a wise man 4 Wisely to examine all things whom I heere endeuour to describe to examine all things to consider apart and afterwards to compare together all the lawes and customes of the world which shall come to his knowledge and to iudge of them not to rule his obedience by them as hath beene said but to exercise his office since he hath a spirit to that end faithfully and without passion according to the rule of truth and vniuerfall reason and nature whereunto he is first obliged not flattering himselfe or staining his iudgement with error and to content himselfe to yeeld obedience vnto those whereunto hee is secondly and particularly bound whereby none shall haue cause to complaine of him It may fall out sometimes that wee may doe that by a second particular and municipall obligation obeying the lawes and customes of the country which is against the first and more ancient that is to say vniuersall nature and reason but yet we satisfie nature by keeping our iudgements and opinions true and iust according to it For wee haue nothing so much ours and whereof we may freely dispose the world hath nothing to do with out thoughts but the outward man is engaged to the publicke course of the world and must giue an account thereof so that manie times wee doe iustlie that which iustly we approoue not There is no remedie for so goes the world After these two mistresses Law and Custome comes the 8 Of Ceremonies third which hath no lesse authority power with many yea is more rough tyrannicall to those that too much tie themselues thereunto This is the ceremony of the world which to say the truth is for the most part but vanity yet holdeth such place and vsurpeth such authority by the remisnesse and contagious corruption of the world that manie thinke that wisedome consisteth in the obseruation thereof and in such sort do voluntarilie enthrall themselues thereunto that rather than they wil contradict it they preiudice their health benefit businesse libertie conscience and all which is a very great follie and the fault and infelicity of manie Courtiers who aboue others are the idolaters of ceremonie Now my will is that this my Wise-man do carefullie defend himselfe from this captiuity I doe not meane that out of a kind of loose inciuilitie he abuse a ceremonie for we must forgiue the world in some thing and as much as may be outwardlie conforme our selues to that which is in practise but my will is that he tie not and enthrall himselfe thereunto but that with a gallant and generous boldnesse hee know how to leaue it when he will and when it is fit and in such maner as that he giue all men to know that it is not out of carelesnes or delicacie or ignorance or contempt but because he would not seeme ignorant how to esteeme of it as is fit not suffer his iudgement and will to be corrupted with such a vanitie and that he lendeth himselfe to the world when it pleaseth him but neuer giueth himselfe CHAP. IX To carie himselfe well with another THis matter belongeth to the vertue of iustice which teacheth how to liue well with all and to giue to euery one that which appertaineth vnto him which shall be handled in the booke following where shall be set downe the particular and diuers opinions according to the diuersitie of persons Heere are only the generall following the purpose and subiect of this booke There is heere a two-fold consideration and consequently two parts in this Chapter according to the two maners of conuersing with the world the one is simple generall and common the ordinarie commerce of the world whereunto the times the affaires the voyages and encounters do daily leade and change acquaintance from those we know to those we know not strangers without our choice or voluntarie consents the other speciall is in affected and desired companie and acquaintance either sought after and chosen or being offered and presented hath beene embraced and that either for spirituall or corporall profit or pleasure wherein there is conference communication priuitie and familiaritie each of them haue their aduisements apart But before we enter into them it shall not be amisse by way of preface to giue you some generall and fundamentall aduice of all therest It is a great vice whereof this our Wise-man must take heed and a defect inconuenient both to himselfe and to another 3 Facilitie and vniuersalitie of humours to be bound and subiect to certaine humours and complexions to one only course that is to be a slaue to himselfe so to be captiuated to his proper inclinations that he cannot be bent to any other a testimonie of an anxious scrupulous mind and ill bred too amorous and too partiall to it selfe These kind of people haue much to endure and to contest and contrariwise it is a great sufficiencie and wisdome to accommodate himselfe to all I stud est sapere qui vbicunque opus sit animum possis flectere to be supple and manaiable to know how to rise and fall to bring himselfe into order when there is neede The fairest minds and the best borne are the more vniuersall the more common appliable to all vnderstandings communicatiue and open to all people It is a beautifull qualitie which resembleth and imitateth the goodnes of God it is the honor which was giuen to old Cato huic versatile ingenium sic pariter adomnia fuit vt natum ad id vnum diceres quodcunque ageret Let vs see the aduisements of the first consideration of the simple and common conuersation I wil heere set downe some 4 The first part Aduice touching simple and common conuersation whereof the first shall be to keepe silence and modestie The second not to be ouer-formall in not applying himselfe to the follies indiscretions and lightnesses which may be committed in his presence for it is an indiscretion to condemne all that pleaseth not our palat The third to spare and thriftily to order that which a man knoweth and that sufficiencie that he hath attained and to be more willing to heare than to speake to learne than to teach for it is a vice to be more readie and forward to make himselfe knowne to talke of himselfe and to shew all that is in him than to learne knowledge of another and to spend his owne stock than to get new The fourth not to enter into discourse and contestation against all neither against great men to whom we owe a dutie and respect nor against our inferiours where the match is not equall The fift to be honestlie curious in the enquirie of all things and knowing them to order them frugallie to make profit by them The sixt and principall is to employ his iudgement in all things which is the chiefe part which worketh ruleth and doth all without the vnderstanding all other things are blind deafe and without a soule it is least to know
execution These reasons must be of no force yea abhorred That right consisteth in force That the issue or euent decideth it That the stronger carieth it away But a prince must looke into the cause into the ground and foundation and not into the issue Warre hath it lawes and ordinances as well as peace God fauoreth iust warres and giueth the victorie to whom it pleaseth him and therefore we must first make our selues capable of this fauor by the equitie of the enterprise Warre then must not be begun and vndertaken for all causes vpon euery occasion non ex omni occasione quaerere triumphum And aboue all a Plin. in Pan. prince must take heed that ambition auarice choler possesse him not and cary him beyond reason which are alwaies to say the truth the more ordinarie motiues to warre vna ea Salust vetus causa bellandi est profunda cupido imperij diuitiarum maximam gloriam in maximo imperio putant Repere foedus impius lucri furor ira praeceps That a warre may be in all points iust three things are necessarie 19 Three things make an enterprise iust that it be denounced and vndertaken by him that hath power to do it which is only the soueraigne That it be for a iust cause such as a defensiue war is which is absolute iust being iustified by all reason amongst the wise by necessitie amongst barbarians by nature amongst beasts Cic. pro Milo I say defensiue of himselfe that is of his life his libertie his parents his countrie of his allies and confederates in regard of that faith he hath giuen of such as are vniustlie oppressed Qui non defendit nec obsistit si potest iniuriae tam est in vitio quà m si parentes aut patriam aut socios deserat These three In officijs heads of defence are within the bounds of iustice according to S. Ambrose Fortitudo quae per bella tuetur à barbaris patria vel defendit infirmos vel à latronibus socios plena iustitiae est Another more briefly diuideth it into two heads faith health Nullum bellum à ciuitate optima suscipitur nisi aut pro fide aut pro salute and to offensiue warre he puts two conditions Salust That it proceede from some former offence giuen as outrage or vsurpation and hauing redemaunded openly by a herald that which hath beene surprised and taken away post clarigatum Plin. l. 22. nat hist ca. 2. and sought it by way of iustice which must euer goe formost For if men be willing to submit themselues vnto iustice and reason there let them stay themselues if not the last and therefore necessarie is iust and lawfull iustum bellum Liuius quibus necessarium pia arma quibus nulla nisi in armis relinquitur spes Thirdly to a good end that is to say peace and quietnes Sapientes pacis causa bellum gerunt laborem spe otij sustentant vt in pace sine iniuria viuant After iustice commeth prudence whereby a man doth aduisedly 22 Prudence deliberate before by sound of trumpet he publisheth the warre And therefore that nothing be done out of passion and ouer-rashly it is necessarie that he consider of the points of forces and meanes as well his owne as his enemies secondly of the hazard and dangerous reuolution of humane things especiallie of armes which are variable and wherein fortune hath greatest credit and exerciseth more hir empire than in any other thing wherein the issue may be such that in an houre it carieth all simul parta ac sperata decora vnius horae Liuius fortuna euertere potest Thirdly of those great euils infelicities and publike and particular miseries which warre doth necessarily bring with it and which be such as the only imagination is lamentable Fourthly of the calumnies maledictions and reproches that are spred abroad against the authours of the warre by reason of those euils and miseries that follow it For there is nothing more subiect to the toongs and iudgements of men than war But all lighteth vpon the Chieftaine iniquissima bellorum conditio Tacit. haec est prospera omnes sibi vendicant aduersa vni imputantur All these things together make the iustest warre that may be detestable saith S. Augustine and therefore it standeth a soueraigne vpon not to enter into warres but vpon great necessitie as it is said of Augustus and not to suffer himselfe to be caried by those incendiaries and fire-brands of warre who for some particular passion are readie to kindle and enflame him quibus in pace durius seruitium est in id nati vt nec Pindar ipsi quiescant neque alios sinant And these men are commonly such whose noses do bleed when they come to the fact it self Dulce bellum inexpertis A wise soueraigne will keepe himselfe in peace neither prouoking nor fearing warre neither disquieting either his owne state or anothers betwixt hope and feare nor comming to those extremities of perishing himselfe or making others to perish The second head of militarie action is to make war whereunto are required three things Munitions Men Rules of war 〈…〉 The first is prouision and munition of all things necessarie for warre which must be done in good time and at leasure for it were great indiscretion in extremities to be employed about the search and prouision of those things which he should haue alwaies readie Diu apparandum est vt vincas celeriùs Now of the ordinarie and perpetuall prouision required for the good of the prince and the state at all times hath beene spoken in the first part of this Chapter which is wholly of this subiect The principall prouisions and munitions of war are three Monie which is the vitall spirit and sinewes of war whereof hath been spoken in the second Chapter 2. Armes both offensiue and defensiue whereof likewise heeretofore These two are ordinarie and at all times 3. Victualls without which a man can neither conquer nor liue whole armies are ouerthrowne without a blow strucken souldiers grow licentious and vnrulie and it is not possible to doe any good Disciplinam non seruat ieiunus exercitus Cassiod But this is an extraordinarie prouision and not perpetuall and is not made but for warre It is necessarie therefore that in the deliberating of warre that there be great store-houses made for victuals corne poudered flesh both for the armie which is in the field and for the garisons in the frontiers which may be besieged The second thing required to make warre are men fit to assaile and to defend we must distinguish them The first distinction 24 Men. is into souldiers and leaders or captaines both are necessarie The souldiers are the bodie the captaines the soule the life of the armie who giue motion and action wee wil speake first of the souldiers who make the bodie in grosse There are diuers sorts
