things that occurre in favour of that passion to be good and agreeable with reason so there scarse can be found any man that hateth or is angry with an other but hee thinketh his hatred and ire to be most iust and reasonable for in very deede while the Passion is afloate the execution and performance thereof is conformable and very convenient vnto our beastly sensuall appetite and therefore all beastes stinged by such passions presently proceede vnto execution but men having vnited in the same sensitive soule reason and discourse are bound both by the lawe of Nature and commaundement of God divers times to represse and resist such vnreasonable and beastly motions Yet I know some subtill witte would gladly vnderstand how it commeth to passe that vehement passions so vndermine the iudgement and suborne it to give sentence in favour of them for why may not the passion beeing in the hearte and inferior parte of the soule permitte the higher portion the tribunall seate of Reason alone without trouble or molestation as we see by experience that fire being drie and hotte by nature although it heateth yet that hindereth not the drying so why may not the witte iudge aright howbeit the passion affecteth a wrong To this obiection three reasons may be rendered The first I have largely delivered in my third Booke of the Ioyes of heaven and in summe this is the substance Our soule being of a determinate power and activitie cannot attend exactly to twoo vehement and intensive operations together as for example wee cannot attend perfectly to sweete musicke perceive daintie smelles or taste delicate meate all three or twoo of them at one time either for lacke of spirites or in regarde of the limitted influence of the soule which cannot impart sufficient activitie to such intensive operations wherefore the soule being possessed of a vehement passion her force is so exhausted in that action that if shee will continue therein shee can not exactly consider the reasons which may disswade her from attending or following such affections the passion therefore which hindereth and stoppâ—th the eyes of the vnderstanding from the consideration of those meanes which might moove the mind to withdrawe it selfe from that action may well bee saide to blinde the witte as hee which shutteth another mans eyes maketh him blindefolde not by taking away the power of seeing but onely by hindering it from action The second reason is not onely a privation of consideration of those thinges which may extinguish the passion but also an inforcement or constraint onely to consider those motives or reasons which tend in favour of that passion for although the mayne parte of the soules activitie bee haled away with the passion yet there remaineth some sparks of light in the vnderstanding to perceive what is represented vnto it as when we heare sweete excellent musicke we may perceyve some dainety smelles howebeit not in that perfection wee might if our soules were not distracted with hearing even so some life is left to be imployed to vnderstanding albeit not so great because the soule is distracted with a Passion the which inforceth the witte onely to consider what may conduce to the continuation and preservation thereof the manner may thus bee declared for whatsoever we vnderstand passeth by the gates of our imagination the cosin germane to our sensitive appetite the gates of our imagination being prevented yea and welnie shutte vp with the consideration of that obiect which feedeth the passion and pleaseth the appetite the vnderstanding looking into the imagination findeth nothing almost but the mother and nurse of his passion for consideration where you may well see how the imagination putteth greene spectacles before the eyes of our witte to make it see nothing but greene that is serving for the consideration of the Passion Furthermore the imagination representeth to the vnderstanding not onely reasons that may favour the passion but also it sheweth them very intensively with more shew and apparance than they are indeede for as the Moone when she riseth or setteth seemeth greater vnto vs than indeede shee is because the vapours or clowdes are interposed betwixt our eyes and her even so the beauty and goodnesse of the obiect represented to our vnderstanding appeareth fayrer and goodlier than it is because a clowdy imagination interposeth a miste And here it falleth foorth as hee which is most studious is best learned and commonly he that is best learned is most studious so hee that once apprehendeth the pleasure of the passion ordinarily followeth it and the passion increaseth the imagination thereof and the stronger imagination rendreth the passion more vehement so that oftentimes they enter but with an inch and encrease an ell whereupon ensueth that a false imagination corrupteth the vnderstanding making it beleeve that thinges are better than they are in very deede And by this meanes the witte two wayes is troubled first in that the vehemency of the imagination causeth a vehement apprehension and iudgement of the witte secondarily the false representation breedeth a false conceite in the minde and by these wee prove the imagination and passions to prevaile so mightily that men in great payne or exceeding pleasure can scarce speake see heare or thinke of any thing which concerneth not their passion And for this same cause when wise men deale with any person wonderfully pensive commonly they endevour with reasons to diminish the cause of their griefe as if a woman hath lost her onely sonne in wars then to mittigate her sorrowe they will shewe her that death apprehendeth all men sooner or later it is a tribute must bee payde this worlde yeeldeth nothing but miserie happier are they that depart from it than those that enioy it his death was glorious for his Countrey for his Prince the which among valiant captaynes and noble mindes hath alwayes beene prized above tenne thousand lives if he had dyed an infarnous death for treason for rapine for iniustice then shee might have iustly lamented but in dying for iustice for obedience for vertue with glory she hath rather an exceeding occasion of ioy than a motive of griefe All which perswasions as you see tende to no other ende but to rectifie her iudgement and to represent vnto the vnderstanding those reasons which might rebate the passion of sorrowe concealed from it by the strong imagination of all those things which might encrease her griefe Besides the vehemencie of the
rich a Iewell so divine a Guift that I am perswaded if men could beholde the heartes â—â—a Plato in Lyside of them that truely love them it would be as violent to withhold them from reloving againe as a Lionesse from her whelpes lying in her sight a stone in the ayre from his center a bullet within a discharged Cannon And no crosse in this life can befall an honest Lover more mortall and deadly then not to bee beloved where hee loveth because in Love life thoughts and affections are transported into the person beloved where if they finde not semblable affection to entertayne them they pine they perish they die Who would not love an honest vertuous Lover who honoreth prizeth and serveth whom he loveth for honor estimation and servitude if they bee cordiall cannot bee accounted but rare treasures Hee that loveth vertuously esteemeth the beloved worthy of honour because hee reputeth him vertuous and therefore in affection yieldeth him condigne honour due to Vertue he serveth him in regard of his great goodnesse which in his conceit meriteth all servitude and obsequious complements Who would not love a vertuous Lover who consecrateth himselfe and all hee hath vnto the person beloved for that one friend is thought able to doe which his friendes can performe and effect and therefore a man hath so many Arist. 3. moral Nicom c. 3. bodies soules heartes eies eares tongues handes feete as he hath friendes and so by this meanes is made potent and mightie For a true friend will in all cases places and occasions deale in the affaires and occurrents of his friend and for this cause Aristotle thought that friendship and amitie were more necessarie for a Citie then lawes and iustice and that the Legifers should have no lesse regard to Love then to Lawes for if Cittizens Arist 8. moral c. 1. loved as friendes they should need no lawes to punish them as enemies Ah my loving God! I demurre too long in these speculative discourses and with-hold my soule too much from patheticall affections Doest thou Love vs who doubteth for if thou hadst never loved we had never lived and if thy Love continued not preserving Diligis omnia quae sunt nihil odisti corum quae fecisti Sap. cap. 11. our being we should presently be resolved into dust and nothing Well then thou doost prize vs and honor vs else thou wouldest never have given the pretious blood of thy Sonne to have redeemed vs. This argueth estimation but not honour for honour supposeth subiection inferioritie and I know not what kinde of vassalage and servitude it seemeth too presumptuous if not blasphemous to make thee either inferior or equall with men whose Maiestie the highest Seraphims admire reverence worship and with trembling knees adore Ah my God! of most maiesticall and extaticall Love shall I presume to enter into the abysse of thy eclypses excesses and charitable extasies They be too deepe for mee yea and all the world beside to comprise yet I know who sayd that thou went out of thy selfe and suffered extacie thorow the vehemencie Dyonis Artop cap. 4. de diuin nom of Love his meaning was that thou seemed to abase thy Maiestie with succouring and relieving our misery and that exinanition and transformation of thy supreme Glorie with Mount-Calvaries ignominie telleth vs no lesse Thy providence is such over the vniversall world in generall and every kinde of creature in speciall and every man in particular giving them meanes to atchieue their endes concurring with them in all their actions disposing of all so sweetly that Nature Grace consort so well together and thy watchfull provident eye with both that the wisest may admire thee and the simplest perceive thee and none of vs all ever doubt of thy vigilant solicitude I dare not call it servitude yet if service bee a succouring sustaining helping ministring necessaries and in every thing assisting vs in best and basest offices I may say thou lovingly serves all who without thy service could not serve themselves nor al the world except thy selfe Great no doubt is thy love O God without paragon in love to men in this life for here thou doest not only affect them powre out thy benefits vpon them distill thy graces into their hearts and a thousand wayes externally and internally worke their salvation but also that which surpasseth all it seemeth thy will and power are at the command or rather ready to obey the desires of thy faithfull servants for what else meane those protrite words of the Psalme Voluntatem timentium se facit He fulfilleth the will of Psal 144. them that feare him and what other sense can be brought of that request thou made to thy servant Moses Dimitte me vt irascatur furor meus contra eos deleam Exod. 32. eos Suffer me that my fury be revenged of them and that I may destroy them but that thy anger and revenge thy displeasure and their intended destruction laid in Moses power to rule and guide according to his pleasure O admirable omnipotencie of love which hath power even over the omnipotent but if in this life such is Loves puisance what shall we say of thy friends and lovers in glory where all graces and favours abound where love like the Sunne ever standeth in the Zenith where presses swim with wine and fields flow with honnie Certainely we cannot imagin or conceave otherwise and well but as thou who put on the person of the good old father who said to his elder sonne Fili tu semper mecum es omnia mea tua sunt O Luc. 15. Sonne thou art alwayes with me and what is mine is thine so that thou and all thy treasures are the finall inheritance possession and kingdome of thy children But yet more emphatically our blessed Saviour declared the force effects of thy love when he said Beati illi servi quos cum venerit dominus invenerit vigilantes amen Luc. 12. dico vobis quod pracinget se faciat illos discumbere transiens ministrabit illis Blessed be those servants whom their Lord when he commeth shall finde watching Amen I say vnto you he will cause them sit downe and passing by will serve them this service and sitting no doubt signifie the eternall glory whereupon thy Saints shall ever feed the which cannot be prepared and ministred vnto them by any others hands then thine which made them And alitle below to the same effect speaking of his faithfull and trustie servant what wages in blessednes he shall receive he addeth Super omnia quae possidet consiliet eum his Lord and Maister will give him signiorie and authoritie over all he possesseth which is the consummation and finall perfection of all true love and affectuall wishes of all true lovers that the one have a king of charitable commaund and a certaine friendly dominion over the other The 10. Motive to Love which is Resemblance THe