force and strength to defend themselues The third much more neere is the maladie and corruption 3. The passions of the will and the force of the passions this is a world turned topsie turuy the wil is made to follow the vnderstanding as a guide and lampe vnto it but being corrupted and seased on by the force of the passions or rather by the fall of our first father Adam doth likewise perhaps corrupt the vnderstanding and so from hence come the greatest part of our erroneous iudgements Enuie Malice Hatred Loue Feare make vs to respect to iudge to take things others than they are quite otherwise than we ought from whence commeth that common crie Iudge without passion From hence it is that the beautifull and generous actions of another man are obscured by vile and base misconstructions that vaine and wicked causes occasions are feined This is a great vice and a proofe of a malignant nature and sicke iudgement in which there is neither great subtiltie nor sufficiencie but malice enough This proceedeth either from the enuy they beare to the glorie of another man or because they iudge of others according to themselues or because they haue their taste altered and their sight so troubled that they cannot discerne the cleere splendour of vertue in it natiue purity From this selfe same cause and source it commeth that we make the vertues and vices of another man to preuaile so much and extend them farther than we ought that from particularities wee draw consequents and generall conclusions if he be a friend all sits well about him his vices shall be vertues if he be an enemie or of a contrary faction there is nothing good in him insomuch that we shame our owne iudgement to smooth vp our owne passions But this rests not heere but goeth yet farther for the greatest part of those impieties heresies errours in our faith and religion if we looke well into it is sprung from our wicked and corrupt willes from a violent and voluptuous Exod. 31. 2. Paral. 15. 3. Reg. 15. August lib. 2. De ciuitate Dei passion which afterwards draweth vnto it the vnderstanding it selfe Sedit populus manducare bibere c. quod vult non quod est credit qui cupit errare in such sort that what was done in the beginning with some scruple and doubt hath beene afterwards held and maintained for a veritie and reuelation from heauen that which was onely in the sensualitie hath taken place in the highest part of the vnderstanding that which was nothing els but a passion and a pleasure hath beene made a religious matter and an article of faith so strong and dangerous is the contagion of the faculties of the Soule amongst themselues These are the three outward causes of the faults and miscariages of the Spirit iudgement and vnderstanding of man The body especially the head sicke or wounded or ill fashioned The world with the anticipated opinions and suppositions thereof The ill estate of the other faculties of the reasonable Soule which are all inferiour vnto it The first are pitifull and some of them to be cured some not the second are excusable and pardonable the third are accusable and punishable for suffring such a disorder so neere them as this is those that should obey the law to take vpon them to giue the law There are other defects of the Spirit which are more naturall vnto it and in it The greatest and the root of all the rest 18 Naturall is pride and presumption the first and originall fault of all the world the plague of all spirits and the cause of all euils by which a man is only content with himselfe will not giue place to another disdaineth his counsels reposeth himselfe in his owne opinions takes vpon him to iudge and condemne others yea euen that which he vnderstands not It is truly said that the best and happiest distribution that God euer made is of iudgement because euery man is content with his owne and thinkes he hath inough Now this malady proceedeth from the ignorance of our selues We neuer vnderstand sufficiently and truly the weaknesse of our spirit but the greatest disease of the spirit is ignorance not of Arts and Sciences and what is included in the writings of others but of it selfe for which cause this first booke hath beene written CHAP. XV. Of Memory MEmory is many times taken by the vulgar sort for the sense and vnderstanding but not so truly and properly for both by reason as hath beene said and by experience the excellency of the one is ordinarily accompanied with the weaknesse of the other and to say the truth it is a faculty very profitable for the world but yet comes far short of the vnderstanding and of all the parts of the Soule is the more delicate and most fraile The excellency thereof is not very requisite but to three sorts of people Merchants or men of Trade great talkers for the storehouse of the memory is more full and furnished than that of inuention for hee that wants it comes short and must be faine to frame his speech out of the forge of his owne inuention and liars mendacem oportet esse memorem From the want of memory proceed these commodities to lie seldome to talke little to forget offences An indifferent memory sufficeth for all CHAP. XVI Of the imagination and opinion THe imagination is a thing very strong and powerfull it is it that makes all the stirre all the clarter yea the perturbation of the world proceeds from it as we haue sayd before it is either the onely or at least the most actiue and stirring The effects of the imagination maruellous facultie of the Soule The effects thereof are maruellous and strange it worketh not only in it owne proper bodie and Soule but in that of another man yea it produceth contrary effects it makes a man blush wax pale tremble dote to wauer these are the least and the best it takes away the power and vse of the ingendring parts yea when there is most need of them and is the cause why men are more sharpe and austere not only towards themselues but others witnesse those ties and bands whereof the world is full which are for the most part impressions of the apprehension and of feare And contrariwise without endeuor without obiect euen in sleepe it satisfieth the amorous desires yea changeth the sex witnesse Lucius Cossitius whom Pliny affirmeth to haue seene to be changed from a woman to a man the day of his mariag and diuers the like it marketh sometimes ignominiously yea it killeth and makes abortiue the fruit within the wombe it takes away a mans speech and giues it to him that neuer had it as to the sonne of Croesus it taketh away motion sense respiration Thus we see how it worketh in the bodie Touching the Soule it makes a man to lose his vnderstanding his knowledge iudgement it turnes him
still forward to those that are before him and it is a greater griefe vnto him to suffer one to go beyond him than it is pleasure vnto him to leaue a thousand behind him Habet hoc vitium omnis ambitio non respicit It is twofolde Seneca the one of glory and honor the other of greatnesse and command that is profitable to the world and in some sense permitted as shall be proued this pernitious The seed and root of ambition is naturall in vs. There is a 2 It is natural prouerbe that saith That Nature is content with a little and another quite contrarie That Nature is neuer satisfied neuer content but it still desireth hath a will to mount higher and to enrich it selfe and it goeth not a slow pace neither but with a loose bridle it runneth headlong to greatnesse and glorie Natura nostra imperij est auida ad implendum cupiditatem praeceps And with such force and violence doe some men runne that they breake their owne necks as many great men haue done euen at the dawning as it were and vpon the point of entrance and full fruition of that greatnesse which hath cost them so deare It is a naturall and very powerfull passion and in the end is the last that leaueth vs and therefore one calleth it The shirt of the soule because it is the last vice it putteth off Etiam sapientibus cupido gloriae nouissima Tacitus exuitur Ambition as it is the strongest and most powerfull passion that is so is it the most noble and haughty the force and puissance The force and primacy thereof thereof is shewed in that it mastereth and surmounteth all other things euen the strongest of the world yea all other passions and affections euen loue it selfe which seemeth neuerthelesse to contend with it for the Primacy As we may see in all the great men of the world Alexander Scipio Pompey and many other who haue couragiously refused to touch the most beautifull damosels that were in their power burning neuerthelesse with ambition yea that victory they had ouer loue serued their ambition especially in Caesar For neuer was there a man more giuen to amorous delights euen of all sexes and all sorts of people witnesse so many exploits both at Rome and in strange countries nor more carefull and curious in adorning his person yet ambition did alwaies so carry him that for his amorous pleasures hee neuer lost an houre of time which he might employ to the inlargement of his greatnesse for ambition had the soueraigne place in him and did fully possesse him We see on the other side that in Marcus Antonius and others the force of loue hath made them to forget the care and conduct of their affaires But yet both of them being weighed in equall ballance ambition carieth away the price They that hold that loue is the stronger say that both the soule and the body the whole man is possessed by it yea that health it selfe dependeth thereupon But contrariwise it seemeth that ambition is the stronger because it is altogether spirituall And in as much as loue possesseth the body it is therefore the more weake because it is subiect to saciety and therefore capable of remedies both corporall naturall and strange as experience sheweth of many who by diuers meanes haue alaied yea quite extinguished the force and fury of this passion but ambition is not capable of saciety yea it is sharpned by the fruition of that it desireth and there is no way to extinguish it being altogether in the soule it selfe and in the reason It doth likewise vanquish loue and robbeth it not onlie of it health and tranquillity for glory tranquillity are things 4 The care of life that cannot lodge together but also of it owne proper life as Agrippina the mother of Nero doth plainly proue who desiring and consulting with others to make hir sonne Emperour and vnderstanding that it could not bee done but with the losse of her owne life she answered as if ambition it selfe had spoken it Occidar modò imperet Thirdly Ambition enforceth all the lawes and conscience it selfe the learned haue said of ambition that it is the part 5 The lawes of euery honest man alwaies to obey the lawes except it bee in a case of soueraignty for a kingdome which only deserueth a dispensation being so dainty a morsell that it cannot but breake a mans fast Si violandum est ius regnandi caussa violandum est in caeteris pietatem colas It likewise trampleth vnder foote and contemneth the reuerence 6 Religion respect of religion witnesse Ieroboam Mahumet who neuer tooke thought for religion but tolerated all religions so he might raigne and all those arch-hereticks who haue liked better to be chiefe leaders in errours and lies with a thousand disorders than to be disciples of the trueth and therfore saith the Apostle that they that suffer themselues to 1. Tim. 6. bee puffed vp with this passion and affection make shipwracke and wander from the faith piercing themselues thorow with many sorowes To be short it offereth violence euen to the lawes of Nature it selfe This hath beene the cause of so many murders 7 It enforceth Nature of parents infants brothers witnesse Absalon Abimelech Athalias Romulus Sei King of the Persians who killed both his father and brother Soliman the Great Turke his two brothers So that nothing is able to resist the force of ambition it beats all to the ground so high and haughtie is it It lodgeth only in great mindes euen in the Angels themselues Ambition is not the vice or passion of base companions 8 It is a lofty passion nor of common or small attempts and dayly enterprises Renowne and glorie doth not prostitute it selfe to so base a price it pursueth not those things that are simply and solely good and profitable but those that are rare high difficult strange and vnusuall That great thirst after honour and reputation that casts downe a man and makes him a begger and to ducke and stoop to all sorts of people by all means yea the most abiect at what base price soeuer is vile and dishonourable it is a shame and dishonour so to be honoured A man must not be greedie of greater glorie than he is capable of and to swell and to be puffed vp for euery good and profitable action is to shew his taile while hee lifts vp his head Ambition hath many and diuers waies and is practised by diuers meanes there is one way strait and open such as 9 It hath diuers waies Alexander Caesar Themistocles tooke there is another oblique and hidden which many philosophers and professors of pietie haue taken who goe forwards by going backward goe before others by going behind them not vnlike to wierdrawers who draw and goe backward they would faine be glorious by contemning glory And to say the trueth there is greater glory in
of the wiues are kept apart and carrie in some places the titles of lawfull wiues in others of concubines and their children are onely pensioners The vse of repudiation in like sort is different for with 12 Repudiation diuers some as the Hebrewes Greeks Armenians the cause of the separation is not expressed and it is not permitted to retake the wife once repudiated but yet lawfull to marry another But by the law of Mahumet the separation is made by the Iudge with knowledge taken of the cause except it be by mutuall consent which must be adulterie sterilitie incompatibilitie of humours an enterprise on his or hir part against the life of each other things directly and especiallie contrarie to the state and institution of mariage and it is lawfull to retake one another as often as they shall thinke good The former seemeth to be the better because it bridleth proud women and ouer-sharp and bitter husbands The second which is to expresse the cause dishonoureth the parties discouereth many things which should be hid And if it fall out that the cause be not sufficientlie verified and that they must continue together poysonings and murthers doe commonly ensue many times vnknowne vnto men as it was discouered at Rome before the vse of repudiation where a woman being apprehended for poysoning of her husband accused others and they others too to the number of threescore and ten which were all executed for the same offence But the worst law of all others hath beene that the adulterer escapeth almost euery where without punishment of death and all that is laid vpoÌ„ him is diuorce separation of companie brought in by Iustinian a man whollie possessed by his wife who caused whatsoeuer lawes to passe that might make for the aduantage of women From hence doth arise a danger of perpetuall adulterie desire of the death of the one partie the offender is not punished the innocent iniured remaineth without amends The dutie of maried folke See Lib. 3. Cap. 12. CHAP. XLVII Of Parents and Children THere are many sorts and degrees of authoritie and humane power Publicke and Priuate but there is none 1 Fatherly power more naturall nor greater than that of the father ouer his children I say father because the mother who is subiect vnto hir husband cannot properly haue hir children in hir power and subiection but it hath not been alwayes and in all places alike In former times almost euery where it was absolute and vniuersall ouer the life and death the libertie the goods the honor the actions and cariages of their children as to plead to marie to get goods as namely with the Romans by the expresse law of Romulus parentum in liberos omne ius esto relegendi vendendi occidendi except only children vnder Dion Halic li 2. antiq Rom l. in â—uis ff de lib. post Aul. Gell. lib. 20. Lib. 8. Eth. cap. 20. Lib 6. Bel. Gal. Prosper Aquitan in Epist Sigism the age of three yeares who as yet could not offend either in word or deede which law was afterwards renued by the law of the twelue tables by which the father was allowed to sell his children to the third time with the Persians according to Aristotle the ancient French as Caesar and Prosper affirme with the Muscouits and Tartars who might sell their children to the fourth time And it should seeme by that fact of Abraham going about to kill his sonne that this power was likewise vnder the law of nature for if it had been against his dutie and without the power of the father he had neuer consented thereunto neither had hee euer thought that it was God that commanded him to do it if it had beene against nature And therefore we see that Isaac made no resistance nor alledged his innocencie knowing that it was in the power of his father which derogateth not in any sort from the greatnesse of the faith of Abraham because he would not sacrifice his sonne by vertue of his right or power nor for any demerit of Isaac but only to obey the commandement of God So likewise it was in force by the law of Moyses though somewhat Deut. 21. moderated So that we see what this power hath been in ancient times in the greatest part of the world and which endured vnto the time of the Romane Emperours With the Greeks it was not so great and absolute nor with the Egyptians neuerthelesse if it fell out that the father had killed his sonnes wrongfully and without cause he had no other punishment but to be shut vp three daies together with the dead bodie Now the reasons and fruits of so great and absolute a power 2 The reasons and fruits thereof of fathers ouer their children necessarie for the culture of good maners the chasing away of vice and the publike good were first to holde the children in awe and dutie and secondly because there are many great faults in children that would escape vnpunished to the great preiudice of the weale publike if the knowledge and punishment of them were but in the hand of publike authoritie whether it be because they are domesticall and secret or because there is no man that will prosecute against them for the parents who know them and are interessed in them will not discredit them besides that there are many vices and insolencies that are neuer punished by iustice Adde heereunto that there are many things to be tried and many differences betwixt parents and children brothers and sisters touching their goods or other matters which are not fit to be published which are extinct and buried by this fatherly authoritie And the law did alwayes suppose that the father would neuer abuse this authoritie because of that great loue which he naturally carrieth to his children incompatible with crueltie which is the cause that in stead of punishing them with rigour they rather become intercessours for them when they are in danger of the law and there can be no greater torment to them than to see their children in paine And it falleth out very seldome or neuer that this power is put in practise without very great occasion so that it was rather a scarcrow to children and very profitable than a rigour in good earnest Now this fatherly power as ouer-sharpe and dangerous is almost of it selfe lost and abolished for it hath rather hapned 3 The declination by a kinde of discontinuance than any expresse law and it beganne to decline at the comming of the Romane Emperours for from the time of Augustus or shortly after it was no more in force whereby children became so desperate and insolent against their parents that Seneca speaking to Nero Lib. 1. de Clem. sayd That hee had seene more paricides punished in fiue yeeres past than had beene in seuen hundred yeeres before that is to say since the foundation of Rome In former times if it fell out that the father killed his
and are as much offended with ours as we with theirs they cut a man short after their maner tearming them beasts and barbarians which is alwaies to say the same thing A wise man is more aduised as shall be said he maketh not such haste to iudge for feare lest he wrong his owne iudgment and to say the truth there are many lawes and customes which seeme at the first view to be sauage inhumane and contrarie to all reason which if they were without passion and soundly considered of if they were not found to be altogether iust and good yet at the least they would not be without some reason and defence Let vs take amongst the rest for example the two first which wee haue spoken of which seeme to be both the strangest and farthest off from the dutie of pietie to kill their owne parents at a certaine age and to eate them They that haue this custome do take it to be a testimonie of pietie and good affection endeuoring therby first of meere pitie to deliuer their old parents not only vnprofitable to themselues and others but burthensome languishing and leading a painfull and troublesome life and to place them in rest and ease afterwards giuing them the most worthie and commendable sepulchre lodging in themselues and their owne bowels the bodies and reliques of their parents in a maner reuiuing them againe and regenerating them by a kind of transmutation into their liuing flesh by the meanes of the digestion and nourishment These reasons would not seeme ouer-light to him that is not possessed with a contrarie opinion and it is an easie matter to consider what crueltie and abomination it had been to these people to see their parents before their owne eies to suffer such griefe and torment and they not able to succour them and afterwards to cast their spoiles to the corruption of the earth to stench and rottennes and the foode of wormes which is the worst that can be done vnto it Darius made a triall asking some Greekes for what they would be perswaded to follow the custome of the Indians in eating their dead fathers To whom they answered that they would not do it for any thing in the world And on the other side assaying to perswade the Indians to burne the bodies of their dead parents as the Greekes did it seemed to them a matter of such difficultie and horror as that they would neuer be drawne vnto it I will adde only one other which concerneth only matter of decencie and comelinesse and is more light and more pleasant One that alwaies blew his nose with his hand being reprehended for inciuilitie in the defence of himselfe asked what priuiledge that filthie excrement had that a man must affoord it a faire handker chiefe to receiue and afterwards carefullie wrap fold it vp which he thought was a matter of greater lothsomnes than to cast it frō him So that we see that for all things there may be found some seeming reason and therefore we are not suddenly and lightlie to condemne any thing But who would beleeue how great and imperious the authoritie of custome is He that said it was another nature did 6 The authoritie thereof not sufficientlie expresse it for it doth more than nature it conquereth nature for hence it is that the most beautifull daughters of men draw not vnto loue their naturall parents nor brethren though excellent in beautie winne not the loue of their sisters This kind of chastirie is not properly of nature but of the vse of lawes and customes which forbid them and make of incest a great sinne as we may see in the fact not Gen. 11. 20. 29. 35. Exod. 6. Leuit. 28. only of the children of Adam where there was an inforced necessitie but of Abraham and Nachor brethren of Iacob and Iudas Patriarches Amram the father of Moses and other holy men And it is the law of Moses which forbad it in these first degrees but it hath also sometimes dispensed therewith not only in the colaterall line and betwixt brothers and their brothers wiues which was a commandement and not a dispensation Deut. 25. 2. Reg. 12. 3. Reg. 2. and which is more betweene the naturall brother and sister of diuers wombs but also in the right line of alliance that is to say of the sonne with the mother in law for in the right line of bloud it seemeth to be altogether against nature notwithstanding the fact of the daughters of Lot with their father which neuerthelesse was produced purely by nature in that extreame apprehension and feare of the end of humane kind for which cause they haue beene excused by Chrysost Ambrose August great and learned doctors Now against nature there is not any dispensation if God the only superior thereunto giue it not Finally of casuall incests and not voluntarie the world is full as Tertullian teacheth Moreouer custome doth enforce In Apolog. the rules of nature witnes those Physitians who many times leaue the naturall reasons of their arte by their owne authoritie as they that by custome do liue and sustaine their liues with poyson Spiders Emmets Lyzards Toades which is a common practise amongst the people of the West Indies It likewise dulleth our senses witnes they that liue neere the fall of the riuer of Nilus neere clocks armories milles and the whole world according to some Philosophers with the sound of a heauenly kind of musick and the continuall and diuers motions of the heauens dulleth our senses that we heare not that which we heare To conclude and it is the principall fruit thereof it ouercommeth all difficultie maketh things easie that seeme impossible sweetneth all sower and therefore by the meanes heereof a man liues in all things content but yet it mastereth our soules our beliefs our iudgements with a most vniust and tyrannicall authoritie It doth and vndoeth authoriseth and disauthoriseth whatsoeuer it please without rhythme or reason yea many times against all reason It establisheth in the world against reason iudgement all the opinions religions beleefs obseruances maners and sorts of life most fantasticall and rude as before hath been said And contrarily it wrongfully degradeth robbeth beateth downe in things that are truly great and admirable their price and estimation and maketh them base and vile Nil adeo magnum nec tam mirabile quidquam Principiò quod non cessent mirarier omnes Paulatim So that we see that custome is a thing great and powerfull Plato hauing reprehended a youth for playing at cobnut or chery-pit and receiuing this answere from him That he controuled him for a matter of small moment replied My child custome is not a matter of small moment A speech wel worth the noting for all such as haue youth to bring vp But it exerciseth it power with so absolute authoritie that there is no striuing against it neither is it lawfull to reason or call into question the ordinances thereof it enchanteth
common saying tyrannicallie it is then also to be distinguished for it may be so three waies and euery one requireth particular consideration The Heerof see aboue Chap. 4. in Chap. of tyrannie and rebellion one is in violating the lawes of God and nature that is to say against the religion of the countrie the commaundement of God inforcing and constraining their consciences In this case he ought not to yeeld any dutie or obedience following those diuine axiomes That we ought rather obey God than men and feare him more that commaundeth the intire man than those that haue power but ouer the least part Yet he ought not to oppose himselfe against him by violence or sinister meanes which is another extremitie but to obserue the middle way which is either to flie or suffer fugere aut pati these two remedies named by the doctrine of veritie in the like extremities 2. The other lesse euill which concerneth not the consciences but only the bodies and the goods is an abuse to subiects denying them iustice imprisoning their persons and depriuing them of their goods In the which case he ought with patience and acknowledgement of the wrath of God yeeld these three duties following honor obedience vowes and prayers and to be mindfull of three things that all power and authoritie is from God and whosoeuer resisteth the power resisteth the ordinance of God principi summum rorum indicium dij dederunt Subditis obsequij gloria relicta est bonos principes voto expetere quale scunque tolerare And Tacit. he ought not to obey a superior because he is worthie and worthilie commaundeth but because he is a superior not for that he is good but because he is true and lawfull There is great difference betweene true and good euery one ought to obey the law not because it is good and iust but simplie because it is the law 2. That God causeth an hypocrite to raigne for the sinnes of the people though he reserue him for a day of his furie that the wicked prince is the instrument of his iustice the which we ought to indure as other euils which the heauens do send vs quomodo sterilitatem aut nimios imbres caetera naturae mala sic luxū auaritiam dominantium tolerare Tacit. 3. The examples of Saul Nabuchodonoser of many Emperours before Constantine and others since him as cruell tyrants as might be towards whom neuerthelesse these three duties haue been obserued by good men and enioined them by the Prophets and learned men of those daies according to the oracle of the great Doctour of truth which inferreth an obedience to them which sit in the seate of gouernment notwithstanding they oppresse vs with insupportable burthens and their gouernment be euill The third concerneth the whole state when he would change or ruinate it seeking to make it electiue hereditarie or of an Aristocracie or Democracie a Monarchie or otherwise And in this case he ought to withstand and hinder their proceedings either by way of iustice or otherwise for he is not master of the state but only a gardian and a suertie But these affaires belong not to all but to the tutours and mainteiners of the state or those that are interessed therein as Electours of electiue states or Princes apparent in hereditarie states or states generall that haue fundamentall lawes And this is the only case wherein it is lawfull to resist a tyrant And all this is said of subiects who are neuer permitted to attempt any thing against a soueraigne Prince for what cause L. Cogitationis ff de poen L. Si quis non dicam c. de sacros Eccles soeuer and the lawes say that he deserueth death who attempteth or giueth counsell and which intendeth or only thinketh it But it is honorable for a stranger yea it is most noble and heroicall in a prince by warlike means to defend a people vniustlie oppressed and to free them from tyrannie as Hercules did and afterward Dion Timoleon and Tamberlaine prince of the Tartars who ouercame Baiazeth the Turkish Emperour and besieged Constantinople These are the duties of subiects towards their liuing soueraignes 12 Examinations of Soueraignes after their death But it is a point of iustice to examine their life after they are dead This is a custome iust and very profitable which benefiteth much those nations where it is obserued and which all good Princes doe desire who haue cause to complaine that a man handleth the memorie of the wicked as well as theirs Soueraignes are companions if not masters of the lawes for seeing iustice cannot touch their liues there is reason it taketh hold of their reputation and the goods of their successours We owe reuerence and dutie equallie to all kings in respect of their dignitie and office but inward estimation and affection to their vertue We patientlie indure them though vnworthie as they are We conceale their vices for their authoritie and publike order where we liue hath neede of our common help but after they are gone there is no reason to reiect iustice and the libertie of expressing our true thoughts yea it is a very excellent and profitable example that we manifest to the posteritie faithfullie to obey a Master or Lord whose imperfections are well knowne They who for some priuat dutie commit a wicked prince to memorie do priuat iustice to the publike hurt O excellent lesson for a successour if it were well obserued CHAP. XVII The dutie of Magistrates GOod people in a common-wealth would loue better to 1 For what cause Magistrates are allowed of inioy ease of contentment which good and excellent spirits know how to giue themselues in consideration of the goods of nature and the effects of God than to vndertake publike charges were it not that they feare to be ill gouerned and by the wicked and therefore they consent to be magistrates but to hunt and follow publike charges especiallie the iudgement seat is base and vile and condemned by all good lawes yea euen of the heathen witnesse the law Iulia de ambitu vnworthie a person of honour and a man cannot better expresse his insufficiencie than by seeking for it But it is most base and vile by briberie or money to purchase them and there is no merchandize more hatefull and contemptible than it for it necessarily followeth that he which buieth in grosse selleth by retaile Whereupon the Emperour Seuerus speaking against the like inconuenience saith Lamprid. That a man can not iustly condemne him which selleth that he bought Euen as a man apparrelleth himselfe and putteth on his 2 How a magistrate ought to prepare himself before he take the charge best habit before he departeth his house to appeare in publike so before a man vndertake publike charge he ought priuately to examine himselfe to learne to rule his passions and well to settle and establish his minde A man bringeth not to the turney a raw