to be thought he specially regardeth vertue in bestowing his favours therefore the gift shewing a testimony and warrant of his opinion giveth forth a blazon of the receyvers honestie which winneth credit and fame 2. Circumstance Strangenesse in the Giver GIftes given by friends and such as we are well acquainted withall in regard they be vsuall be therefore by some lesse esteemed for friendship and familiaritie enforce for most part a mutuall communication among friends of fortunes favours But when the Giver is a meere stranger and yet vpon kindnesse with alacrity bestoweth benefites vpon vs it cannot but proceed eyther from a most bountifull nature kinde and loving or else from a singular conceit they have of vs or both which both deserve love and reciprocall gratitude againe This kindnesse Abrahams servant and surueyor of his landes desired to trie in the Mayde hee was to bring home for his Masters Sonne Isaac out of the land Gen. 24. of Mesopotamia that if she vnknowing him after hee had demaunded her to drinke shee had sayd she would not only shew him that favour but also give his Camels to drinke likewise that such a bountifull Woman was a fitte wife for his purpose and as he prayed and wished Rebecca performed The like courtesie shewed Moses in defending the Exod. 2. Daughters of the Priest of Madian from the rusticall proceedings of the Shepherds who hindred them from watering their Sheep and therefore was kindly deservedly invited by their father to soiourne with him in the time of his flight from the face fury of Pharao wherefore it is held for great civility and as a signe of a noble nature to entertayne strangers kindly and contrarywise for extreme barbarousnesse to abuse or vse them currishly And for this cause God commanded the Iewes not to molest strangers Advenam Exod. 22. non contristabis 3. Circumstance If the giver be our speciall friend GIfts may proceed from welwillers and friends these two differ much for we may have many well-willers but very few speciall friends well-willers be generall friends as all them of our kindred common good loving neighbours with whom we live in dayly conversation and passe our time repaying one good turne with another Speciall friends be such as we repute so deere vnto vs as our owne lives whose councell Aristot. 9 Moral Nâ—coma cap. 10. vult 〈◊〉 inter paucos frequenter 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 circa qu◠〈◊〉 sunt ex eius sententia vâ—x cum 〈◊〉 perfectam â—micitiam inire possunt we vse whose secrets we know whose familiarity trust honesty good will we preferre before all others and such be very few two or three at the most for more intire friendship cannot comport because betwixt such friends must passe such intercourse of affaires such communication such comforts compassions congratulations advises reprehensions perswasions disswasions managings of negotiations and in fine such mutuall care and solicitude betwixt the one and the other as if a man distract himselfe with many he cannot possibly be complete friend to any Wherefore Plutarke wittily and prudently commended that sentence of Pythagoras Ne multis manum inijcias Give not thy hand to many Plutarch lib. de multitudine amicorum his meaning was that he should not betake himselfe to a multitude of friends The gifts then of such familiar intire friends ought much more to be esteemed then if they came but from ordinarie weil-willers as for example no doubt but David prized more those garments his beloved friend Ionathas gave him off his own 1. Reg. 18. back with other furniture of warre above all the other apparell that ever he wore in his life The reason why this circumstance qualifieth the gift I take to be the cordiall amitie and friendship from which it proceedeth and ever representeth to the eye of the receiver 4. Circumstance If the gift be exceeding deare vnto the giver NO doubt but that solemne sacrifice which God commanded Abraham to offer vp vnto him which touched him so neere and pierced his heart so to the quick of his only sonne Isaack miraculously conceived the hope of posterity that seed whence-from his exspected Messias was to descend was so much more acceptable vnto God how much more it was deare vnto Abraham And it seemes that God to shew how deare a gift he willed him to offer particularized the dignifying Gen. 22. circumstances thereof by saying Tolle filium tuum Take thy sonne if he had commanded him to offer any of his servants or of his kindred it had not beene so much but to deprive him of his sonne was no small corrosive to a kind loving fatherly hart Vnigenitum If Abraham had had more sons the precept had not bin so severe to have lost one but being his only heire that aggravateth exceedingly the fact Quem diligis whom thou lovest if Abraham had hated his Son for his ill deportment if he had bin a dissolute prodigal hare-brain then the case had bin altred but being vertuous prudent modest affectually beloved of his Parents the commandement was bitter Isaac Mirth or ioy or laughter not only because Sara laughed when the Angel promised her she should conceive in hir old age but also for that children born of parents in their last yeers are commonly more comfortable and more delightfull vnto them then those which were begotten in their youth Offeres eum in holocaustum Thou shalt offer him for a holocaust What terrible blody wordes were these in the cares of a father to imbrue his hands in the blod of his only deare son The precept was rigorous the gift pretious Abraham obsequious the kind commander in shew severe but in effect propitious yet all conclude that the excessive dearenes of the gift vnto the Giver exceedingly augmented the value therof the poore widow of Sarepta who in the extreme darth of the country had nothing to relieve hirself hiâ— son but a little slowre in a pot a little oile in a bottle yet in regard she so willingly imparted part of that litle to Elias the prophet it semed God wold not let that flower 3. Reg. 17. oile diminish vntil such time as the sterility was past The like we may say of that other sily Soule which of her necessary sustenance cast 2. mites into the common chest of the temple for that cause by Christ him selfe was reputed the liberallest benefactor to that churche because the necessity of the gift declared the magnisicency of hir mind And generally where a person depriveth himselfe of any thing which he accounteth and prizeth much there cannot be but great love and affection for therein he overcommeth great difficultie which men commonly proove in the accomplishment of such difficill effects and moreover a man by spoyling himselfe of that is very deare vnto him sheweth evidently that his friend is much more dearer for whose cause he doth willingly want it 5. Circumstance The greatnesse of
discourse for a slender insinuation will content a ripe apprehension and affoorde matter enough to a sound iudgement It might have passed a great way further and have explicated the supreame perfections in God all which were able to moove a mans heart much more then these we have delivered because as they infinitly surpasse all here we feele see imagine or vnderstand even so they would aboundantly stirre vp our affections to admire love and adore him yet also them I thought good to omitte as not so proper to our present intent neverthelesse I cannot ore-slip some rude delineaments therof therby opening the way to pregnant wits of pregnant matter The fourth Corollary appertayneth vnto the circumstances of imparting giftes or bestowing benefites wherein it is to be noted for memorie sake that we may consider foure things in the giving of a gift all necessary and all belonging to our purpose as in the subscribed Table shall plainely appeare In bestowing a gift we may consider the Giver and his 1 Greatnesse 2 Strangenesse 3 Friendship 4 Enmirie 5 His danger and dammage Gift 6 If exceeding great in it selfe 7 If marvellous deare to the Giver 8 If common to many Receiver 9 If it tend to his great good or riddance from some great evill 10 If in giving he be singled from the rest Manner of giving 11 If with alacritie 12 If without sute or request 13 If with vehement affection 14 If without interest The fift Corollarie respecteth the practise of the aforesayd Motives the which may be vsed after this manner First I suppose a man that intendeth to move passions ought to have tyme and space to prepare himselfe for cursorie perswasions for extemporall inventions seldome make any deepe impressions because as in such cases the inducements are not well examined nor the manner of delivery premeditated so the poynt in question cannot be so substantially grounded and forciblely perswaded as if Arte in manner and matter had co-operated with Nature Secondly presupposed then a man have leysure to enrich his discourse after one hath perused and well vnderstood the precedent Motives he should glaunce over these Tables and either in his owne meditation or in perusing some short treatise of his matter of Love to be perswaded reduce what he readeth to these heads set downe As for example if he exhort Subiects to love their Countrie Students to love learning Souldiours to love Martiall Discipline Men to love theyr Wives Children to love theyr Parents Women to love Modestie in all these and such lyke a little labour conioyned with this help will minister abundance of matter to stuffe an Oration or Panegericall perswasion Meanes or Motives to moove Hatred Detestation Feare and Ire THe Philosophers vniversally define that Contrariorum est eadem disciplina Contraries are taught in like manner and contrariorum contraria est ratio contraries have contrary reasons so to our purpose with great facilitie we may now declare what Motives stirre vp Hatred by assuming the contraries to Love for example if Love it selfe be a Motive to Love then Hatred contrariwise is a Motive to Hatred If resemblance in nature affection iudgement and exercise cause vnion and love certainely dissimilitude in nature difference in iudgement disparity in affections diversity or opposition in exercise cannot but breed dissention and hatred Wherefore hee that perfitly vnderstandeth the former Treatise of the Motives to Love and of himselfe can siâ—t out their contraries hath a sufficient Panoplie and Treasorie of Reasons to stirre vp Hatred Furthermore for better intelligence it is to be considered that Divines and morall Philosophers distinguish two sorts of Hatred the one they call Odium abominationis Hatred of abomination the other Odium inimicitiae that is Hatred of enmitie For as in Love we affect the Person and wish him well so in Hatred of enmitiâ— we detest the Person and wish him evill as if I love my friend I wish him health wealth and prosperitie If the Iudge hate the theese hee wisheth him the gallowes But in this wee differ that I love my friend and health also as good for my friend so that my love is complete and intire but the Iudge abhorreth the theefe and loveth the gallowes as a due punishment and deserved evil for the theefe Contrariwise as in hatred of enmitie the person stayned with vice mooveth me to detest him and wish him evill so in hatred of abomination for the love I beare any person I hate all evils which may befall him for example a man loveth his child and therefore abhorreth death as evil of the child a iust man loveth God and therefore detesteth sinne as an iniurie done to God a man loveth his owne health and therefore hateth diseases or what else may crosse his health So that here we have three things hatred of evill in respect of the person we love love of evill in respect of the person wee hate hatred and love combined in one respect of perfite enmitie and complete hatred Besides as love levelleth at goodnesse without desiring or hoping for it and onely taketh a good liking and complacence therein so desire passeth further and wisheth the enioying thereof albeit such a wish medleth not with hope of obtayning it for many wish Mines of golde States and Kingdomes which they never exspect nor hope to possesse Hope addeth expectation for perceyving some probable possibility of purchace she standeth wayting how to come by it For example Cardinall Wolsey in his yonger yeeres perhaps loved and desired the degree of a Cardinall but yet being so farre from it he had small reason to expect it but after he was entertained of the King and imployed in affaires for the State then he got ground for expectation and so fell into the passion of Hope On the other side hatred first detesteth the evill in it selfe either of enmitie or abomination as wicked men death dishonor c. without relation to vs or our friends Detestation fuga or flight abhorreth them as hurtfull to vs or our friends but as yet they beeing afarre off and not very likely to befall entereth not into the passion of Feare the which then stirreth when danger approcheth Ire proceedeth from some iniurie offered and therefore hateth the inflictor and by all meanes possible seeketh revenge Wherefore Ire Feare Flight including every one of them a certayne sort or spice of Hatred what generally can be said of it will serve for all them in particular howbeit some speciall considerations we will set downe in speciall for their peculiar Motion Particular Motives to Hatred of Enmitie ALthough as I sayd above the Motives to Love contraried be good meanes to perswade Hatred yet for that as Philosophers say Bonum ex integra causa consistit malum ex quolibet defectu Goodnesse cannot consist without the integrity of all partes evill may and ordinarily doth happen vpon every defect that a man bee in health it is necessary every humour hold his iust temper and
of his Auditors I remember a Preacher in Italy who had such power over his Auditors affections that when it pleased him he could cause them shead aboundance of teares yea and with teares dropping downe their cheâ—ks presently turne their sorrow into laughter and the reason was because he himselfe being extreamely passionate knowing moreover the Arte of mooving the affections of those Auditors and besides that the most part were women that heard him whose passions are most vehement and mutable therefore hee might have perswaded them what hee listed The same commoditie may be gathered by all other Oratours as Embassadours Lawyers Magistrates See Aristotle Rhetorikes Captaines and whatsoever would perswade a multitude because if once they can stirre a Passion or Affection in their Hearers then they have almost halfe perswaded them for that the forces of strong Passions marvellously allure and draw the wit and will to judge and consent vnto that they are mooved Many things more might be saide concerning this matter but in all the other Chapters folowing except this first I meane to touch this point very largely As this Treatise affordeth great riches to the Physitian of the soule so it importeth much the Physitian of the bodie for that there is no Passion very vehement but that it alters extreamely some of the foure humors of the bodie and all Physitians commonly agree that among diverse other extrinsecall causes of diseases one and not the least is the excesse of some inordinate Passion for although it busieth their braines as also the naturall Philosophers to explicate the manner how an operation that lodgeth in the soule can alter the bodie and moove the humors from one place to another as for example recall most of the bloud in the face or other partes to the heart as wee see by daily experience to chance in feare and anger yet they consent that it See Fracastoriuâ— libr. de sympathia lib. 2. de intellectione circa medium may proceede from a certaine sympathie of nature a subordination of one part to another and that the spirites and humors wait vpon the Passions as their Lords and Maisters The Physitians therefore knowing by what Passion the maladie was caused may well inferre what humor aboundeth consequently what ought to be purged what remedy to be applied after how it may be prevented If all the aforesaide Professions may challenge each one a part in this Discourse surely the good Christian whose life is a warrefare vpon earth he who if he love his soule killeth it he whose studie principally standeth Iob 7. 1. in rooting outvice and planting of vertue hee Mar. 8. 35. whose indevour specially is imployed in crucifying old Adam and in refining the image of Christ he who pretendeth to be ruled by reason and not tyrannized by preposterous affection this man I say may best peruse this matter he may best meditate it he may best know where lieth the cave of those Serpents and Basiliskes who sucke out the sweete blood of his soule hee may see where the thorn sticketh that stingeth his heart finally he may view his domesticall enemie which never Matt. 10. 36. permits him to be quiet but molesteth in prosperitie deiecteth in adversitie in pleasure makes him dissolute in sadnesse desperate to rage in anger to tremble in feare in hope to faint in love to languish These were those temptations of the flesh that S. Paul did punish 1. Corint 9. 27 saying Castigo corpus meum in servitutem redigo I chasten my body and bring it into servitude these were those members the same Apostle exhorted vs to mortifie vpon earth Mortificate membra vestra quae Coloss 3. 5. sunt super terram Seeing then how all the life of a spirituall man ought to bee imployed in the expugnation of these molestfull Iebusites without all doubt it importes him much to knowe the nature of his enemies their stratagems and continuall incursions even vnto the gates of the chiefest castell of his soule I meane the very witte and will Not only the mortified Christian had need to know well his passions because by brideling them he winnes a great quietnesse of minde and enableth himselfe better to the service of God but also the civil Gentleman and prudent Polititian by penetrating the nature and qualities of his affections by restraining their inordinate motions winneth a gratious cariage of himselfe and rendereth his conversation most gratefull to men for I my selfe have seene some Gentlemen by blood and Noblemen by birth yet so appassionate in affections that their company was to most men intollerable for true is that Salomon saide Vir iracundus provocat Prover 15. 18. rixas qui patiens est mitigat suscitatas An angry man raiseth brawles but a patient man appeaseth them after they be raised And therefore howe vngratefull must his company seeme whose passions over-rule him and men had neede of an Astrolabe alwayes to see in what height or elevation his affections are lest by casting forth a sparke of fire his gun-powdred minde of a sodayne be inslamed I omit how he may insinuate himselfe into other mens love and affections how in traveling in strange countries he may discover to what passion the people are most inclined for as I haue seene by experience there is no Nation in Europe that hath not some extraordinarie affection either in pride anger lust inconstancie gluttonie drunkennesse slouth or such like passion much it importeth in good conversation to know exactly the companies inclination and his societie cannot but be gratefull whose passions are moderate and behaviour circumspect I say nothing of Magistrates who may by this matter vnderstand the inclinations and dispositions of their inferiors and subiects But finally I will conclude that this subiect I intreat of comprehendeth the chiefe obiect that all the antient Philosophers aymed at wherein they placed the most of their felicitie that was Nosce teipsum know thy selfe the which knowledge principally consisteth of a perfit experience every man hath of himselfe in particular and an vniversall knowledge of mens inclinations in common the former is helped by the latter the which knowledge is delivered in this Treatise What we vnderstand by Passions and Affections CHAP. II. THree sortes of actions proceede from mens soules some are internall and immateriall as the actes of our wittes and willes others be meere externall and materiall as the acts of our senses seeing hearing moving c. others stand betwixt these two extreames and border vpon them both the which wee may best discover in children because they lacke the vse of reason and are guided by an internall imagination following nothing else but that pleaseth their sences even after the same maner as bruite beastes doe for as we see beastes hate love feare and hope so doe children Those actions then which are common with vs and beastes wee call Passions and Affections or pertuâ—bations of the mind Motus saith saint
passion continueth the force of our imagination because whatsoever passeth by the gates of our senses presently entreth into the court of our imagination where the sensitive appetite doth entertaine it therefore seeing all passions cause some sence or feeling more or lesse in the body so long as they endure the imagination likewise representeth to the vnderstanding so long the obiect of the passion and as a deceitfull Counsellor corrupteth his Iudge The last reason which importeth more then both the other proceedeth from a naughty will for that the soule hauing rooted in it these two partes sensitive and reasonable the will perceiving that the soule reioyceth she also contenteth herselfe that the inferior appetite should enioy her pleasure or eschew her griefe with reason or against reason she careth not so she may be made partaker as the great Turke permitteth every one to live in his Religion so they pay him tribute And for this cause she commandeth the witte to employ all the power and force to finde out reasons and perswasions that all the appetite demaundeth standeth with reason and is lawfull the which collusion I take to be one of the rootes of all mischiefes that nowe cover the face of the world that is a wicked will commanding the wit to finde out reasons to pleade for Passions for this corrupteth yea wholy destroyeth the remorce of conscience the carefull gardian of the soule this maketh men obstinate in all enormious vices for when the witte is once perswaded and no further appellation can be admitted then the soule is confirmed almost in malice this maketh so many Atheists for vinum mulieres apostatare Eccles 19. faciunt sapientes wine and women make men leave Religion for as wine maketh men drunke and robbeth the vse of reason so inordinate love and affection make drunke the soule and deprive it of iudgement this in fine robbeth soules from God and carrieth them to the divell For if we examine exactly the groundes and origens of Apostasie from true fayth and the causes of heresies we shall finde them to be some one or other wicked vice of the will or vehement Passion which perverteth the iudgement specially when the Religion forbiddeth or punisheth those vices wherevnto the wicked will or Passions tend S. Augustine relateth diuers who denyed the tormentes of hell and their Eternitie thereby to flatter their vitious affections Aug. lib. 1. de â—â—â— cap. 18. with a pretended assurance of impunitie S. Chrysostome reporteth that the arch-heretike Paulus Samosetanus for Chrysost hom 7. in Iohan. the love of a woman forsooke his fayth and religion S. Gregorie the great imputeth it to avarice and covetousnesse that many fall from their faith or not admit a true faith for the Iew that thirsteth after Vsury will hardly admit Christianitie which shutteth from the Gregor lib 20. moral cap. 12. holy mount of Gods eternal blessednesse all those that lende their money to Vsurie as in the 14. Psalme is manifest Furthermore wee may aptly remonstrate how inordinate Passions cause and ingenerate in the soule all those vices which are opposite to prudence The first is Precipitation or Rashnesse which is nothing else but Precipitation an vncircumspect or vnripe resolution or determination in affaires or negotiations for the iudgement being blinded with the Passion considereth not exactly for the importance of the businesse those circumstances which may withdraw it from the prosecution of such a vitious action I remember that when I was in Italy there was a Scottish Gentleman of most rare and singular partes who was a Retainer to a Duke of that Countrey hee was a singular good Scholler and as good a Souldier it chanced one night the yong Prince either vpon some spleene or false suggestion or to trie the Scots valour mette him in a place where hee was wont to haunt resolving eyther to kill wound or beate him and for this effect conducted with him two of the best Fencers hee could finde the Scot had but one friende with him in fine a quarrell is pickt they all draw the Scot presently ranne one of the Fencers thorow and killed him in a trice with that hee bended his forces to the Prince who fearing least that which was befallen his Fencer might happen vpon himselfe he exclaimed out instantly that he was the Prince and therefore willed him to looke about him what he did the Scot perceyving well what he was fell downe vpon his knees demaunding pardon at his handes and gave the Prince his naked rapier who no sooner had receyved it but with the same sword he ranne him thorow to death the which barbarous fact as it was condemned of all men so it sheweth the Precipitation of his passionate irefull heart for if hee had considered the humble submission of his servant and loyaltie of his subiect and valour of his souldier if he had weighed the cowardlinesse of his fact the infamie that hee should thereby incurre hee would never have precipitated into so savage an offence But if with overmuch rashnesse a man contemne or despise any Lawe preferring his passionate iudgement before the prescript of lawe and reason then his headdinesse is termed Temeritie The second vice is Inconstancie which is a change Inconstancie or alteration of that purpose or resolution which a man had prudently determined before And this we may daily try in al incontinent persons who resolutely determine in the calme of their passions never to fal into their former filthinesse but presently when the Passion ariseth all the good resolutions are forgotten and that which an vnpassionate mind detested a passionate soule most effectually pursueth Not much vnlike that which David once writ of himselfe Ego dixi in abundantia Psalme 29. mea non movebor in aeternum I sayde once in my abundance or as the Calde text hath in my tranquillitie I will not be moved eternally Avertisti nanum tuum factus sum conturbatus Thou turnedst away thy hand and I was troubled as if he had sayde thou permittedst me to be troubled with a Passion and then my confident determination was changed The third vice against Prudence groweth vpon excesse of wicked consideration as precipitation inconstancie Astutia or craftinesse vpon the want or defect of circumspection For the Passion delighting or afflicting the minde causeth the iudgement to thinke invent devise all meanes possible eyther to enioy the Passion of delight or to avoyde the molestation of sadnesse and feare Wherefore Love is sayd to be Ingeniosissimus most wittie for the thought of such matters as concerneth love continually delighting the minde and rolling daily and hourely in the fancie suggesteth a worlde of conceites and inventions to finde out meanes and wayes to nourish preserve and increase the Passion insomuch as they which love vehemently are never well but eyther with them whom they love or solitary by themselves coyning some new practises to execute their inordinate love and
affections No better proofe we neede of this matter then the infinite experiences in every Countrie are tryed The same I may say of Ire Ambition c. All which Passions consisting in prosecution of some thing desired and bringing with them a certaine sence of delight enforce the mindâ— for fostering and continuing that pleasure to excogitate new meanes and wayes for the performance thereof How Passions seduce the Will CHAP. II. WIthout any great difficultie may be declared how Passions seduce the Will because the witte being the guide the The first reason why passions seduce the will eie the stirrer and directer of the Wil which of it selfe beeing blinde and without knowledge followeth that the wit representeth propoundeth and approveth as good and as the sensitive appetite followeth the direction of imagination so the Will affecteth for the most part that the vnderstanding perswadeth to bee best Wherefore the waves and billowes of apparant reasons so shake the sandye shealfe of a weake Will that they The second reason mingle it with them and make all one Besides the sensitive appetite beeing rooted in the same soule with the Will if it be drawne or flieth from any obiect consequently the other must follow even so the obiect that haleth the sensitive appetite draweth withall the Will and inclining her more to one part than another diminisheth her libertie and freedome Moreover the Will by yeelding to the Passion receyveth some little bribe of pleasure the which moveth her to let the bridle loose vnto inordinate appetites because she hath ingrafted in her two inclinations the one to follow Reason the other to content the Sences and this inclination the other beeing blinded by the corrupt iudgement caused by inordinate Passions here she feeleth satisfied Finally the Will being the governesse The third reason of the Soule and loathing to bee troubled with much dissention among her subiectes as an vncarefull Magistrate neglecteth the good of the Common-weale to avoyde some particular mens displeasure so the Will being afrayde to displease sense neglecteth the care she ought to have over it especially perceyving that the Soule thereby receyveth some interest of pleasure or escheweth some payne By this alteration which Passions worke in the Witte and the Will we may vnderstand the admirable Metamorphosis and change of a man from himselfe when his affectes are pacified and when they are troubled Plutarch sayde they changed them like Circes potions Plutarch in moralib from men into beastes Or we may compare the Soule without Passions to a calme Sea with sweete pleasant and crispling streames but the Passionate to the raging Gulfe swelling with waves surging by tempests minacing the stony rockes and endevouring to overthrowe Mountaines even so Passions make the Soule to swell with pride and pleasure they threaten woundes death and destruction by audacious boldnesse and ire they vndermine the mountaines of Vertue with hope and feare and in summe never let the Soule be in quietnes but ever eyther flowing with Pleasure or ebbing with Payne How Passions alter the Body CHAP. III. ALthough in the ninth Chapter sufficiently was declared how the Passions of the minde alter the humours of the body yet some peculiar discourses concerning that matter were reserved for this place Two sortes of Passions affect all men some as wee sayde before dilate and some compresse and restringe the heart Of the first was sayd Vita carninum est cordis Proverb 14. 