hereafter Now besides these fiue particular senses which are without there is within the common sense where all the diuers obiects apprehended by it are assembled and gathered together to the end they may afterward be compared distinguished and discerned the one from the other which the particular senses could not doe being euery one attentiue to his proper obiect and not able to take knowledge thereof of his companion CHAP. X. Of the senses of Nature ALl knowledge is begun in vs by the senses so say our 1 The importance of the naturall senses Schoole-men but it is not altogether true as we shall see heereafter They are our first masters it beginneth by them and endeth with them they are the beginning and end of all It is not possible to recoile farther backe euery one of them is a captaine and soueraigne lord in his order and hath a great command carrying with it infinite knowledges The one dependeth not or hath need of the other so are they equally great although the one haue a farre greater extent and traine and affaires than the other as a little king is as well a soueraigne in his little narrow command as a great in his great estate It is an opinion amongst vs that there are but fiue senses of Nature because wee marke but fiue in vs but yet there 2 The number may very well be more and it is greatly to be doubted that there are but it is impossible for vs to know them to affirme them or to denie them because a man shall neuer know the want of that sense which he hath neuer had There are many beasts which liue a full and perfect life which want some one of our fiue senses and a creature may liue without the fiue senses saue the sense of Feeling which is only necessary vnto life We liue very commodiously with fiue and yet perhaps we do want one or two or three and yet it can not be knowen One sense can not discouer another and if a man want one by nature yet he knowes not which way to affirme it A man borne blinde can neuer conceiue that he seeth not nor desire to see nor delight in his sight it may be he will say that he would see but that is because he hath heard say and learned of others that it is to be desired the reason is because the senses are the first gates and entrances to knowledge So man not being able to imagine more than the fiue that he hath he can not know how to iudge whether there be more in Nature yet he may haue more Who knoweth whether the difficulties that we finde in many of the works of Nature and the effects of creatures which we can not vnderstand doe proceed from the want of some sense that wee haue not Of the hidden properties which we see in many things a man may say that there are sensible faculties in Nature proper to iudge and apprehend them but yet he must confesse that we haue them not and that the ignorance of such things proceedeth from our owne default Who knoweth whether it be some particular sense that discouereth in the Cocke the houre of mid-night and morning and that moues him to crow Who taught some beasts to chuse certaine herbes for their cure and many such like woonders as these are No man can affirme or denie say this it is or that it is Some haue assayed to giue a reason of this number of the fiue senses and to prooue the sufficiencie of them by distinguishing 3 Their sufficiencie and diuersly comparing their outward obiects which are either all neere the bodie or distant from it if neere but yet remaining without it is the sense of Touching if they enter it is Taste if they be more distant and present by a right line it is the Sight if oblique and by reflexion it is the Hearing A man might better haue sayd thus That these fiue senses being appointed for the seruice of an entire man some are entirely for the bodie that is to say Taste and Touching that in that it entreth this in that it remaines without Others first and principally for the soule as sight and hearing the Sight for inuention the Hearing for acquisition and communication and one in the middle for the middle spirits and ties of the soule and body which is the Smell Againe they answer to the foure Elements and their qualities The sense of Feeling to the earth of Hearing to the aire of Taste to the water and moisture the Smell to the fire The Sight is a compound and partakes both of water and fire by reason of the bright splendor of the eie Againe they say that there are so many senses as there are kinds of sensible things which are colour sound odour taste or sauour and the fift which hath no proper name the obiect of Feeling which is heat cold rough plaine and so foorth But men deceiue themselues for the number of the senses is not to be iudged by the number of sensible things which are no cause that there are so many By this reason there should bee many more and one and the same sense should receiue many diuers heads of obiects and one and the same obiect be apprehended by diuers senses so that the tickling of a feather and the pleasures of Venus are distinguished from the fiue Senses and by some comprehended in the sense of Feeling But the cause is rather for that the spirit hath no power to attaine to the knowledge of things but by the fiue Sences and that Nature hath giuen it so many because it was necessary for it end and benefit Their comparisons are diuers in dignity and nobility The 4 Comparison Sense of Seeing excelleth all the rest in fiue things It apprehendeth farther off and extendeth it selfe euen to the fixed starres It hath more variety of obiects for to all things generally in all there is light and colour the obiects of the eie It is more exquisit exact and particular euen in the least and finest things that are It is more prompt and sudden apprehending euen in a moment and without motion euen the heauens themselues in the other senses there is a motion that requireth time It is more diuine and the markes of Diuinity are many Liberty incomparable aboue others whereby the eie seeth or seeth not and therefore it hath lids ready to open and to shut power not to turmoile it selfe and not to suffer it selfe to bee seene Actiuitie and abilitie to please or displease to signifie and insinuate our thoughts willes and affections for the eye speaketh and striketh it serueth for a tongue and a hand the other Senses are purely passiue But that which is most noble in this Sense is that the priuation of the obiect thereof which is darknesse brings feare and that naturally and the reason is because a man findeth himselfe robbed of so excellent a guide and therefore whereas a man desireth
company for his solace the Sight in the light is in place of companie The sense of Hearing hath many excellent singularities it is more spirituall and the seruice thereof more inward But the particular comparison of these two which are of the rest the more noble and of speech shall be spoken in the Chapter following As for pleasure or displeasure though all the Senses are capable thereof yet the Sense of Feeling receiueth greatest griefe and almost no pleasure and contrarily the Taste great delight and almost no griefe In the organ and instrument the Touch is vniuersall spred thorow the whole bodie to the end the bodie should feele heat and colde the organs of the rest are assigned to a certaine place member From the weaknesse and incertitude of our senses comes ignorance errour and mistakings for sithens that by their 5 The weakenesse and vncertainnesse of the Senses meanes and mixture we attaine to all knowledge if they deceiue vs in their report we haue no other helpe to sticke vnto But who can say or accuse them that they do deceiue vs considering that by them we begin to learne and to know Some haue assirmed that they do neuer deceiue vs and when they seeme to doe it the fault proceedeth from some thing els and that wee must rather attribute it to any other thing than to the senses Others haue sayd cleane contrarie that they are all false and can teach vs nothing that is certaine But the middle opinion is the more true Now whether the Senses be false or not at the least it is 6 The mutuall deceit of the spirit and senses certaine that they deceiue yea ordinarily enforce the discourse the reason and in exchange are againe mocked by it Do then but consider what kinde of knowledge and certaintie a man may haue when that within and that without is full of deceit and weakenesse and that the principall parts thereof the essentiall instruments of science do deceiue one another That the senses doe deceiue and enforce the vnderstanding it is plaine in those senses whereof some do kindle with furie others delight sweeten others tickle the Soule And why doe they that cause themselues to be let blood lanced cauterised and burnt turne away their eies but that they do well know that great authoritie that the Senses haue ouer their reason The sight of some bottomlesse depth or precipitate downfall astonisheth euen him that is setled in a firme and sure place and to conclude doth not the Sense vanquish and quite ouercome all the beautifull resolutions of vertue and patience So on the other side the senses are likewise deceiued by the vnderstanding which appeareth by this that the Soule being stirred with Choler Loue Hatred or any other passion our senses doe see and heare euery thing others then they are yea sometimes our senses are altogether dulled by the passions of the Soule and it seemeth that the Soule retireth and shutteth vp the operation of the Senses and that the spirit being otherwise employed the eie discerneth not that which is before it and which it seeth yea the sight and the reason iudge diuersly of the greatnesse of the Sunne the starres nay of the figure of a staffe any thing distant In the Senses of Nature the beasts haue as well part as we 7 The senses common to man and beast but diuersly and sometimes excell vs for some haue their hearing more quicke than man some their sight others their smell others their taste and it is held that in the sense of Hearing the Hart excelleth all others of Sight the Eagle of Smell the Dogge of Taste the Ape of Feeling the Tortuis neuerthelesse the preheminence of that sense of Touch is giuen vnto man which of all the rest is the most brutish Now if the Senses are the meanes to attaine vnto knowledge and that beasts haue a part therein yea somtimes the better part why should not they haue knowledge But the Senses are not the only instruments of knowledge 8 The iudgement of the Senses hard and dangerous neither are our Senses alone to be consulted or beleeued for if beasts by their Senses iudge otherwise of things than we by ours as doubtlesse they do who must be beleeued Our spettle cleanseth and drieth our wounds it killeth the Serpent What then is the true qualitie of our spettle To dire and to cleanse or to kill To iudge well of the operation of the senses we must be at some agreement with the beasts nay with our selues for the eie pressed downe and shut seeth otherwise than in it ordinary state the eare stopt receiueth the obiects otherwise than when it is open an infant seeth heareth tasteth otherwise than a man a man than an olde man a sound than a sicke a wise than a foole In this great diuersitie and contrarietie what shall we holde for certaine Seeing that one sense belieth another a picture seemeth to be held vp to the view and the hands are folded together CHAP. XI Of Sight Hearing and Speech THese are the three most rich and excellent iewels of all those that are in this muster and of whose preheminencie 1 A comparison of the three it is disputed Touching their Organes that of the Sight in it composition and forme is admirable and of a liuely and shining beautie by reason of the great varietie and subtiltie of so many small parts or pieces and therefore it is sayd that the eye is one of those parts of the bodie which doe first begin to be formed and the last that is finished and for this verie cause it is so delicate and said to be subiect to six score maladies Afterwards comes that of Speech which helpeth the sense of Hearing to many great aduantages For the seruice of the bodie the Sight is most necessarie and therefore doth more import a beast than Hearing But for the spirit the Hearing challengeth the vpper place The Sight serueth well for the inuention of things which by it haue almost all beene discouered but it bringeth nothing to perfection Againe the Sight is not capable but of corporall things and particular and that only of their crust or superficiall part it is the instrument of ignorant men and vnlearned qui mouentur ad id quod adest quodque praesens est The Eare is a spirituall Sense it is the Intermedler and Agent 2 The preheminencie of hearing of the vnderstanding the instrument of wise and spirituall men capable not only of the secrets and inward parts of particular bodies whereunto the Sight arriueth not but also of the generall kindes and of all spirituall things and diuine in which the Sight serueth rather to disturbe than to helpe and therefore we see not only many blinde great and wise but some also that are depriued of their sight to become great Philosophers but of such as are deafe we neuer heard of any This is the way by which a man entreth the