3â— sanitas the life of flesh is the health of heart for indeed a ioyfull and quiet heart reviveth all the partes of the body Of the other was written Spiritus tristis exsiccat prb 17. ossa a sadde Spirit dryeth the bones And for that all Passions bring with them ioy or payne dilate or coarct the heart therefore I thinke it not amisse to declare the reason why these two Passions worke such alterations in the body to the end that by the knowledge of them we may attayne to the vnderstanding of the rest Pleasure and Delight if it bee moderate bringeth health because the purer spirites retyre vnto the heart and they helpe marvellously the digestion of blood so that thereby the heart engendreth great aboundance and most purified spirites which after being dispersed thorow the body cause a good concoction to be made in all partes helping them to expel the superfluities they also cleare the braine and consequently the vnderstanding For although while the Passion endureth it blindeth a little the indifferent iudgement yet after that it is past it rendereth the brayne better disposed and apter to represent whatsoever occurreth for speculation From good concoction expulsion of supersluities and aboundance of spirites proceedeth a good colour a cleere countenance and an vniversall health of the body But if the Passion of pleasure bee too vehement questionlesse it causeth great infirmitie for the heart being continually invironed with great abundance of spibecommeth too hote and inflamed and consequently engendereth much cholericke and burned blood Besides it dilateth and resolveth the substance of the heart too much in such sort as the vertue and force thereof is greatly weakened Wherefore Socrates was wont to say that those men which live continently and frugally had more pleasure and lesse payne than those who with great care procured inticements to pleasure because intemperate pleasures besides the remorce of minde infamie and povertie which waiteth vpon them for the most part hurt more the body than delight it And some with too vehement laughter have ended their dayes as Philemon did Plutarch recounteth also howe Erasm lib. 6. Apotheg Plutarch in Hannib the Romanes leesing to Hannibal newes was brought to Rome and specially to two women that their sonnes were slaine afterwards a remnant of the souldiers returning these two afflicted ranne with many more to know the manner of their sonnes deaths and amongst the rest found them both alive who for ioy gave vp their ghosts And vniversally after much pleasure and laughter men feele themselves both to languish and to be melancholy Yet the Passions which coarct the heart as feare sadnesse and despayre as they bring more payne to the minde so they are more dangerous to the body and commonly men proove lesse harme in those than in these and many have lost their lives with sadnesse and feare but few with love and hope except they changed themselves into heavinesse and despayre The cause why sadnesse doth so moove the forces of the body I take to be the gathering together of much melancholy blood about the heart which collection extinguisheth the good spirits or at least dulleth them besides the heart being possessed by such an humour cannot digest well the blood and spirites which ought to be dispersed thorow the whole body but converteth them into melancholy the which humour being colde and drie dryeth the whole body and maketh it wither away for colde extinguisheth heate and drynesse moysture which two qualities principally concerne life These
conceits apprehending that they loue or hate farre differently from that it is in very deed that they bee commonly too rash attempting greater enterprises than their forces are able to performe and for the most part more bold than wise guiding their actions 〈◊〉 not by reason and iudgement but by harebraine affections and as they are headlong and obstinat when strong passions possesse them so are they irresolute and inconstant when a weake affection dooth mooue them for being accustomed to follow their appetites as long as they continue they persist in one mood but after the weeke passion is appeased their iudgements and determinations are changed These men ought to bee wonderfull warie in their words and circumspect in their actions alwayes hauing themselues suspected wherefore I would persuade them first to craue of God helpe and grace to ouercome so hard a nature secondly to conferre with wise and discreet men about their owne affaires and determinations rather relying vpon them than their owne iudgements which counsell Salomon gaue saying Fili ne innitaris prudentiae tuae Sonne be not married to thy Prou. 3. 5. owne wisdome Thirdly that euery day they vse some meane to ouercome their peruerse nature for as wee prooue by experience such men haue many crosses and griefes of mind their company commonly all eschew and to be short they are a burthen to themselues and others whereas if they would but with a little diligence moderat their passions as such men bee wittie and high spirited so they would be humble and affable there is no sort of men whose conuersation would be more gratefull than theirs for they bee like vnto a faâ— soile that yeeldeth great aboundance of what is sowne good or euill corne or darnell flowers or weedes Pollicie in Passion CHAP. IIII. SInce men by nature are addicted to conuersation and one dependeth vpon another therefore it importeth much to know how to second or crosse other mens affections how we may please or displease them make them our friends or foes But because this subiect is infinite I will only set downe certaine generall rules whereby some small light may be had how to liue and deale with men to the intent that loue peace and charitie be conserued for good Christians ought not onely to procure an vnion with God but also an amitie with men and the world being greene in mallice and withered in goodnesse men more guided by passions than ruled by reason therefore the wiser ought to prouide a salue proportionated to the sore and meanes to preuent mallice least the children of darkenesse in prudence surpasse the children of light seeing our Maister taught vs how the cic of a doue adorneth best the serpents head The first rule may be this All men commonly are pleased with them whom they see affected with those passions whereunto they are subiect and inclined This rule both experience teacheth and reason prooueth We see that lyons tygres and leopards whose inclinations are most cruell whose passions most fierce yet one affecteth another and liueth in quiet societie for the similitude of inclinations and likelinesse of passions Alexander asked a pyrat that was taken and brought before him How he durst be so bold to infest the seas and spoyle the commerceries he answered That he played the pyrat but with one ship and his Maiestie with a huge nauie the which saying so pleased Alexander that he pardoned his life and graunted him libertie so much could the similitude of action transport the kings affection The reason also of this rule may easily be deliuered because all likelinesse causeth loue and as euery one iudgeth he doth the best or at least approoueth well euen so he cannot disprooue but allow the same in others Hereupon followeth that if thou wilt please thy master or friend thou must apparrell thy selfe with his affections and loue where he loueth and hate where he hateth and vniuersally to sooth other mens humours plaineth the way to friendship and amitie and as this meane fostereth flatterie if it be abused so it nourisheth charitie if it be well vsed Out of this rule we may deduce the second which ought no lesse to be obserued in conuersation than the former That men commonly hate those whome they know to be of contrarie passions whereupon proceedeth that common Prouerbe He that hateth whome I loue how can he loue me for as fire with fire doe neuer iarre so fire and water can neuer agree But in the next Booke which shall be of Loue I pretend to discusse better this rule because as similitude causeth loue so dissimilitude breedeth hatred Therefore I omit to declare how sometimes likelinesse of passions engendreth contention as we say Figulus figulum odit one potter hateth another and Inter superbos semper sunt iurgia among prowd men there are euer brawlings for if similitude of passions preiudicateth profit then likelinesse of affections causeth dissention The third rule Be not too credulous to men in their owne causes for as selfe-loue for the most part conceiues what appertaineth to our selues with a greater shew of good and honestie than indeed the thing carrieth with it so men mooued therewith declare the matter as they conceiue it for words spring from conceits these are the tree those the flowers and leaues which doe follow by iust proportion Wherefore Alexander did Plutarch in Alexandâ—o wisely as Plutarch recounteth at the beginning of his raigne by shutting one of his eares with his hand when he heard any accuser in criminall causes thereby reseruing as he said audience for the defendant Contrariwise others mens matters which hinder our profit or crosse our designes for the most part wee extenuat and abase As in Italie once befell to a number of wise men who heard an Oration wherein they were all welnigh persuaded but the next day came vp another Oratour and told a contrarie tale and changed their minds persuading them all to the other part for which cause we may adioyne the fourth rule The fourth rule When you are induced to any thing by act that is by a tale well told in Rhetoricall manner flexibilitie of voyce gestures action or other oratoricall persuasions good I hold it a while for a man to suspend his iudgement and not to permit his will follow too farre his motion more artificiall than naturall grounded vpon affection rather than reason For that saying of Isocrates ought well to be weighed who being demaunded what was Rhetorike answered to make great things little and little great wherefore after Aeschines was Erasm libr. 8. Apâ—ph banished from Athens comming to Rhodes he made an Oration to the people in declaration of his cause of exile they wondered at the Athenians who had banished him so vndeseruedly O quoth hee you did not heare what Demosthenes answered to my reasons ascribing wholy the cause of his exile to the force and eloquence of Demosthenes oration By this example we see proued that commonly wise
hold him for a simple man that cannot sound a drunkards soule euen to the bottome IIII. Discouery of Passions in gesture THis subiect is very ample and would require almost a whole booke but I will onely touch superficially some chiefe points The gestures of the body may bee reduced vnto these heads motions of the eyes pronuntiation managing of the hands and bodie manner of going A rowling eye quicke in mouing this way and that way argueth a quicke but a light wit a hote cholericke complexion with an vnconstant and impatient mind in a woman it is a signe of great immodesty and wantonnesse The reason hereof I take to be for that such quicknesse proceedeth from abundance of hote spirits which cause good apprehension but because they are not corrected by modesty and vertue it seemeth the subiect letteth them range according to their naturall inclination which tendeth to quicknesse and lightnesse Heauie dull eyes proceed from a dull mind and hard of conceit for the contrarie reason therefore wee see all old persons sicke men and flegmaticke slow in turning their eyes Eyes much giuen to winking descend from a soule subiect to feare because it argueth a weakenesse of spirits and a feeble disposition of the eyelids To stare fixly vpon one either commeth from blockishnesse as in rustickes impudencie as in malitious persons prudence when from those in authoritie incontinencie in women Who open their eyes and extend them much commonly be simple men but of a good nature Eyes inflamed and fierie are the natiue brood of choler and ire quiet and peaceable with a certaine secret grace and mirth are children of loue and friendship In Voice THere came a man to Demosthenes desiring his helpe to defend his cause and told him how one had beaten him Demosthenes answered him again saying I doe not beleeue this to bee true thou tellest Plutarâ— in Deâ—ost me for surely the other did neuer beat thee The plaintife then thrusting out his voice aloud said What hath he not beaten me Yes indeed quoth Demosthenes I beleeue it now for I heare the voice of a man that was beaten indeed whereby we may see how he coniectured by the lowdnesse of his voice the iust indignation of his mind For indeed men in ire and wrath shew by their pronuntiation the flame which lodgeth in their breasts Wherefore Cato gaue counsell That souldiers in the warre should terrifie their enemies with vehement voices and cries A small trembling voice proceedeth from feare and such an one commonly haue Plutarc in Ro. Apoph great Oratours or at least it were good they should haue in the beginning of their Orations for thereby they win a certaine compassion and louing affection of their auditors Much more might be said of this subiect but for that it concerneth specially physiognomie and naturall constitution of the organs and humours of the bodie therefore I will omit it Managing of the hands and bodie IN discoursing to vse no gestures argueth slownesse too much gesticulation commeth of lightnesse mediocritie proceedeth from wisedome and grauitie and if it be not too quicke it noteth magnanimitie Some men you haue alwaies fidling about their garments either prying for moaths binding of garters pulling vp their stockings that scarcely when they goe to bed they are apparelled this proceedeth from a childish mind and void of conceits and if you deale with men in companie it also sheweth a little contempt of those with whom you conuerse because it seemeth you little attend what they say Some cast their heads now hither now thither as wantonly as lightly which springeth from folly inconstancie Others scarce thinke they doe pray except they wrie and wrest their neckes which either commeth of hypocrisie superstition or foolishnesse Some gaze vpon themselues how proper bodies they beare how neat and proportioned legs sustaine them and in fine almost are inamored of themselues so they are pleased with their owne persons but this gesture displeaseth commonly and proceedeth from pride and vaine complacence in going To walke maiestically that is by extending thy legs foorth and drawing thy body backe with a slow and stately motion in all mens iudgment vsually issueth from a proud mind and therefore deserueth dispraise except in a Prince a Generall of an army or a Souldier in in the sight of his enemies because this manner of pasing sheweth an ostentation of the mind and that a man would set foorth himselfe aboue others which sort of vaunting few can tollerat because they can hardly suffer that men should so farre inhance themselues aboue others To trip to iet or any such light pase commeth of lightnesse and pride because such persons seeme to take delight that others should behold their singular sort of going Fast going becommeth not graue men for as philosophers hold a slow pase sheweth a magnanimous mind and if necessitie requireth not a light pase argueth a light mind because thereby wee know how the spirits are not sufficiently tempered brideled whereupon followeth lightnesse of bodie and inconstancie of mind V. Discouerie of passion in Praysing I Almost neuer knew man discontented to heare his owne praise and few there be who can tollerat to be dispraised wise men doubt with Antisthenes the Philosopher that when wicked men praise them they haue committed some errour and reioyce with Hector to be praised of vertuous men for their good indeuours It were wisedome not to praise any man exceedingly but especially before a multitude for that good men change their estates What Emperor in the beginning was better than Nero and who in the end more vitious Salomon surpassed all his predecessours in wisedome yet afterwardes fell into extreame follie Wherefore it were wisedome to vse superlatiues very rarely and say such a man is vertuous but not most vertuous So therefore praise good men that thou reserue a caueat for their errours Besides commonly proud men cannot abide their equalls should much be commended for the praise of the one obscureth the glory of the other as I haue obserued by experience they either openly or secretly will seeke to disgrace him and discouer some defects the which impeacheth more his credit than your coÌ„mendation aduanceth his reputation because that men be more prone to conceiue ill than good of others therefore one said wisely Calumniare semper aliquid haeret speake euill for euer some thing remaineth that is either a full persuasion or a sinister suspition Some men when they haue done any thing worthy of praise they either like hennes goe cackling in regard of their new layd egge that is blazing their owne works or indeuour by secret insinuation or grosse industrie that others should commend them as the Italian Poet did who hauing made an Epigram which much pleased his fancy shewed it to some of his friends praysing it about the Skies they presently demaunded who was the Author then he for very shame of pride would not tell them that it was his but with a