the eagle of Montroyall the spheare of Sapor King of the Persians and that of Archimides with his other engins Now art and inuention The praise of inuention seeme not onely to imitate Nature but to excell it and that not only in the indiuiduum or particular for there is not any bodie either of man or beast so vniuersally well made as by art may be shewed but also many things are done by art which are not done by nature I meane besides those compositions and mixtures which are the true diet and proper subiect of art those distillations of waters and oiles made of simples which Nature frameth not But in all this there is no such cause of admiration as we thinke and to speake properly and truly there is no inuention but that which God reuealeth for such as we account and call so are but obseruations of naturall things arguments and conclusions drawen from them as Painting and the art Opticke from shadowes Sun-dials from the shadowes of trees the grauing of seales from precious stones By all this that hath before beene spoken it is easie to see 15 The Spirit very dangerous how rash and dangerous the spirit of man is especially if it be quicke and vigorous for being so industrious so free and vniuersall making it motions so irregularly vsing it libertie so boldly in all things not tying it selfe to any thing it easily shaketh the common opinions and all those rules whereby it should be bridled and restrained as an vniust tyranny it will vndertake to examine all things to iudge the greatest part of things plausibly receiued in the world to be ridiculous and absurd and finding for all an appearance of reason will defend it selfe against all whereby it is to be feared that it wandreth out of the way and loseth it selfe and we can not but see that they that haue any extraordinary viuacity and rare excellency as they that are in the highest roofe of that middle Classis before spoken of are for the most part lawlesse both in opinions and maners There are very few of whose guide and conduct a man may trust and in the libertie of whose iudgements a man may wade without temeritie beyond the common opinion It is a miracle to finde a great and liuely spirit well ruled and gouerned it is a dangerous sword which a man knowes not well how to guide for from whence come all those disorders reuolts heresies and troubles in the world but for this Magni errores non nisi ex magnis ingenijs nihil sapientiae o diosius acumine nimio Doubtlesse that man liues a better time and a longer life is more happie and farre more fit for the gouernment of a Common-wealth sayth Thucydides that hath an indifferent spirit or somewhat beneath a mediocritie than he that hath a spirit so eleuated and transcendent that it serues not for any thing but the torment of himselfe and others From the firmest friendships do spring the greatest enmities and from the soundest health the deadliest maladies and euen so from the rarest and quickest agitation of our soules the most desperate resolutions and disorderly frensies Wisdome and follie are neere neighbors there is but a halfe turne betwixt the one and the other which we may easily see in the actions of madde men Philosophie teacheth that Melancholy is proper to them both Whereof is framed the finest follie but of the finest wit And therefore sayth Aristotle there is no great spirit without some mixture of follie And Plato telleth vs that in vaine a temperate and sound spirit knocketh at the doore of Poetrie And in this sense it is that the wisest and best Poets doe loue sometimes to play the foole and to leape out of the hindges Insanire iucundum est dulce desipere in loco non potest grande sublime quidquam nisi mota mens quamdiu apud se est And this is the cause why man hath good reason to keepe it within narrow bounds to bridle and binde it with Religions 16 It must be bridled why Lawes Customes Sciences Precepts Threatnings Promises mortall and immortall which notwithstanding yet we see that by a lawlesse kinde of libertie it freeth it selfe and escapeth all these so vnruly is it by nature so fierce so opinatiue and therefore it is to be led by art since by force it can not Natura contumax est animus humanus in contrarium atque arduum nitens sequiturque faciliùs quam ducitur vt generosi Seneca nobiles equi melius facili fraeno reguntur It is a surer way gently to tutor it and to lay it asleepe than to suffer it to wander at it owne pleasure for if it be not well and orderly gouerned as they of the highest classis which before we spake of or weake and soft and pliant as those of the lower ranke it will lose it selfe in the libertie of it owne iudgement and therefore it is necessary that it be by some meanes or other held backe as hauing more need of lead than wings of a bridle than of a spurre which the great Lawyers and Founders of States did especially regard as well knowing that people of an indifferent spirit liued in more quiet and content than the ouer-quicke and ingenious There haue been more troubles and seditions in ten yeeres in the only citie of Florence than in fiue hundred yeeres in the countreys of the Heluetians and the Retians And to say the trueth men of a common sufficiencie are more honest better citizens more pliant and willing to submit themselues to the yoke of the lawes their superiours reason it selfe than those quicke and cleere sighted men that can not keepe themselues within their owne skinnes The finest wits are not the wisest men The Spirit hath it maladies defects tares or refuse as well 17 The defect of the spirit as the body and much more more dangerous and more incurable but that wee may the better know them we must distinguish them Some are accidentall and which come from Accidentall proceeding from three causes elsewhere and those arise from three causes the disposition of the bodie for it is manifest that the bodily maladie which alter the temperature thereof do likewise alter the spirit and iudgement or from the ill composition of the substance of 1. The body the braine and organs of the reasonable Soule whether it be by reason of their first formation as in those that haue their heads ill made either too round or too long or too little or by accident of some blow or wound The second is the vniuersall contagion of vulgar and erroneous opinions in the 2. The world world wherewith the Spirit being preoccupated tainted and ouercome or which is worse made drunken and manacled with certain fantasticall opinions it euer afterwards followeth iudgeth according to them without regard either of farther enquiry or recoiling backe from which dangerous deluge all spirits haue not
the root of all euill And truly he that shall see the Catalogue of those enuies and molestations which riches ingender within the heart of man as their proper thunder-bolt and lightning they would be more hated than they are now loued Desunt inopiae multa auaritiae omnia in nullum auarus bonus est in se pessimus There is another contrary passion to this and vicious to hate riches and to spend them prodigally this is to refuse 4 The counterpassion to couetousnesse the meanes to doe well to put in practise many vertues and to flie that labour which is farre greater in the true command and vse of riches than in not hauing them at all to gouerne himselfe better in abundance than in pouertie In this there is but one kinde of vertue which is not to faint in courage but to continue firme and constant In abundance there are many Temperance Moderation Liberalitie Diligence Prudence and so forth There more is not expressed but that he looke to himselfe heere that he attend first himselfe and then the good of others He that is spoiled of his goods hath the more libertie to attend the more weightie affaires of the spirit and for this cause many both Philosophers and Christians out of the greatnesse of their courage haue put it in practise He doth likewise discharge himselfe of many duties and difficulties that are required in the good and honest gouernment of our riches in their acquisition conseruation distribution vse and emploiment but he that quitteth himselfe of his riches for this reason slieth the labour and businesse that belongs vnto them and quite contrary doth it not out of courage but cowardize and a man may tell him that he shakes off his riches not because they are not profitable but because he knoweth not how to make vse of them how to vse them And not to be able to endure riches is rather weaknesse ofminde than wisdome sayth Seneca CHAP. XXII Of carnall Loue. CArnall Loue is a feuer and furious passion and very dangerous 1 It is strong naturall and common vnto him that suffereth himselfe to be carried by it For what becomes of him He is no more himselfe his bodie endureth a thousand labours in the search of his pleasure his minde a thousand helles to satisfie his desires and desire it selfe increasing growes into furie As it is naturall so is it violent and common to all and therefore in the action thereof it equalleth and coupleth fooles and wise men men and beasts together It maketh all the wisdome resolution contemplation operation of the soule beastly and brutish Hereby as likewise by sleepe Alexander knew himselfe to be a mortall man because both these suppresse the faculties of the soule Philosophie speaketh freely of all things that it may the better finde out their causes gouerne and iudge of them so 2 Why ignominious doth Diuinitie which is yet more chaste and more strait And why not since that all things belong vnto the iurisdiction and knowledge thereof The Sunne shines on the dunghill and is neither infected nor annoyed therewith To be offended with words is a token either of great weaknesse or some touch or guilt of the same maladie Thus much be spoken for that which followeth or the like if it shall happen Nature on the one side with violence thrusteth vs forward vnto this action all the motion of the world resolueth and yeeldeth to this copulation of the male and female on the other side it causeth vs to accuse to hide our selues to blush for shame as if it were a thing ignominious and dishonest We call it a shamefull act and the parts that serue thereunto our shamefull parts But why shamefull since naturall and keeping it selfe within it owne bounds iust lawfull and necessarie Yea why are beasts exempted from this shame Is it because the countenance seemes foule and deformed Why foule since naturall In crying laughing champing gaping the visage is more distorted Is it to the end it may serue as a bridle and a stay to such a kinde of violence Why then doth Nature cause such a violence Or contrariwise Is it because shame serueth as a spurre and as sulfure or that the instruments thereof mooue without our consent yea against our willes By this reason beasts likewise should be bashfull and many other things moue of themselues in vs without our consent which are neither vicious nor shamefull not only inward and hidden as the pulse motion of the heart arteries lungs the instruments and parts that serue the appetite of eating drinking discharging the braine the bellie and their shuttings and openings are besides nay many times against our willes witnesse those sneesings yawnings teares hoquets and fluxions that are not in our owne power and this of the bodie the spirit forgetteth remembreth beleeueth misbeleeueth and the will it selfe which many times willeth that which we would it willed not but outward and apparant the visage blusheth waxeth pale wanne the bodie groweth fat leane the haire turneth gray blacke white growes stands on end without and against our consent Is it that hereby the pouertie and weaknesse of man may be the more truely shewed That is as well seene in our eating and drinking our griefs wearinesse the disburdening of our bodies death whereof a man is not ashamed Whatsoeuer the reason be the action in it selfe and by nature is no way shamefull it is truely naturall so is not shame witnesse the beasts Why say I beasts The nature of man sayth Diuinitie mainteining it selfe in it first originall state had neuer knowen what shame was as now it doth for from whence commeth shame but from weaknesse and weaknesse but from sinne there being nothing in nature of it selfe shamefull The cause then of this shame not being in nature we must seeke it elswhere It is therefore artificiall It is an inuention forged in the closet of Venus to giue the greater prise to the businesse and to inkindle the desire thereof the more This is with a little water to make the fire burne the cleerer as Smithes vse to doe to inflame the desire to see what it is that is hidden to heare and know what it is that is muttered and whispered For to handle things darkly as if they were mysteries and with respect and shame giueth taste and estimation vnto them Contrariwise a loose free and open permission and commoditie derogateth from the worth and taketh away the true relish and delight thereof This action then in it selfe and simply taken is neither 3 In what sense vitious shamefull nor vitious since it is naturall and corporall no more than other the like actions are yea if it be well ordered it is iust profitable necessarie at the least as it is to eat and drinke But that which doth so much discredit it is that moderation is seldome kept therein and that to attaine thereunto we make great stirres and many times vse bad meanes
whereby it draweth after it if it go not before many euils all worse than the action it selfe The charge riseth aboue the principall and this is to fish as it is sayd with threeds of golde and purple And all this is purely humane Beasts that follow simple nature are quit from all these troubles But the art of man on the one side sets a strait gard about it planteth at the gate shame to giue it a relish on the other side ô the cousinage of men it inflameth and sharpneth the desire it deuiseth remoueth troubleth turneth all topsie turuie to attaine vnto it witnesse Poetrie which sportteh not it selfe in any thing so much as in this subiect and findeth euery entrance vnto it to be better than by the gate and the lawfull way and followeth euery wandring way rather than the common way of marriage CHAP. XXIII Desires Concupiscence THere arise not so many billowes and waues in the sea as 1 The bottomlesse depth of desire desires in the heart of man it is a bottomlesse depth it is infinite diuers inconstant confused and irresolute yea many times horrible and detestable but ordinarily vaine and ridiculous in it owne desires But first it shall not be amisse to distinguish them Some 2 Their distinction Naturall necessarie lib. 2. cap. 6. are naturall and they are iust and lawfull they are likewise in beasts they haue their limits and bounds a man may see the end of them and liuing according to those there is no man a begger Of these shall be spoken heereafter more at large for to say the trueth these are not passions Others Not naturall are besides nature proceeding from our opinion and fantasie artificiall superfluous which we may for distinctions sake call Concupiscences or Lusts These are purely humane beasts know not what they are only man is immoderate in his appetites these are without limits without end and are naught els but confusion Desideria naturalia finita sunt ex falsa opinione nascentia vbi desinant non habent Nullus enim Seneca terminus falso est via eunti aliquid extremum est error immensus est And therefore liuing according to these there is no man can be rch and contented Of these it is properly that wee haue spoken in the beginning of this Chapter and that we farther intend in this matter of the passions It is for these that a man sweats and trauels ad superuacua sudatur that a man iourneyeth by sea and by land goeth to warre killes himselfe drownes betrayes loseth himselfe and therefore it was well sayd That concupiscence is the root of all euill Now it falleth out many times a iust punishment that when a man seeketh how to satisfie his desires and to glut himselfe with the goods and pleasures of Fortune he loseth and is depriued of those of Nature and therefore Diogenes hauing refused that money that Alexander offered him desired him to giue him that he had taken from him to go out of the Sunne CHAP. XXIIII Hope Despaire OVr desires and concupiscences gather heat and redouble their force by hope which inflameth with the soft and gentle aire thereof our foolish desires kindleth in our mindes a fire from whence ariseth a thicke smoake which blindeth our vnderstanding carrieth with it our thoughts holds them hanging in the clouds makes vs dreame waking So long as our hopes endure or desires endure with them it is a play-game wherewith Nature busieth our mindes Contrariwise when despaire is once lodged neere vs it tormenteth our soules in such sort with an opinion of neuer obteining that we desire that all businesse besides must yeeld vnto it And for the loue of that which wee thinke neuer to obteine wee lose euen the rest of whatsoeuer wee possesse This passion is like vnto little children who to be reuenged of him that hath taken one of their play-games from them cast the rest into the fire It is angry with it selfe and requireth of it selfe the punishment of it owne follie and infelicitie After those passions that respect the apparent good come we to those that respect the euill CHAP. XXV Of Choler CHoler is a foolish passion which putteth vs wholly out 1 The description of our selues and with seeking the meanes to withstand and beat backe the euill which it threatneth vs or hath already procured vs maketh the blood to boile in our hearts and stirreth vp furious vapors in our spirits which blinde vs and cast vs headlong to whatsoeuer may satisfie the desire which we haue of reuenge It is a short furie a way to madnesse by the prompt and readie impetuositie and violence thereof it carrieth and furmounteth all passions Repentina vis vniuersa eius est The causes that dispose and mooue vnto choler are first 2 The causes thereof weaknesse of spirit as we see by experience in women olde men infants scke men who are commonly more cholericke than others Inualidum omne natura quaerulum est A man deceiueth himselfe to thinke that there is courage where there is violence violent motions are like the endeuours of children and olde men who runne when they thinke to goe for there is nothing more weake than an immoderate motion and a great imbecillitie is it in a man to be cholericke Secondly the maladie of the minde whereby it is made ouer-tender to beare blowes as the vlcerate parts of the bodie where the sound being interessed therein are astonished and wounded with light matters Nusquam sine quaerela aegra tanguntur The losse of a penie or the omission of a gaine puts into choler a couetous man a laughter or glance of his wife stirres this passion in a iealous man Thirdly lust vaine nicenesse selfe-loue which makes a man anxious and angry puts him into choler for the least cause that may be Nulla res magis iracundiam alit quam luxuria This loue of trisles of a glasse a dogge a bird is a kinde of follie that troubleth vs much and stirres vp this cholericke passion in vs. Fourthly too much curiositie qui nimis inquirit seipsum inquietat This is to seeke occasions and out of the lightnesse of the heart to cast a man into choler not attending any cause thereof Saepe ad nos ira venit saepius nos ad illam Fiftly lightnesse in beleeuing what comes first to the eare But the principall and formall cause is an opinion of contempt and misusage either by word deed countenance These are the reasons whereby we pretend to iustifie our choler The signes and symptomes are very manifest and more than of any other passion and so strange that they alter and 3 The signes change the whole estate of man they transforme and disfigure him vt sit difficile vtrum magis detestabile vitium aut deforme Some of them are outward the face red and deformed the eyes firie the looks furious the eare deafe the mouth foaming the heart panting the pulse beating the
the Ilotes their seruants to be made drunke that by the vgly deformity of their superfluous inundation others might grow into a horror and detestation of that sinne The Romanes to prepare their people to valour and a contempt of the dangers of death ordeined of purpose those furious spectacles of the fencers which at the first they ordained for offendors afterwards for slaues or seruants but innocents and lastly for freemen that gaue themselues thereunto Brothell houses in great Cities vsuries diuorces vnder the law of Moyses and in diuers other nations and religions haue beene permitted for the better auoiding of greater mischiefes ad duritiem cordis eorum In Iustice which cannot subsist cannot be executed without 8 Iustice the mixture of some wrong not onely Iustice commutatiue for that is not strange it is after a sort necessarie and men could not liue and traffique together without mutuall dammage without offence and the lawes allow of the losse which is vnder the moiety of the iust price But also Iustice distributiue as it selfe confesseth Summum ius summa iniuria omne magnum exemplum habet aliquid ex iniquo quod contra singulos vtilitate publica rependitur Plato alloweth and it is not against the law by deceits and false hopes of fauour and pardon to draw the offender to confesse his fault This is by iniustice deceit and impudencie to doe iustice And what should we say of the inuention of tortures which is rather Of tortures a proofe of patience than verity For both hee that can suffer them and cannot will conceale the truth For why should griefe cause a man rather to speake that which is than that which is not If a man thinke that an innocent is patient enough to endure torments why should not he that is guilty being a meanes to saue his life Illa tormenta gubernat dolor moderatur natura cuiusque tum animi tum corporis regit quaesitor flectit libido corrumpit spes infirmat metus vt in tot rerum angustijs nil veritati loci relinquatur In defence heereof it is said that tortures doe astonish and quell the guiltie and extort from him a truth and contrariwise strengthen the innocent but we doe so often see the contrarie that this may be doubted and to say the truth it is a poore meanes full of vncertaintie full of doubt What will not a man say what will he not doe to auoid such torment etenim innocentes mentiri cogit dolor in such sort that it falleth out that the iudge which giueth the torture to the end an innocent should not die causeth him to die an innocent and tortured too A thousand and a thousand haue falsely accused their owne heads either to shorten their torments or their liues But in the foot of this account is it not a great iniustice and crueltie to torment and to racke a man in pieces for that offence which is yet doubted of To the end they may not kil a man without iust cause they doe worse than kill him if he be innocent and beare the punishment what amends is made him for his vniust torture He shall be quit a goodly recompence and much reason he hath to thanke you But it is the lesser euill that the weakenesse of man could inuent If man bee weake in vertue much more is hee in veritie whether it be eternall and diuine or temporall and humane 9 Veritie That astonisheth him with the lightning beats him downe with the thunder thereof as the bright beames of the sunne the weake eie of the owle if he presume to behold it being oppressed he presently fainteth qui scrutator est maiestatis opprimetur a gloria in such sort that to giue himselfe some breath some tast he must disguise temper and couer it with some shadow or other This that is humane veritie offendeth and woundeth him and he that speakes it is many times holden for an enemie Veritas odium parit It is a strange thing man desireth naturally to know the truth and to attaine thereunto he remooueth all lets whatsoeuer and yet he can not attaine it if it be present he can not apprehend it if he apprehend it he is offended with it The fault is not in the truth for that is alwayes amiable beautifull worthie the knowledge but it is humane imbecillitie that can not endure the splendour thereof Man is strong enough to desire but too weake to receiue and holde what he desireth The two principall means which he vseth to attaine to the knowledge of truth are Reason and Experience Now both of them are so feeble vncertaine though Experience the more weake that nothing certaine can be drawen from them Reason hath so many formes is so pliable so wauering as hath been said Cap. 14. and Experience much more the occurrents are alwayes vnlike there is nothing so vniuersall in Nature as diuersitie nothing so rare and difficult and almost impossible as the likenesle and similitude of things and if a man can not note this dissimilitude it is ignorance and weaknesse I meane this perfect pure and entire similitude and dissimilitude for to say the trueth they are both whole and entire there is no one thing that is wholly like or dislike to another This is an ingenious and maruellous mixture of Nature But after all this what doth better discouer this humane imbecillitie than Religion yea the very intention thereof is 10 Religion to make man feele his owne euill his infirmitie his nothing and to make him to receiue from God his good his strength his all things First it preacheth it vnto him it beats it into our memorie it reprocheth man calling him dust ashes earth flesh blood grasse Afterwards it infinuateth it into him and makes him feele it after an excellent and goodly fashion bringing in God himselfe humbled weakened debased for the loue of him speaking promising swearing chiding threatning and to be briefe conuersing and working with man after a base feeble humane maner like a father that counterfeits his speech and playes the childe with his children The weaknesse of man being such so great so inuincible that to giue it some accesse and commerce with the Diuinitie and to vnite it vnto God it was necessary that God should debase himselfe to the bafest Deus quia in altitudine sua a nobis paruulis apprehendi non poterat ideo se strauit hominibus Againe it makes him see his owne weaknesse by ordinarie effects for all the principall and holiest exercises the most solemne actions of religion are they not the true symptomes and arguments of humane imbecillitie and sicknesse Those sacrifices that in former times haue been vsed thorowout Sacrifices the world and yet in some countreys continue not only of beasts but also of liuing men yea of innocents were they not shamefull marks of humane infirmitie and miserie First because they were signes and symboles of his condemnation and malediction for
Now this popular facilitie though it be in truth weakenesse and imbecillitie yet it is not without presumption For so lightly to beleeue and hold for truth and certaintie that which we know not or to enquire of the causes reasons consequents and not of the truth it selfe is to enterprise to presume too much For from what other cause proceeds this If you shall answere from a supposition that it is true why this is nothing a man handleth and stirreth the foundations and effects of a thousand things which neuer were whereby both pro and contra are false How many fables false and supposed miracles visions reuelations are there receiued in the world that neuer were And why should a man beleeue a miracle a thing neither humane nor naturall when he is able by naturall and humane meanes to confute and confound the truth thereof Truth and lying haue like visages like cariage relish gate and we behold them with one and the same eye it a sunt finitima falsa veris vt in praecipitem locum non debeat se sapiens committere A man ought not to beleeue that of a man which is not humane except he be warranted by supernaturall and superhumane approbation which is only God who is only to be beleeued in that he saith only because he saith it The other contrary vice is an audacious temeritie to condemne and reiect as false all things that are not easily vnderstood and that please not the palat It is the propertie of those that haue a good opinion of themselues which play the parts of men of dexteritie and vnderstanding especially heretikes Sophists Pedanties for they finding in themselues some speciall point of the spirit and that they see a little more cleerely than the common sort they assume vnto themselues law and authoritie to decide and determine all things This vice is farre greater and more base than the former for it is an enraged folly to thinke to know as much as possiblie is to be knowne the iurisdiction and limits of nature the capacitie of the power and will of God to frame vnto himselfe and his sufficiencie the truth and falshood of things which must needs be in so certaine and assured resolution and definition of them for see their ordinarie language that is false impossible absurd and how many things are there which at one time we haue reiected with laughter as impossible which we haue been constrained afterwards to confesse and approue yea and others too more strange than they And on the other side how many things haue wee receiued as articles of our faith that haue afterwards prooued vanities and lies The second degree of presumption which followeth and commonly proceedeth from the former is certainly and obstinatelie 2 To affirme and condemne to affirme or disprooue that which he hath lightly beleeued or misbeleeued So that it addeth vnto the first obstinacie in opinion and so the presumption increaseth This facilitie to beleeue with time is confirmed and degenerateth into an obstinacie inuincible and vncapable of amendment yea a man proceeds so farre in this obstinacie that he defends those things that he knowes and vnderstands least Maiorem fidem homines adhibent ijs quae non intelligunt cupiditate humani ingenij lubentius obscura creduntur he speaks of all things with resolution Now affirmation and opinatiue obstinacie are signes of negligence and ignorance accompanied with follie and arrogancie The third degree which followeth these two and which 8 3. To perswade is the height of presumption is to perswade others to receiue as canonicall whatsoeuer he beleeueth yea imperiously to impose a beleefe as it were by obligation and inhibition to doubt What tyranny is this Whosoeuer beleeueth a thing thinks it a worke of charitie to perswade another to beleeue the same and that he may the better do it he feareth not to adde of his owne inuention so much as he seeth necessarie for his purpose to supplie that want and vnwillingnes which he thinks to be in the conceit of another of that he tels There is nothing vnto which men are commonly more prone than to giue way to their owne opinions Nemo sibi tantùm errat sed alijs erroris causa author est Where the ordinarie meane wanteth there a man addeth commandement force fire sword This vice is proper vnto dogmatists and such as will gouerne and giue lawes vnto the world Now to attaine to the end heereof and to captiuate the beliefs of men vnto themselues they vse two meanes First they bring in certain generall and fundamentall propositions which they call principles and presuppositions wherof they say we must neither doubt nor dispute vpon which they afterwards build whatsoeuer they please and leade the world at their pleasure which is a mockerie whereby the world is replenished with errours and lies And to say the trueth if a man should examine these principles he should finde as great or greater vntrueths and weaknesses in them than in all that which they would haue to depend vpon them and as great an appearance of trueth in propositions quite contrarie There haue Copernicus Paracelsus beene some in our time that haue changed and quite altered the principles and rules of our Ancients and best Professors in Astronomie Phisicke Geometrie in nature and the motion of the windes Euery humane proposition hath as much authoritie as another if reason make not the difference Trueth dependeth not vpon the authoritie and testimonie of man there are no principles in man if Diuinitie haue not reuealed them all the rest is but a dreame and smoake Now these great masters will that whatsoeuer they say should be beleeued and receiued and that euery man should trust them without iudging or examining what they teach which is a tyrannicall iustice God onely as hath beene sayd is to be beleeued in all that he saith because he saith it Qui a semetipso loquitur mendax est The other meane is by supposition of some miraculous thing done new and celestiall reuelation and apparition which hath beene cunningly practised by Law-makers Generals in the field or priuate Captaines The perswasion taken from the subiect it selfe possesseth the simpler sort but at the first it is so tender and fraile that the least offence mistaking or imprudencie that shall happen vndoeth all for it is a great maruell how from so vaine beginnings and friuolous causes there should arise the most famous impressions Now this first impression being once gotten doth woonderfully grow and increase in such sort that it fasteneth euen vpon the most expert and skilfull by reason of the multitude of beleeuers witnesses yeeres wherewith a man suffereth himselfe to be carried if he see not well into it and be not well prepared against it for then it is to small purpose to spurne against it or to enquire farther into it but simply to beleeue it The greatest and most powerfull meane to perswade and the best touch-stone of