all times apt to receiue iests wherefore friendly iests euer carry with them a certaine respect this fault I find more common among Frenchmen and English than any other Nation Some in conuersation can discourse well for some two or three dayes but after that time their oyle is spent they thrust out all they haue of a suddaine after become very barren These men be not commonly wittie nor humble for wittie men seldome are drawne drie in conceits and humble men destill their knowledge according to their talents Much more might be handled in this point but because it rather concerneth ciuile conuersation than inuestigation of passions I will omit it VIII Discouerie of Passions in Writing WHo of purpose writeth obscurely peruetteth the naturall communication of men because we write to declare our minds and he that affecteth obscurity seemeth not to be willing that men should conceiue his meaning The holy Scriptures I alwayes except which for many causes admit some obscuritie But for men in their writing to follow such a phrase as hardly you can vnderstand what they say cannot but proceed either from confused vnderstanding because a cleere conceit breedeth perspicuous deliuerie or affectation of learning which springeth from pride for I haue knowne most excellent men endeuour to speake and write the greatest mysteries of our faith in such plaine maner that very deepe diuinitie seemed very easie And I truely am of opinion that he is the greatest Diuine and most profitable to the common-weale which can make his learning to be best conceiued To vse many Metaphors Poetical phrases in prose or incke-pot tearmes smelleth of affectation and argueth a proud childish wit To be peremptorie and singular in opinions to censure ill or condemne rashly without rendring some sound and strong reason for the most part proceedeth from singular selfe loue and a defectuous iudgement Some will condemne others for writing because they thinke there bee Bookes written more than sufficient This censure commeth either from a sluggish mind or enuious to see others good endeuours commended or else from grosse ignorance because they neither know the nature of mens wits nor the limits of humane vnderderstanding for if we see the art of sayling with the Compasse the exercise of Artillerie the manner of Printing of late yeeres inuented augmented and perfitted Why may not diuers Sciences already inuented be increased with new conceits amplified with better Demonstrations explaned in a more perspicuous manner deliuered in a more ordinat method Contrary to these be certaine itching spirits who put euery toy in print they prize their owne workes exceedingly and censure others iniuriously these may well be compared to certaine wild vines which bring forth many grapes but neuer mature them some doe it for same and some for gaine and both without discretion and against their owne credit Therefore great wisedome it were to write something discreetly that mens labours may not onely profit themselues but also be deriued to others for what doe we account good in it selfe if it bee not communicatiue of goodnesse to others Bonum est sui diffusinum Yet would I haue men not to blab out their conceits without meditation or good digestion because if in all actions it concerneth greatly a mans demeanour to effectuat them with deliberation and ripenesse so much more in writing which no man hasteth being distilled drop by drop from the pen and of it selfe permanent not as words communicatiue to some few present auditors but blazed to the world and sent to all posteritie Some men in writing flow with phrases but are barren in substance of matter and such are neither wittie nor wise others haue good conceits but deliuered after an affected manner they put a little liquor into too great a vessell Others are so concise that you need a commentarie to vnderstand them the former be not without all follie and the latter lacke not some pride yet those are more commendable than these for those onely are tedious thorow their prolixitie but these are molestfull because they require too great attention and make a man often spend many spirits to win a slender knowledge Many write confusedly without method and order and such comprehend not their matter others are too precise in diuisions in such sort that ere you come to the last part you haue forgotten the first members and this defect I find in many postils of scriptures Good distinctions breed perspicuitie but a multitude engendreth obscuritie and best I hold it so to distinguish that distinctions may rather be noted in matter than in words With this I thinke good to conclude the discouery of Passions in humane actions omitting much more that might bee said in this matter as what passions may bee discouered in laughing in disputing in crossing in negotiating and such like externall operations and especially two discourses I haue omitted or rather not printed though penned the one is a discouerie of passions in censuring bookes a matter not vnnecessarie for this criticall age wherein euery mans labours are araigned at the tribunall seat of euery pedanticall censurious Aristarchs vnderstanding The other is discouerie of passions in taking Tabacco The former treatise was violently kept from me and therefore not in my power to print the latter vpon some good considerations was for a time suspended but lest my labour should be too long and the Discourse too tedious I will leaue these and many more to the Readers wittie obseruation and deliberat iudgement Order or conference of Passions CHAP. III. WEe may conferre passions together in diuers manners First in knowledge secondly in generation thirdly in intention and fourthly in degree of perfection or dignitie What passion is first and best knowne vnto vs. 1 THomas affirmeth that no passion is more sensibly Thom. in 1. 2. q. 26. â— 1. ad primum knowne vnto vs than desire or concupiscence for rendring a reason why our coueting appetite is commonly called concupiscibilis he saith the cause is for that we name things as we conceiue them and therefore because we perceiue our desire most manifestly wee call it our coueting or desiring appetite for as he proueth out of Saint Augustine Loue then most is felt when it is absent from the obiect beloued But I cannot herein consent with Thomas because I thinke there is no man that euer perceiued in himselfe so vehement a desire of any thing he loued as sadnesse and griefe when he was afflicted with that he hated In feare also who perceiueth not most sensibly that passion wherin men doe tremble shake and shiuer yea sweat blood for very feare as Maldonatus relateth hee heard of those which saw a Maldo in 26. ca. 1. Mat. Arist. lib. 7. de histor arumal ca. 16. lib. 3. de part ani ca 5. strong man at Paris condemned to death sweat blood for very feare And he prooueth out of Aristotle that this effect may be naturall Neither Caietanes shift vpon Thomas serueth any
thing to the purpose that wee perceiue better our desires of the soule without any corporall alteration of the body than either loue pleasure or hatred for this comment spoyleth the text because hardly we conceiue any actions of the soule but by these corporall alterations the which induce vs to name them according to Thomas his meaning neither is it true that we prooue by experience without the motions of the body more sensibly concupiscence than ioy or sadnesse and this assumption was admitted of Caietane without any probation Wherefore I thinke we may best say that of all passions wee prooue paine griefe sadnesse pleasure feare and delectation are most notoriously knowne yet because these vehement passions doe not affect vs so commonly but at certaine times and desires of those things we loue continue the longest and fall foorth oftenest therefore men called our sensitiue appetite Concupiscibilis coueting First of all then sadnesse most manifestly is knowne to vs because wee suffer often and feele most sensible paine then pleasure then feare the other are not so open but sometimes they may exceed and so more shew themselues as ire desperation c. Order of Passions in generation or production 2 DIuines and Philosophers commonly affirme that all other passions acknowledge loue to be their fountaine root and mother the reason I take to be for that al passions either prosecut some good or flie some euill those which flie euill as hatred feare sadnesse presuppose the loue of some good the which that euill depriueth as for example who hateth death but he which loueth life who feareth aduersity but he that loueth prosperitie who is pensiue in his sickenesse but hee that loueth health Loue then goeth before all those passions which eschew euil Amongst them which prosecute good loue likewise proceedeth for the passions of our minds are not vnlike the motions of our bodies For as things naturally mooued haue an appetite or naturall inclination to the place whereunto they are mooued mooue and rest therein as the water which runneth so fast downe the mountaines hath an instinct of Nature to be vnited with the Sea for which cause we see brookes and flouds runne with such a maine force to attaine thereunto when they come to the Sea presently they ioyne in friendship and liue in concord ioyning together as louing friends euen so we see in beastes the horse loueth water when hee is thirstie and therefore by desire hee seeketh out some riuer or fountaine when he hath found it he drinketh pleaseth himself therewith and so resteth contented This ordinarie course keepe passions but sometimes this subordination is changed for if a man bee wounded vpon a sodaine the present passion of griefe and ire inuade him and so per accidens in many other cases the foresaid order may be broken Order of Passions in Intention 3 IF we discourse of those Passions which reside in the sensitiue appetite it euer first intendeth pleasure and delight because therewith Nature is most contented from which intention followeth loue hatred ire and such like this passion beasts most desire yea children and sensuall persons wholy seeke after and direct almost their whole actions thereunto for pleasure is the polestare of all inordinat passions and if a man examine himselfe thorowly he shal find that riches glorie health learning and what else most men desire aime commonly at pleasure and delight of the body because these pleasures are easily perceiued and in them the soule seemeth to purchase a quiet rest Neuerthelesse vertuous men whose passiōs are ruled by reason leuel at a higher mark and subordinate pleasure to honestie and delight to vertue because as we say Glorie waiteth on Vertue as the shadow followeth the body euen so vnto good actions followeth a certaine pleasure and sweetnesse howbeit a good man giueth almes yet dooth he not giue it with intention men should commend him as hypocrites do and so be repayd with the pleasure of a good reputation but with the testimonie of a good conscience that hee doth it for the glorie of God Order of Passions in Dignitie 4 IF we compare our passions in dignitie or perfection then those wherewith we prosecute good are more excellent than those wherewith wee esteeme ill and among these loue holdeth the principall place and as a queene in dignitie preceadeth the rest because that loue vniteth the louer in affection with the obiect beloued loue is the root of other affections loue finally maketh vs friends with God and man All we haue said of passions residing in our sensitiue appetite the same we find in the reasonable passion of our will because the will hath such like acts specified of the same obiects directed to the same end for as a Rhetoritian will make an Epistle according to the rules of Grammer as well as a Grammarian euen so what our sensatiue appetite followeth or abhorreth the same our will may prosecute or detest THE FIFT BOOKE of the Passions of the Minde Wherein are deliuered the means to mooue Passions THe water which wee find in euery Citie by three wayes passeth into it either by fountaines or springs by riuers or conduits or by raine snow or halestones that is some water ariseth some passeth some descendeth so in like manner our imaginations or internall sences and consequently our Passions by three wayes are mooued by humours arising in our bodies by externall sences and secret passage of sensuall obiects by the descent or commaundement of reason How passions are stirred vp by humours was aboue deliuered here onely remaineth to declare how they are prouoked by sences and incited by the wit and will And first of all we will begin with the motions of sences as most knowne obuious and ordinarie How sences mooue Passions and specially our sight §. 1. GEnerally they loue and affect vanitie for what is that they loue or can loue in the world and worldly but vanitie that is neither before it is had contenteth nor when it is possessed fully pleaseth nor after it is departed satisfieth For such things are vaine which vanish away and are resolued into nothing They search after lies not onely because all worldly allurements yeeld no felicitie and contentation as they beare vs in hand but also for that in very deed and really they be lies shewing one thing in the rind and externall apparance and an other in the coare and internall essence for cousining arts falsifie and sophisticat nature causing copper seeme gold hypocrisie sanctitie and sences surfeits the soules solaces All sences no doubt are the first gates whereby passe and repasse all messages sent to passions but yet the scriptures in particular wonderfully exhort commaund and admonish vs to attend vnto the custodie and vigilance ouer our eyes Dauid who had once vnwarily glaunced awry and let goe the raines of his eyes at his passions importunity thought himselfe vnable without Gods speciall grace to guide direct and withdraw them from vanitie and therefore