the line thirtie on that that is to say all that part which is betwixt the two tropicks or somewhat more where are the hot and Southerne countries Africke and Aethiope in the middle betwixt the East and the West Arabia Calicut the Moluques Ianes Taprobana towards the Orient Peru and the great Seas towards the Occident The other middle part hath thirtie degrees beyond the Tropicks both on this side the line and on that towards the Poles where are the middle and temperate regions all Europe with the Mediterrane Sea in the middle betwixt the East and West all Asia both the lesse and the greater which is towards the East with China Iapan and America towards the West The third which is the thirtie degrees which are next to the two Poles on both sides which are the cold and Icie countries the Septentrionall people Tartary Muscony Estotilan Magelan which is not yet throughly discouered Following this generall partition of the world the natures of men are likewise different in euery thing body soule religion 3 Their natures maners as wee may see in this little Table For the  Northerne people are Middle are Southerne are 1 In their Bodies High and great phlegmaticke sanguin white and yellow sociable the voyce strong the skin soft and hairie great eaters and drinkers puissant Indifferent and temperate in all those things as neuters or partakers a little of those two extremities participating most of that region to which they are nearest neighbours Little melancholicke cold and dry blacke Solitary the voyce shrill the skin hard with little haire and curled abstinent feeble 2 Spirit Heauy obtuse stupid sottish facill light inconstant Ingenious wise subtile opinatiue 3 Religion Little religious and deuout Superstitious contemplatiue 4 Manners Warriers valiant painfull chast free from iealousie cruell and inhumane No warriers idle vnchast iealous cruell and inhumane All these differences are easily prooued As for those of the bodie they are knowne by the eye and if there be any exceptions 4 The proofes of these differences of the Body they are rare and proceed from the mixture of the people or from the winds the waters and particular situation of the place whereby a mountaine is a notable difference in the selfe-same degree yea the selfe-same countrie and citie They of the higher part of the citie of Athens were of a quite contrary humor as Plutarke affirmeth to those that dwelt about the gate of Pyreus and they that dwell in the North side of a mountaine differ as much from those that dwell on the South side as they do both differ from those in the valley As for the differences of the spirit we know that mechanicall 2 The spirit and manuall artes belong to the North where men are made for labour Speculatiue sciences came from the South Caesar and other ancients of those times called the Aegyptians ingenious and subtile Moyses is said to be instructed in their wisdome and Philosophie came from thence into Greece Greatnesse began rather with them because of their spirit and subtiltie The gards of Princes yea in the Southerne partes are Northerne men as hauing more strength and lesse subtiltie and malice So likewise the Southerne people are indued with great vertues and subiect to great vices as it is said of Hannibal The Northerne haue goodnes and simplicitie The lesser and middle sciences as policies lawes and eloquence are in the middle nations wherein the greatest Empires and policies haue flourished As touching the third point religions haue come from the South Egypt Arabia Chaldea more superstition in 3 Religion Africke than the whole world besides witnesse their vowes so frequent their temples so magnificent The Northerne people saith Caesar haue little care of religion being whollie giuen to the warres and to hunting As for manners and first touching warres it is certaine that the greatest armies artes military instruments and inuentions 4 Manners haue come from the North. The Scythians Gothes Vandals Huns Tartarians Turks Germanes haue beaten and conquered all other nations and ransaked the whole world and therefore it is a common saying that all euill comes from the North. Single combats came from them The Northerne people adore a sword fastned in the earth saith Solinus To other nations they are inuincible yea to the Romans who hauing conquered the rest of the world were vtterly destroyed by them They grow weake and languish with the Southerne winds and going towards the South as the Southerne men comming into the North redouble their forces By reason of their warlike fiercenes they will not endure to be commanded by authority they loue their libertie at leastwise electiue commanders Touching chastitie and iealousie in the North saith Tacitus one woman to one man yea one woman sufficeth many men saith Caesar There is no iealousie saith Munster where men and women bathe themselues together with strangers In the South Polygamie is altogether receiued All Africke adoreth Venus saith Solinus The Southerns die with iealousie and therefore they keepe Eunuches as gardians to their wiues which their great Lords haue in great number as they haue stables of horses Touching crueltie the two extreames are alike cruell but the causes are diuers as we shall see anon when we come to speake of the causes Those tortures of the wheele and staking of men aliue came from the North The inhumanities of the Moscouites and Tartars are too well knowne The Almanes saith Tacitus punish not their offenders by lawe but cruelly murther them as enemies The Southerns flea their offenders aliue and their desire of reuenge is so great that they become furious if they be not glutted therewith In the middle regions they are mercifull and humane The Romans punished their greatest offenders with banishment The Greeks vsed to put their offenders to death with a sweet drugge made of a kinde of Hemlocke which they gaue them to drinke And Cicero saith that humanitie and courtesie were the conditions of Asia minor and from thence deriued to the rest of the world The cause of all these corporall and spirituall differences is the inequalitie and difference of the inward naturall heate 5 The cause of the aforesaid differences which is in those countries and peoples that is to say strong and vehement in the Northerns by reason of the great outward cold which incloseth and driueth the heate into the inward parts as caues and deepe places are hot in winter so mens stomacks ventres hieme culidiores Weake and feeble is the Southerns the inward heate being dispersed and drawne into the outward parts by the vehemencie of the outward heate as in Sommer vaults and places vnder the earth are cold Meane and temperate in the middle regions From this diuersitie I say and inequalitie of naturall heat proceed these differences not only corporall which are easie to note but also spirituall for the Southerns by reason of their cold temperature are melancholike and therefore staied constant
contemplatiue ingenious religious wise for wisdome is in cold creatures as Elephants who as they are of all other beasts the most melancholicke so are they more wise docile religious by reason of their cold bloud From this melancholie temperature it likewise commeth that the Southerns are vnchaste by reason of that frothie freating tickling melancholie as we commonly see in Hares and cruell because this freating sharp melancholie doth violently presse the passions and reuenge The Northernes are of a phlegmatick and sanguine temperature quite contrarie to the Southerne and therefore haue contrary qualities saue that they agree in this one that they are likewise cruell and inhumane but by another reason that is for want of iudgement whereby like beasts they know not how to conteine and gouerne themselues They of the middle regions are sanguin and cholericke tempered with a sweete pleasant kindly disposed humor they are actiue We could likewise more exquisitely represent the diuers natures of these three sorts of people by the application and comparison of all things as you may see in this little Table where it appeareth that there doth properly belong and may be referred to the Northerne Midlers Southerne The common sense Discourse reasoning Vnderstanding Qualities of the soule Force as of Beares and other beasts Reason and iustice of men Subtilty of foxes religion of diuines Mars warre The moon hūting Iupiter emperours Mercurie oratours Saturn cōtemplation Venus loue Planets Arte and handicrafts Prudence knowledge of good and euill Knowledge of trueth and falshood Actions and parts of the Common-weale Labourers artificers souldiers to execute obey Magistrates prouident to iudge command Prelates Philosophers to contemplate Yoong men vnapt Perfect men managers of affaires Graue old men wise pensiue The other distinction more particular may be referred to this generall of North and South for wee may referre to the conditions of the Northerne those of the West and that liue in mountaines warriours fierce people desirous of libertie by reason of the colde which is in mountaines So likewise they that are farre distant from the sea are more simple and innocent And contrarily to the conditions of the Southernes we may referre the Easterlings such as liue in valleys effeminate and delicate persons by reason of the fertillitie of the place which naturally yeeldeth pleasure So likewise they that liue vpon the sea coasts are subtile deceiuers by reason of their commerce and traffike with diuers sorts of people and nations By all this discourse we may see that generally those of the North doe excell in bodie haue strength for their part and they of the South in spirit and haue for their part subtiltie they of the middle Regions partake of both and are temperate in all So likewise we may see that their maners to say the trueth are neither vices nor vertues but works of nature which to amend or renounce altogether is more than difficult but to sweeten temper and reduce the extremities to a mediocritie is a worke of vertue CHAP. XLIII The second distinction and more subtile difference of the spirits and sufficiences of men THis second distinction which respecteth the spirit and ◠Three sorts and degrees of people in the world sufficiencie is not so plaine and perceptible as the other and comes as well from nature as atchieuement according vnto which there are three sorts of people in the world as three conditions and degrees of spirits In the one and the lowest are the weake and plaine spirits of base and slender capacitie borne to obey serue and to be led who in effect are simply men In the second and middle stage are they that are of an indifferent iudgement make profession of sufficiencie knowledge dexterity but do not sufficiently vnderstand and iudge themselues resting themselues vpon that which is commonly held and giuen them at the first hand without further enquirie of the truth and source of things yea with a perswasion that it is not lawfull and neuer looking farther than where they be but thinking that it is euery where so or ought to be so and that if it be otherwise they are deceiued yea they are barbarous They subiect themselues to opinions and the municipall lawes of the place where they liue euen from the time they were first hatched not only by obseruance and custome which all ought to do but euen from the very heart and soule with a perswasion that that which is beleeued in their village is the true touchstone of truth heere is nothing spoken of diuine reuealed truth or religion the only or at least the best rule to liue well These sorts of people are of the schoole and iurisdiction of Aristotle affirmers positiue men dogmatists who respect more vtilitie than veritie according to the vse and custome of the world than that which is good and true in it selfe Of this condition there are a very great number and diuers degrees the principall and most actiue amongst them gouerne the world and haue the commaund in their hand In the third and highest stage are men indued with a quick and cleare spirit a strong firme and solid iudgement who are not content with a bare affirmation nor settle themselues in common receiued opinions nor suffer themselues to be wonne and preoccupated by a publicke and common beleefe whereof they wonder not at all knowing that there are many cousenages deceits impostures receiued in the world with approbation and applause yea publick adoration and reuerence but they examin all things that are proposed sound maturely and seeke without passion the causes motiues and iurisdictions euen to the roote louing better to doubt and to hold in suspence their beleefe than by a loose and idle facilitie or lightnesse or precipitation of iudgement to feede themselues with lies and affirme or secure themselues of that thing whereof they can haue no certaine reason These are but few in number of the Schoole of Socrates and Plato modest sober staied considering more the veritie and realitie of things than the vtilitie who if they be well borne hauing with that aboue mentioned probitie and gouernment in manners they are truly wise and such as heere we seeke after But because they agree not with the common sort as touching opinions see more clearely pierce more deeply are not so facill and easily drawne to beleeue they are suspected and little esteemed of others who are farre more in number and held for fantasticks and philosophers a word which they vse in a wrong sense to wrong others In the first of these three degrees or orders there is a farre greater number than in the second and in the second than in the third They of the first and last the lowest and highest trouble not the world make no stirre the one for insufficiencie and weakenes the other by reason of too great sufficiēcie stabilitie and wisdome They of the middle make all the stirre the disputations that are in the world