reputeth yron as strawes and brasse like rotten wood who swalloweth slouds and exspecteth that the whole River of Iordan should runne into his mouth Yet armed Iob. 41. 18. 40. 18. Vide Marâ— 1. 26. 5. 2. 9. 26. Luc. 8. 29. the forces of the Devill his craft 1. Reg. 13. 19. 2. Esd 4. 11. with thy protection I feare not to prostrate him as David that mighty tower of flesh the vncircumcised Philistian who boasted against the God of Israel For in Deo meo transgrâ—diar murum I will pierce even the stony walles by the power and force of my God Si exurgant adverfum me castra non timebit cor meum If whole Camps assault me my heart will not feare for I know O omnipotent God that love thee as I should thine almighty hand will vphold me in all dangers and strengthen me in all assaults Sweet God enable me therefore with thy love for the surest Castell Galat. 5. 6. 1. Pet. 5. 8. against the Devill is a faith working with charity and the Devils bullets of battery against this fort are suggestions 2. Cor. 12. 7. working with concupiscence or selfe-love and sensualitie The 15. and 16. Motives to Love which are delivery from evill and toleration of wrongs for vs. GOodnes or true love principally by foure meanes are discovered first in bountifully giving gifts and bestowing benefits as Alexander the great who herein so excelled that in all occasions he woon eternall fame and incomparable love of all that delt with him for his magnificent deportment in powring forth his treasures and no doubt but that common verse more true then olde was penned for this and many more such like experiences to wit Si quis in hoc mundo vult cunctis gratus haberi Det capiat quaeratâ— plurima pauca nihil He that to all will heere be gratefull thought Must give accept demaund much little nought Secondly in not punishing or revenging iniuries wheÌ„ they be offered wherefore Saul vnderstanding that David whom he so mightily persecuted got him at such advantage as that if it had pleased him to have revenged so many wrongs offered him by Saul he might with as much facilitie have bereaved him in the cave of his life as Saul had desire to dispoyle him of his lyfe I say after 1 Reg. 24 cap. 26. that Saul vnderstood the revengelesse heart of David levavit vocem suam slevit hee wept for ioy and apertly confessed his vertue love kindnes and withall acknowledged his owne iniustice and iniquitie Thirdly in riddance and delivery from evill when Iudith entred into Bethulia with Holophernes head and Iudith 1â— by that meanes had redeemed her Countrie from the extreme danger of the Assyrian Hoast which of that people had not occasion sufficiently offered to love admire Ester 7. 8. and adore her After that Ester had procured the death of Hamman and the reclaime of that bloody Edict Assuerus at Hammans suggestion had sent abroad to be executed thorow all the kingdoms of the Medes and Persians what Iew had not there a most forcible motive to love and reverence that godly Queene which so wisely so couragiously so effectually had saved their lives and restored them to former libertie The same wee may say of Moses who ridde the Israelites from the thraldom of Egypt and of Iosua and Sampson who divers times defended their people from the hostile furie and invasion of their enemies and for this cause such noble Generalls among the Romanes were intituled Patres Patriae Fathers of the Countrie because they as Fathers had defended it and therefore deserved to be reputed and loved as Fathers Fourthly in tollerating wrongs crosses disasters afflictions for vs. This Veritie we finde recorded in holy Writ Maiorem charitatem nemo habet quam vt animam ponat quis pro amicis suis No man can shew more love then by powring out his life for his friend if then any suffer wrongs for our cause the neerer they approch to death the neerer they border vpon the most perfite remonstrance of Love and consequently are more forcible to cause or encrease kindnesse and affection When Saint Paule persecuted the Christians in the primitive Church Christ for whose cause they endured such persecutions accounted their ignominies his iniuries and therefore said Saule Saule cur me persequeris Saul Saul why dost thou persecute me as though his servants harmes were his hurts Who dishonoureth an Ambassadour but his King reputeth the iniurie offered vnto his Person who revileth a servant sent from his Lord but his Master will thinke therein his honour stayned wherefore as Christs Apostles and Disciples Ambassadors or Servants wrongs redound to their disgrace that sent them and in very deed they ought so to esteeme them as done to themselves because they plead and negotiate the Senders causes and affaires and in some sorte represent their persons even so whosoever handleth or dealeth in our behalfe and thereby incurreth any disgrace in honour wealth or body for vs ought to be reputed our friend in furthering our causes and negotiations and have repayred all the dammages he suffered in our defence Whosoever then suffereth for our cause wee account as innocent and to suffer wrongfully therefore wee condole with him and no doubt but love him Secondly such an one is violently bereaved of some good for our good which cannot but argue an extraordinary good will towards vs and consequently an apt motive to move vs to love Thirdly if that Position of Aristotle be true that we love them Arist. 2. Rheâ— cap. 4. which tell and confesse sincerely their faults and offences for as Thomas Aquinas noteth such men shut the doore to all fiction and dissimulation and therefore are thought vpright and so deserve to be loved Certainly they that suffer any dammage or danger of dammage for vs exclude all fiction or dissimulation and really proove they love vs affectually and not superficially and therefore deserve to be beloved reciprocally O my sweete Saviour and impassible God! who by Divine nature art incapable of dammage griefe sorrow or disgrace of whom well we may say Non accedet ad te malum nec slagellum appropinquabit Tabernaculo tuo Psal 90. Evill shall never come neere thee nor any scourge approch to thy Tabernacle Yet to ridde me and all mankinde from evill thou abased thy selfe almost to the abysse of nothing factus vermis non homo opprobrium hominum abiectio plebis A worme and not a man the scorne of men and the scomme of the people Whether shal I say was greater and deserved more love the evill thou hast endured for mee or the evill from which thou hast delivered me My payne from whence thou hast ridde mee should have beene infinite in durance and thy payne sustained for mee was infinite in dignitie my soule and body were most cruelly in hell to have beene tormented and thy body and soule vpon the
how bitter is the memorie of death to that man which hath peace and great felicitie in his substance and that loveth extremely this transitory life To move this Hatred two things specially are diligently to be observed first the Person beloved and all those reasons which may stir vp his love then the hurt of the evill and all the harmes it bringeth with it for example we ought for the love of our owne soules and the soules of our neighbours detest and abhorre sinne and the offence of God now all those inducements which moove vs to love our soules strike in our hearts a horrour of sinne which is the death and destruction of soules And all those reasons which shew the deformity of sin stirre vp a detestation thereof The generall Motives alledged above applied to this particular will suffice to perswade vs to love our Soules the nature harmes consequent vnto sinne and all other evils we would induce our auditors to detest may be collected out of the common places of Invention reduced above to Ansit quid sit quale sit propter quid sit Meanes to move flight and feare § 6. WE said that flight or detestation was opposite to desier and that desier was the wishing of a thing abstracted from hope or expectation thereof as every beggar would be a King if he might choose albeit he never had nor is like to have any hope of the aspiring thereunto Flight is a detestation of some evill though not imminent nor exspected yet such an evill as we abhorre it and detest it and possibly may befall vs as a king to fall to poverty beggery or servitude he abhorreth yet because he living in such prosperity conceiveth no danger nor perill therefore he standeth in no feare These two passions of desier and detestation are stirred vp with the same motives that love and hatred of abomination for as all the reasons apportable to render the thing amiable the same make it desiderable so all the inducements which perswade the obiect of hatred to be abominable all the same cause it seeme detestable As for example I have a vertuous friend whom I love intierly he converseth with Atheists the more I love him the more I hate Atheisme as evill to him and therefore I abhorre it should any way befall him I am moved to abominate it as an extreme evill for what can be more sottish then to deny a God whom all creatures confesse and say ipse fecit nos non ipsae nos he made vs and not we our selves what can be more beastly then not to acknowledge him nor his benefits who every moment powreth vpon vs sundry favours What horrible disorders should we see in the world if there were not supposed a God that governeth and knoweth all and at last with the ballance of his inflexible iustice will examine iudge and reward all No doubt but if Atheisme once enter into the hearts of men vertue will be despised and vice esteemed might will rule right and the rich oppresse the poore and epicurisme wil take full possession edamus bibamus cras moriemur let vs gull our selves with eating quaffing for after this life no other remaineth and therefore little it importeth vs to live like beasts and dye like dogs all these and many more such like arguments demonstrate the abomination of Atheisme and also perswade evidently the detestation of the same so that by applying the harmes or dammages of the evill considered in generall and absolutely in it selfe to my selfe or my friend whom I love we may easily force flight and detestation Feare is a flight of a probable evill imminent wherefore two things must be proved amplified to enforce feare first that the evill is great secondly that it is very likely to happen the excesse of the evill may be gathered out of the precedent discourses the likelyhood probability or certainty we draw from sundry circumstances as from our adversaries malice hatred against vs their craft deceit their former maner of proceeding wherunto we may annexe the impossibility or extreme difficulties to avoid it as their might and our weakenes their experience and our rawnesse so that where there is obstinate implacable hatred against vs knowledge and foresight how to overcome vs power and meanes to put in execution potent malice and hatred what wicked effect will not then follow The vicinitie also of the evill moveth much for dangers afarre off we little esteeme as subiect to sundry casualities and encounters but when they are neere and at the doore then it is time to be stirring If an Oratour would by the passion of feare move the Italians Almanes and Spanyards to ioyne in league and waâ—re vpon the Turke he might vrge them in this manner The Romanes in passed ages who with most carefull eye did foresee prevent the dangers of their Empire thought not themselves secure in Italy except the Carthaginians were vanquished but how much more neere are the Turkish Cities to Spaine Germany and Italy then Carthage was to Rome What a swift Navie of Gailies hath Danger imminent he alwayes prepared by Sea and therefore in one night may enter either the coasts of Italy or Spayne What an infinite Army as well of horsemen as footemen hath he alwayes in a readinesse to invade offend and ruine whom he wyll almost at vnawares at least them that border vpon him ere they can be halfe prepared Of what force is this tyrant The Romanes still lived in feare of the Carthaginians though divers times overcome by them and have not we much more reason to feare the Turkish puissance What fortresses hath he woon from Christians what Cities sackt what Provinces The Turks forces vanquished what Kingdomes subdued what Empires spoyled enioyed possessed Who ruleth now Africk The Turke either all or most Who signorizeth over Asia The Turke Who doth domineere over the greatest part of Europe The Turke his treasures are infinite his victuals abundant his people innumerable and so subiect and obedient that they repute it a favour to be bereaved of their lives at their Emperours pleasure Are all Princes Christian able to leavie and maintaine an army of 300000. fighting men Solyman brought so many before Vienna in Austria what wil such a world of combatents do nay what will they not do Cover the fields like Locusts in expugnation of Cities reare vp mountaines of earth in a moment fill vp ditches with dead corps of their owne men to scale the walles with the very sight of such an invincible multitude strike terrour and amazement in the hearts of all them that shall see them or heare of them His malice is The Turks hatred against Christians no lesse then his might what pretendeth he in Constantinople forsooth to be Emperour over all Europe and successor to Constantine the great this he claymeth as right this he meaneth to win by might this he resolveth to inioy at length Did he
ever yet overslip oportunitie when Christians were at civill braules among themselves or that he perceived any little advantage ready to further his plots let Rhodes Cypers Buda and the best part of Hungarie witnesse his vigilant malice and malitious intent Whom hateth he more then Christians who hold him for an vsurper who of right should possesse and inherit all he hath Whose religion hath he extinguished in all those worthie kingdomes he now enioyeth but Christianity Whom calleth he dogs but Christians But the Persian as yet holdeth him play as potent as he thirstie of his blood as the Turke of Christians If that were not truly except miraculously God preserved Christianitie we should have seene all Europe over-runne But why may wee not suppose that at last they wyll come to some truce or cessation from warres for a long time as a wearied with so much warring and bloodshed or finally conclude a peace and what then is like to befall vs why rather were it not better now for all Christians to be at peace among themselves and assault and invade him vpon this side while we have the Persian to incounter with him on the other O blindnes O prowd ambition of Christian Princes who seeke rather to spoyle their brethren of their owne with iniury then they will warre against their common Adversary to recover their owne right Put case the Turkes breake over their bankes and make a generall inundation over all Europe what great harme might wee expect what harme God avert vs from prooving the Turkish tyranny what man is secure The greatnes of the evill feared of his lyfe in their Invasion who hath eyther strength wisedome wealth or nobilitie whereby he may seeme eyther to have opposed or hereafter oppose himselfe against them what Matrone what Virgin what Lady shall befree from theyr beastly violence who shal keepe lands or livings vnder the clowches of such ravinous Kytes and devouryng Cormorants whatsoever a man getteth with his sweate and industrie when hee dyeth the great Turkish Tyrant must inherit and what he deemeth or pleaseth shall be allowed the wife and children The Gallies shall then want no Slaves to leade a hellish thraldome when they have vanquished so many as they may vse in all drudgery and slavery at their pleasure the children who are warlike in their infancy perforce shal be taken from their parents sent into a farre country from thē there trained vp in martiall prowes and Turcisme and forget both father mother countrie and kindred and neither yeeld comfort ever to progenitors nor receive any comfort from them Many more such tyrannicall vexations barbarous cruelties I could recount but he that will not be moved with these I hold him neither a wise morall man nor any way touched with one sparke of christian zeale Meanes to move Ire § 7. IRe includeth in it a certaine hatred of enmitie and thereunto super-addeth a desier of revenge the first part hath the same motives as hatred and the desier of revenge may be revived quickned and increased by the exaggeration of the iniury receyved the greatnesse and enormitie whereof we have insinuated in the circumstances of bestowing benefits for as gifts and favours procede from kindnesses and good will so iniuries from hatred and malice and therefore the contraryes of bountifull geving will demonstrate the heynousnes of spitefull iniurying wherefore as we reduced them to foure heads so we will these to wit the giver gift receyver manner of giving the iniurer iniurie iniuried manner of iniurie The Iniurer § 8. THe iniurers basenesse augmenteth the iniurie as a buffer given a Prince by a Prince were not so heynous an iniury as if a base peasant had done it because as the greatnes of the Princes person ought more to be respected of a base man then of an equall Prince so by beating him his contempt is accounted the greater Secondly if the iniure◠be a wise grave and vertuous man the iniury by the persons dignity increaseth for example if a Bishop or a famous Doctor dispraise or iniuriously detract the good name of a Nobleman Gentleman or Cleargyman for commonly every one will esteeme it truer comming from such a mans mouth and it is like to make deeper impression in their minds because such circumspect persons are not accustomed without great cause and vrgent reasons so to traduce any man Thirdly if the iniury proceed from a publike Magistrate or officer of iustice whom it concerneth in equitie to procure and commaund that every man have right the iniury is greater as if the Iudge or Iustice of peace infame any person called before them vniustly the iniury is almost doubled for the innocent suffereth wrong of him who in iustice was bound rather to save his credit then so iniuriously to abuse him 4. If the iniurer were before our most speciall friend for that common grammaticall example that Amantiū irae a moris redintegratio sunt that lovers ire sets love afier and friends dissentions renue revive increase friendship This sentence I say must be seasoned with a graine of salt and first in voluptuous love and mercinarie friendship the rule holdeth for when such lovers live in dissension they want that pleasure they most desired and therefore as one who long time wanteth drinke or meate after bringeth more hunger and thirst and consequently liketh and loveth his meate and drinke better then he did before even so such want of wished delights causeth a more vehement desier and ioyfull possession thereof And yet this also must be vnderstoode when there is hope remayning of future fruition for otherwise love transporteth herselfe into mortall hatred as the spitefull malice of Putifers vnchast wife witnesseth in persecuting vntill death the chaste and innocent Ioseph In faithfull love among vertuous friends small trifling iniuries are oftentimes occasion of more fervent and vigilant love as a little 〈◊〉 in a beautifull face causeth the beautie better appeare so frivolous wrangles and friendly frownes cause the amiable vnion of friendship But in great offences and premeditated iniuries which admit no tergiversation nor amicable interpretation such of all others are most bitter and irreconcileable and therefore Aristotle well noted that discords Aristot 7. de Rep. ca. 7. among brethren friends were most vehement for who would not be moved with iust indignation there to finde hatred where he most affectually loved there to receive iniuries where he expected favours there finally to reape harmes where he iudged the offender in duty obliged to do good 5. If he have received any benefits at our hands and in lieu of reward recognition and gratitude repaye vs with iniuries ingratitude and for this circumstance we reade that God in the old Testament expostulating the dayly iniuries the stiff-neckt Iewes offered him he vsually reprehended their ingratitude with commemorating the continuall benefits he had bestowed vpon them as though such favours deserved better service 6. If the iniurer
friends and secretly iniuried like enemies this dissimulation addeth an other vitious circumstance covering enmity with amity Secondly if along time the Iniury was thought vpon and premeditated then the continuation sheweth a more confirmed ill will against vs if at Christmasse Easter or such times as are religiously celebrated Thirdly if in place where wee ought to be loved and honored or reverenced there we be wronged dishonored disgraced as if a Bishop should be beaten in the Church or a Preacher threatned preaching in the pulpit a Iudge vpon the Bench a Councellour at the Councel table a King in his Throne Fourthly in every particular iniury the manner of offending and demonstrating internal exuperant ill wil may a hundred wayes be varied Who is able to recount the manners how enemies kill wound and iniury their Adversaries as the very cudgell wherewith a Cavalero is bastonated greatly aggravateth the offence and many would wish rather to bee deepely wounded with a sword then beaten in that fashion Caracalla the Emperour hearing that the Lawyer Papinian was beheaded with a hatchet was greatly offended wishing it Dio. in Caracal Herod li. 4 had been e effected with a sword for his more disgrace and ignominie Fiftly if the iniurie bee publike before a multiude then the greater number concurreth to blaze abroad the Infamy for commonly if with words or deeds we iniury one the cause will be supposed to have beene given by the person iniuried and so he must beare the blowes and also an vniversall discredite I say commonly for it seemeth difficill how the iniuried vpon a sudden can quit himselfe of the calumniations imposed vpon him though never so innocent because the iniurer in a trice may cogge out a world of lyes sweare and stare against him the which flatte denyall will not suffice to confute and to convince them by witnesse or evident reason vpon a sudden all wise men will confesse to be extreme hard Meanes to moove Hope § 13. HOpe is a Passion whereby we expect probably or certaynely any future good or any evil to happen conceaved as good For example the Souldyer expecteth and hopeth for riches when he lyeth before a Cittie to besiege it the blessed Saintes in Heaven live in a most certayne Hope of the glorious Resurrection of theyr bodyes the Dyvell in temptyng Gods Servants hopeth to prevayle Hope therefore beeyng grounded vpon perswasion specyally of obtayning therefore all those Motives which render the atchyevement more likely all those styrre and moove the Passion of Hope and the more forcibly they which perswade it most apparantly and presently This obiect is endlesse and hardly can be brought to any Methode for as the thyngs hoped for are without number so the Meanes and Motyves to induce men thereunto be infinite Howbeit these generall Preceptes may be observed First for that Hope expecteth the thing hoped for of an other or by a mans labour endevour or industry therefore wee must in stirring it have alwayes an eye to the groundes and foundations whereupon our Hope shall be built for as these fadge so Hope followeth if these bee small or frivolous Hope is vayne and ridiculous if they be strong and sound Hope will proove more certayne and prudent for wise men alwayes according to these groundes iudge of the event for example a man may well hope the Turkish Empyre cannot long continue because theyr manner of governement repugneth with stabilitie and continuation for how is it possible but that in every change of Emperour there should succeede civill warres among them seeing the new Emperour presently causeth all his brethren to bee slayne lest afterwards they should growe potent and trouble his Raigne I omitte that this bloody vnnaturall Tyranny which demaundeth dayly vengeaunce at Gods handes deserveth Division Rebellion and Destruction and onely inferre that they being certayne to dye in all humane Policie nay in naturall equity are enforced to make partes and while theyr Father lyveth provide Forces and Friends and after hee is dead to prevayle by Mayne and Might that theyr Brothers Creation be not theyr destruction Secondly among grave men few reasons and strong are more effectuall then a number but weaker because they bee able presently by the strength of theyr wittes to confute and overthrow them But a multitude of slender reasons among the common people strike a greater stroke for coniectures and probabilities worke as forcibly with them as deepe demonstrations Thirdly to gather these Motives into heads I hold it best in that hope which dependeth vpon the good will of another to performe to discourse over the Circumstances of actions Quis quid vbi quibus auxilijs cur quomâ—do quando And out of them picke some perswasions of obtayning a graunt For example if the granter be our friend or kinseman if of his nature liberall and bountifull c. Quid if the thing bee profitable to the giver or receyver without any harme or detriment vnto the giver Vbi if the giver or granter be in place where vsually he granteth such requests as entertayned of vs taking possession of great landes c. If we have potent Intercessours for vs and wise Agents to procure what we desire then this Circumstance of Quibus auxilijs will greatly further our purpose Cur If hee have many reasons to grant our suite and none to withstand it Quomodo If in the manner of granting hee winne himselfe great credit and reputation eyther because it argueth a bountifull minde or a compassion-full heart or a charitable conscience or most or all Fourthly it were not amisse to set downe all the obiections which any way may frustrate our Hope and briefely orderly and as evidently as may be refute them for thereby all cavilles and impediments shall be remooved Fiftly that which I have sayd of Hope by a contrary rule may be applyed vnto Desperation for the difficulty of obtayning that we desire being remonstrated to be inseperable either by the parties malice or inviticible meanes which must be vsed in the procuring of it that I say rendreth the thing desperate and consequently vnexpectable Meanes to move ioy and delight § 16. AS there is nothing in this life more potent then pleasure to move men to action and the attempting of great exploits so there is nothing more requisite to be knowne to any man that will be gratefull acceptable vnto men then how to move and excite them to pleasure True it is that ambitious men aspire after honours but why thirst they so after theÌ„ but because they take an extraordinary delight to be honored why do covetous cormogions distill the best substance of their braines to get riches but after they have gotten them to delight in the possession or fruition of them the same may be said of all inordinate passions which consist in the prosequution of some amiable or desiderable obiect And the reason is for ioy delight are a possession of some good thing wherin nature receiveth great contentation
origen from the vnderstanding and the will so in every obiect of delight there is a certaine intensive goodnes perfection and there is an extensive as for example in a Cellar of wine there may be excellent good wine and varietie of excellent good wine and thereby our taste may be delighted with the perfection of wine and with the varieties of wine In like manner in all the obiects of delight we may find a certaine intension of goodnes and a certaine extension and both these well vnderstood and declared exceedingly increase pleasure delight for the intention filleth and satiateth the soule and the extension or varietie taketh away a certaine distastfull loathsomnesse which one kind of vniforme pleasure draweth with it The sixt Booke entreating of the defects or imperfections of mens soules THE Geographers describing the scituation of any country are not content to set downe the provinces citties and territories thereof but also they depaint in theyr Cardes and explicate in theyr Bookes the Countries and Cities adioyning that thereby men might know the borders and limits of both and not mistake the one for the other even so because our sensitive appetite hath the wit and will which border vpon it therefore I thought good to declare certayne of their imperfections which knowledge will not help vs alitle to discerne more exactly the nature of passions Besides good Physitians of the body expend not onely the present agew or humor that causeth sicknesse but also they search out the causes and of-springs of such maladies so I thinke it not amisse to shew the vniversall causes from whence inordinate passions proceede And first of all we will descend vnto the defects of our wits or vnderstandings 2 Defects of our Vnderstanding ALl the defects of our wit may be reduced to two Ignorance and Errour by Ignorance we know not things necessary by Errour we know them falsely Ignorance is a privation Errour a positive action all ignorance cannot be prevented many errours but all cannot be escaped from ignorance floweth vice and from errour heresie 1. Naturall ignorance ALl the sonnes of men are conceived and borne in sinne and ignorance Aristotle compareth our wits at the beginning to a smooth table wherein nothing is written but apt to receive all formes and figures and in this truely I must confesse one poynt of my ignorance that it seemeth to me that God endoweth bruite beasts with more sparkes of knowledge then reasonable men and they may be sayde even in their nativitie to have imprinted a certayne knowledge and naturall instinct to inquire and finde out things necessary to be theyr owne Physitians to flye that may hurt them and follow that may profit them Marke but a Lambe almost new yeaned how it will finde foorth the mothers dugge discerne and single her foorth in all the flocke waite vppon her so dilligentlie within eight dayes it seeth light but a childe may be many dayes borne and yet cannot finde out his mothers dugge except the Nurse move him vnto it neyther can it cure it selfe or demaund what it needeth otherwayes then by weeping II. Errours of the last end WHen a man beginneth to practize a little his facultie of Vnderstanding then you shall see how fitly he expelleth this chaos of infinite ignorance lyke an vnskilfull Physitian who to cure one disease causeth a worse so hee delivereth himselfe of ignorance by a multitude of errours quenching his thirst with a potion of poyson this wee may see more plainely by the infinite errours that men are subiect vnto by Nature For let vs consider the famous Philosophers of passed ages who lacking faith bragged of naturall knowledge Which of them knew but to what end man was created of God their dissenting sects and erroneous opinions Lactantius and Saint Austen relate how some thought mens last Lactandib 3. divina institut ca. 7. Aug. lib. 19. civiâ— ca. 1. sequentibus end was pleasure others naturall knowledge some in privation of payne some to live according to nature others the goods of the soule the body and fortune with infinite such like false assertions and this not about a trifle or May-game but the very mayne poynt whereat men should ayme at all their lives and whereunto they were bound to direct all their actions III. Errours in the meanes IF the ende was apparelled with such darkenesse how how could they bee but ignorant of the meanes necessary for the atchievement of such an ende and wee dayly proove what difficulty men feele in effecting yea in resolving themselves which action is good which is badde how many volumes have beene written of cases of Conscience and yet what good mans conscience is not vexte some times with seruples who can define the qualitie of his actions affected with such varietie of circumstances who can resolve himselfe howe farâ—e the lawe of Nature engraven in our heartes extendeth Howe often doth an erroneous conscience barke and byte when the Soule did not prevaricate the Lawe of God or passe the limittes of Reason This blindnesse of Minde without all question argueth great imperfection of the Soule and extreme Misery of man Wherefore one cryed Delicta quis intelligit Ab occultis meis munda me Domine and Psal 18. Iob. 9. 2â— another Verebar omnia opera mea IIII. Difficultie in Vnderstanding BVt what shall I say of the woonderfull difficultie all men suffer to come by the knowledge of any Trueth Veritas in profundo latet Veritie lyeth in the bottome In the West Indies those that follow by digging the Veynes of Gold runne vnder high mountaynes many miles descending through stony Rockes into the bowels of the earth yet they ever are winning ground they reape Oare they recompence their travell they labour with alacrity But in learning occurreth another sort of difficulty Trueth must be further fetcht greater sweate and industry must be vsed For what cause I pray you stand Schoole-masters armed dayly with whips and scourges with such sowre and bitter visages with thundring threatning words but by terror to enforce their vntoward and vnwilling Youth to overcome the difficulty they find in learning why at this present doe so many ignorant replenish the world discoursing so blockishly speaking so sottishly Quidam sunt tantae satuitatâ— vt non multuma pecorâ—bus disserant Angust ep 28. ad thereon answering so absurdly that scarce you would iudge them indued with reasonable soules but onely because they had rather be buried in that profound cave of ignorance than endevour to overcome the extreame difficulty they finde in learning What other reason can by yeelded why all ignorance and errours are not abolished and wholy extinguished seeing learned men have left to their posteritie so many thousand volumes that in some Libraries you should finde five sixe ten thousand corps of bookes all written for no other end than to purifie our wittes to consume the cloudes of errours and ignorance but the difficulty we find in
great dispute among Phisitians what should be the cause of the Paroxismes or fittes in Agues and once I my selfe being troubled with a tertian Ague in Italie in the Cittie of Como there came two Phisitians my deere friends and a Doctor of Diuinitie all at one time to visite me and euen then I stood in expectation of my fit After many complements discourses about my sicknes at last I demaunded these two Doctors of Phisicke that they would resolue mee in one doubt about my disease they aunswered with a good will Well sayd I you both conclude and it stands with good reason that this sicknes of mine proceedeth from excesse of choller now I would know of you when my fit is past is the choller all disguested consumed and voyded away or no If it be consumed why dooth my Ague returne if it be not consumed why dooth mine Ague depart The Phisitians here aunswered one contraâ—ie to another for the first sayd it was disguested Why then returneth mine Ague For this cause quoth he the Ague proceedeth not onely of choller but of choller putrified corrupted and poysoned Now sir the choller poysoned is consumed but other choller which remaineth is not corrupted but by the next paroxisme it will be corrupted Well sayd I what thing is that which corrupteth poisoneth that good choller which before was not corrupted It seemeth strange to me how so much precisely should be corrupted and the other beeing so neere lying by it or rather vnited with it yea mingled in it not to be infected In truth I remember not what he aunswered but I am sure he satisfied none of vs all The other Doctor of Phisicke sayd it was not consumed but nature feeling the force of that poyson vnited her selfe to fight against it and so allayed most of the vehemencie vigour and malignitie thereof and hee gaue an example of a pot of water set on the fire for quoth hee if the coales be couered with ashes the hote water cooleth blow the fire and it warmeth and boyleth let ashes returne or the fire die the water returneth to the first coldnesse So quoth hee the poyson of the choller by natures might is ouercome when the Ague departeth but after that those spirits and forces which nature had vnited are dispersed the fire is quenched and choller againe corrupted But quoth the other Phisitian so the sicknesse should neuer depart for if your choller be still in cooling and heating and nature now fighting now ceasing when I pray you shall this combat be finally ended Marry sir quoth his fellow Doctor in this sort nature mittigateth the forces of choller this fit and allayeth them now nature in the meane time is strengthned with good foode and the humour either purged or quailed with phisicke and so by little and little it is quite disguested Not so said the other for then the second fit should alwayes be lesse then the first and the third lesse then the second and so forward to the last but this is false for his third and fourth fits were much more vehement then either the first or second And besides by this declaration no man should euer die vpon an Ague For if in euery fit the sicknesse ceassed not vntill the humour were allayed then certainly in Agues which are mortall the fitte shoulde neuer passe which is most false With this the Doctor of Diuinitie who was a very good Philosopher and for that he had beene much troubled with maladies he was like manie wrangling Gentlemen a petty-fogging Phisitian at his owne costs as they be petty-fogging Lawyers thorow theyr owne sutes Why said the Diuine may we not hold that the Ague is in the liuer and hart No quoth the Phisitians both that cannot be because no Phisitian euer held that any Ague was in partibus solidis that is in the hart liuer c. except the Hecticke Well said the diuine I say not that it is in the hart and liuer immediatly for that I will confesse perforce must be choller but I say the fountaine and spring the roote and crigen to reside in the liuer the which immediatly causeth corrupted blood and inflamed choller for they beeing extraordinarily corrupted themselues with vehement heate cannot but engender blood spirits and humors of like infection and corruption And by this way I aunswere the first doubt that when the Ague ceaseth choller is diguested Why then returneth it againe Marie sir because the hart and liuer beeing out of temper in that space of time engender so many more peruerse humors as opprâ—sse nature so vehemently and dangerously that shee must imploy all her might to resist them abate them extinguish them In truth Maister Doctor said I this opinion I like very well and I will confirme it for since mine Ague first beganne these Phisitians haue inculcated nothing so much vnto me by word and deede as to coole my liuer to this effect all their syrrops and waters of Endiue Sicory and Barley tended And with this discourse wee ended our dispute mine Ague the which with this pleasant conference passed away Fiftly Plato auoucheth that Agues haue ages Plato in Dialog de Natur. like men as also consummations and ends vvith whom Galen consenteth This sentence of Plato Valesius a worthy Phisitian explicateth in this maner As there are two sorts of diseases sharpe and Valesius de Sacra Philo. cap. 7. cronicall both which haue theyr decretory daies but not alike for the sharpe haue odde dayes especially seauen the cronicall twenty sixty eightie a hundred so there are two prerogations or courses of life the one is common to many the other to fewe and such as are of a most liuely constitution both of them haue theyr Clymactericall or decretory yeeres The first wee number by seauen and nine the latter wee count by tenne and the last period is a hundred and twenty To this Discourse of Valesius lette vs adde a certayne poynt of experience and doctrine of Galen Galen lib. r. de diebus decretorijs c. 22. who in the decretorie dayes of a feuer which numbreth by seauen specially he will tell you the fourth day whether the Agew will leaue the patient the seauenth or whether hee shall die vpon the seauenth day or no and also withall hee teacheth to foretell the very houre of death vppon the seauenth day Last of all out of these considerations we may gather as much as will sufficiently I hope satisfie the Question proposed in the beginning of this Section viz why in these Clymactericall yeeres men commonly die To which I doe aunswere That for euery sixe yeeres or eight men still gather vppe more or lesse humours which prepare the way for an Agew in the seauen or nine As wee sayde before when the fitte is past the heart and liuer prepare humours for the next ensuing and in case they be not sufficient in the seauen they multiply to the nine if in this they faile then they passe to the foureteene then to eighteene c. And for this cause Physitians councell theyr Patients to purge in the Spring and Authumne to hinder the increase of humours albeit they feele themselues nothing diseased at all This we may declare by the example of them who are infected with hereditary diseases as the gowte or the stone for albeit they euidently appeere not till olde age yet in all the progresse of their yeeres the partes and humours infensibly are prepared Or wee may say that in sixe or eight yeeres the liuer and heart which are fountaines of bloud and origens of humours are so infected and corrupted that in the last yeere they engender more vnnaturall superfluous humours than can stand with the right and naturall constitution of the body But some will say by this opinion a man should euer be sicke for hee shoulde neuer want corrupted humours wherein sickenesse consisteth To this I answere first that health consisteth not in indiuisibili in an indiuisible poynt so that it admitteth not some few peccant humours withall but hath a certaine amplitude like as if into a But of strong Canary Wine a man euery moneth shoulde put in halfe a pinte of water euery day a spoonefull at the moneths end yea the yeeres end the Wine woulde be almost as potent as at the first yea and perhaps more if it bee well helped Secondly wee see that Custome breedeth qualities and alterations so insensibly as in long time till they come to a full growth they can hardly be perceiued Thirdly I doubt not but hee that hath for example the first foureteene yeere of his life for his Clymactericall in the precedent yeeres shall gather more corrupted humoures then hee whose Clymactericall yeere is nine and fortie and also feele himselfe proportionally more weake albeit hee can not well perceiue for I my selfe haue knowne a man almost with halfe his lungs rotten with a consumption and yet boldelie auowch that he was strong for Ab assuetis non fit passio Some will obiect that wee see by experience many menne die within the space of a day or two who before were as sound and whole as coulde be neyther in their vrine blood or pulse appeared any signe of sickenesse or superfluous humour To this I aunswere that such a man was eyther oppressed with some vehement Passion or some violent exercise or some other extrinsecall cause which accelerated peruerted and extraordinarily augmented the humour and so caused death for as I saide aboue although a man considering the common course of his dayes can not passe his prefixed time and Clymactericall periode yet by many meanes he may shorten it Much more I coulde say prò and contrà for this Declaration but because it were something too Physicall and not so necessarie for this Morall Treatise therefore I will bury it with silence for this poynt in very trueth is so intricate that I perceiue the best wittes are exceedingly troubled to extricate themselues out of it And therefore as this I esteeme probable so I woulde giue any Physitian most hearty thankes who in few woordes woulde teach mee a better way I sayde in briefe for I haue seene some such long tedious Discourses as I loathed to peruse them doubting lest the vncertaine profit would not repay the certaine payne Finis