the bosome and lap of a woman or being spent about young children But is it not a goodly sight nay a great losse that he that is able for his wisdome and policie to gouerne the whole world should spend his time in the gouernment of a woman and a few children And therefore it was well answered by a great personage being sollicited to marry That he was borne to command men not a woman to counsell Kings and Princes not little children To all this a man may answere that the nature of man is 3 The answere to the aforesaid obiections Cap. 4. not capable of perfection or of any thing against which nothing may be obiected as hath elsewhere beene spoken The best and most expedient remedies that it hath are in some degree or other but sickly mingled with discommodities They are all but necessarie euils And this is the best that man could deuise for his preseruation and multiplication Some as Plato and others would more subtillie haue inuented meanes to haue auoided these thornie inconueniences but besides that they built castels in the aire that could not long continue in vse their inuentions likewise if they could haue been put in practise would not haue been without many discommodities and difficulties Man hath been the cause of them and hath himselfe brought them forth by his vice intemperancie and contrarie passions and we are not to accuse the state nor any other but man who knowes not well how to vse any thing Moreouer a man may say that by reason of these thornes and difficulties it is a schoole of vertue an apprentiship and a familiar and domesticall exercise and Socrates a doctor of wisdome did once say to such as hit him in the teeth with his wiues pettish frowardnes That he did thereby learne euen within his owne dores to be cōstant and patient euery where else and to thinke the crosses of fortune to be sweet and pleasant vnto him It is not to be denied but that he that can liue vnmaried doth best but yet for the honour of mariage a man may say that it was first instituted by God himselfe in Paradise before any other thing and that in the state of innocencie and perfection See heere foure commendations of mariage but the fourth passeth all the rest and is without replie Afterwards the Sonne of God approued it and honored it with his presence at the first miracle that he wrought and that miracle done in the fauour of that state of mariage and maried men yea he hath honored it with this priuiledge that it serueth for a figure of that great vnion of his with the Church and for that cause it is called a mysterie and great Without all doubt mariage is not a thing indifferent It is either wholly a great good or a great euill a great content or 4 Wholly good or wholly ill a great trouble a paradise or a hell It is either a sweet and pleasant way if the choice be good or a rough and dangerous march and a gauling burthensome tye if it be ill It is a bargaine where truly that is verified which is said Homo homini deus aut lupus Mariage is a worke that consisteth of many parts there must be a meeting of many qualities many considerations 5 A good mariage a rare good besides the parties maried For whatsoeuer a man say he marieth not only for himselfe his posteritie familie alliance and other meanes are of great importance and a greeuous burthen See heere the cause why so few good are found and because there are so few good found it is a token of the price and value thereof it is the condition of all great charges Royaltie is full of difficultie and few there are that exercise it well and happily And whereas we see many times that it falleth not out so luckely the reason thereof is the licentious libertie and vnbridled desire of the persons themselues and not in the state and institution of mariage and therefore it is commonly more commodious and better fitted in good simple and vulgar spirits where delicacie curiositie and idlenesse are lesse troublesome vnbridled humours and turbulent wauering minds are not fit for this state or degree Mariage is a step to wisdome a holie and inuiolable band an honorable match If the choyce be good and well ordered 6 A simple description and summary of mariage there is nothing in the world more beautifull It is a sweet societie of life full of constancie trust and an infinite number of profitable offices and mutuall obligations It is a fellowship not of loue but amitie For loue and amitie are as different as the burning sick heate of a feuer from the naturall heate of a sound bodie Mariage hath in it selfe amitie vtilitie iustice honor constancie a plaine pleasure but sound firme and more vniuersall Loue is grounded vpon pleasure only and it is more quicke piercing ardent Few mariages succeede well that haue their beginnings and progresse from beautie and amorous desires Mariage hath neede of foundations more solid and constant and we must walke more warily this boyling affection is worth nothing yea mariage hath a better conduct by a third hand Thus much is said summarily and simplie but more exactly to describe it we know that in Mariage there are two 7 A descriptiō more exact things essentiall vnto it and seeme contraries though indeed they be not that is to say an equalitie sociable and such as is betweene Peeres and an inequalitie that is to say superioritie and inferioritie The equalitie consisteth in an entire and perfect communication and communitie of all things soules wills bodies goods the fundamentall law of Mariage which in some places is extended euen to life and death in such sort that the husband being dead the wife must incontinently follow This is practised in some places by the publick lawes of the countries and many times with so ardent affection that many wiues belonging to one husband they contend and publicklie pleade for the honor to goe first to sleepe with their spouse that is their word alleaging for themselues the better to obtaine their suite and preferment heerein their good seruice that they were best beloued had the last kisse of their deceased husband and haue had children by him Et certamen habent lethi quae viua sequatur coniugium pudor est non licuisse mori Ardent victrices flammae pectora praebent Imponuntque suis ora perusta viris In other places it was obserued not by publicke lawes but priuate compacts and agreements of mariage as betwixt Marc. Antony and Cleopatra This equalitie doth likewise consist in that power which they haue in commune ouer their family whereby the wife is called the companion of her husband the mistris of the house and family as the husband the master and lord And their ioint authoritie ouer their family is compared to an Aristocracie The distinction of superioritie and inferioritie
consisteth in this that the husband hath power ouer the wife and the 8 Inequalitie wife is subiect to the husband This agreeth with all lawes and policies but yet more or lesse according to the diuersitie of them In all things the wife though she be far more noble and more rich yet is subiect to the husband This superioritie and inferioritie is naturall founded vpon the strength and sufficiencie of the one the weaknes and insufficiencie of the other The Diuines ground it vpon other reasons drawen from the Bible Man was first made by God alone and immediatly expresly for God his head and according to his image and perfect for nature doth always begin with things perfect The woman was made in the second place after man of the substance of man by occasion and for another thing mulier est vir occasionatus to serue as an aide and as a second to man who is her head and therefore imperfect And this is the difference by order of generation That of corruption and sinne proueth the same for the woman was the first in preuarication and by hir own weakenes and will did sinne man the second and by occasion of the woman the woman then the last in good and in generation and by occasion the first in euill and the occasion thereof is iustly subiect vnto man the first in good and last in euill This superioritie and power of the husband hath beene in some places such as that of the father ouer life and death as 9 The power of the husband Dion Halicar l. 2. Lib. 2. Lib. 6. bel Gal. with the Romans by the law of Romulus and the husband had power to kill his wife in foure cases Adulterie Suborning of children counterfeiting of false keyes and drinking of wine So likewise with the Greeks as Polybius and the ancient French as Caesar affirmeth the power of the husband was ouer the life and death of his wife Elswhere and there too afterwards this power was moderated but almost in all places the power of the husband and the subiection of the wife doth inferre thus much That the husband is master of the actions and vowes of his wife and may with words correct her and hold her to the stocks as for blowes they are vnworthy a woman of honour or honestie saith the Law and the wife is bound to holde the condition follow the qualitie countrey familie habitation and rancke of her husband she must accompanie and follow him in all things in his iourneys if need be his banishment his imprisonment yea a wandring person a vagabond a fugitiue The examples heereof are many and excellent of Sulpitia who followed her husband Lentulus being banished into Cicilie Erithrea her husband Phalaris Ipsicrates the wife of King Mithridate vanquished by Pompey who wandred thorow the world Some adde vnto this That wiues are to follow their husbands euen in the warres and into those prouinces whither the husband is sent with publike charge Neither can the wife bring any thing into question of law whether she be plaintiffe or defendant without Corn. Tacit the authority of her husband or of the Iudge if he refuse neither can she call her husband into iudgement without the permission of the Magistrate Marriage is not carried after one and the same fashion neither 10 The diuers rules of mariage hath it in euery place the same lawes and rules but according to the diuersitie of religions and countreys it hath rules either more easie or more streight according to the rules of Christianitie of all others the streightest marriage is more subiect and held more short There is nothing but the entrance left free the continuance is by constraint depending of some thing els than our owne willes Other nations and religions to make marriage more easie free and fertile haue receiued and practised Polygamie and repudiation libertie to take and leaue wiues they accuse Christianitie for taking away these two by which meanes amity and multiplication the principall ends of marriage are much preiudiced inasmuch as amitie is an enemie to all constraint and they doe better maintaine themselues in an honest libertie and multiplication is made by the woman as Nature doth richly make knowen vnto vs in wolues of whom the race is so fertile in the production of their yoong euen to the number of twelue or thirteene that they farre excell all other profitable creatures of these there are great numbers killed euery day by which meanes there are but few and they though of all others the most fertile yet by accident the most barren the reason is because of so great a number as they bring there is one only female which for the most part beareth not by reason of the multitude of males that concurre in the generation of which the greatest part die without fruit by the want of females So likewise we may see how much Polygamy helpeth to multiplication in those nations that receiue it Iewes Turks and other Barbarians who are able to raise forces of three or foure thousand fighting men fit for warres Contrariwise in Christendome there are many linked together in matrimony the one of which if not both are barren which being placed with others both the one and the other may happely leaue great posteritie behinde them But to speake more truly all his fertilitie consisteth in the fertilitie of one only woman Finally they obiect That this Christianlike restraint is the cause of many lasciuious pranks and adulteries To all which we may answer That Christianitie considereth not of marriage by reasons purely humane naturall temporall but it beholds it with another visage and weigheth it with reasons more high and noble as hath beene said Adde vnto this That experience sheweth in the greatest part of marriages that constraint increaseth amitie especially in simple and debonaire mindes who doe easily accommodate themselues where they finde themselues in such sort linked And as for lasciuious and wicked persons it is the immodestie of their maners that makes them such which no libertie can amend And to say the truth Adulteries are as common where Polygamie and repudiation are in force witnesse the Iewes and Dauid who for all the wiues that hee had could not defend himselfe from it and contrariwise they haue beene a long time vnknowen in policies well gouerned where there was neither Polygamie nor repudiation witnesse Sparta and Rome a long time after the foundation And therefore it is absurd to attribute it vnto religion which teacheth nothing but puritie and continencie The libertie of Polygamie which seemeth in some sort naturall 11 Polygamie diuers is caried diuersly according to the diuersitie of nations and policies In some all the wiues that belong to one husband liue in common and are equall in degree and so are their children In others there is one who is the principall and as the mistresse whose children inherit the goods honours and titles of the husband the rest
children he was not punished Salust in bel Catil Valer. Maxim as we may see by the example of Fuluius the Senator who killed his sonne because he was a partner in the conspiracie of Catiline and of diuers other Senatours who haue made criminall processe against their children in their owne houses and haue condemned them to death as Cassius Tratius or to perpetuall exile as Manlius Torquatus his sonne Sillanus There were afterwards lawes ordeined that inioyned the father to present vnto the Iudge his children offending that they might be punished and that the Iudge should pronounce such a sentence as the father thought fit which is still a kinde of footstep of antiquitie and going about to take away the power of the father they durst not doe it but by halfes and not altogether and openly These latter lawes come somewhat neere the law of Moyses which would That at the only complaint of the father made before the Iudge without any other knowledge taken of the cause the rebellious and contumacious childe should be stoned to death requiring the presence of the Iudge to the end the punishment should not be done in secret or in choler but exemplarilie So that according to Moyses this fatherly power was more free and greater than it hath beene after the time of the Emperours but afterwards vnder Constantine the Great and Theodosius and finally vnder Iustinian it was almost altogether extinct From whence it is that children haue learned to denie their obedience to their parents their goods their aide yea to wage law against them a shamefull thing to see our Courts full of these cases Yea they haue beene dispensed heerewith vnder pretext of deuotion and offerings as with the Iewes before Christ wherwith he reprocheth them Matt. 15. and afterwards in Christianitie according to the opinion of some yea it hath beene lawfull to kill them either in their owne defence or if they were enemies to the Common-weale although to say the truth there should neuer because iust enough for a sonne to kill his father Nullum tantum scelus admitti potest a patre quod sit parricidio vindicandum nullum scelus rationem habet Now we feele not what mischiefe and preiudice hath hapned to the world by the abolishing and extinction of this fatherly power The Common-weales wherein it hath beene in force haue alwayes flourished If there were any danger or euill in it it might in some sort be ruled and moderated but vtterly to abolish it as now it is is neither honest nor expedient but hurtfull and inconuenient as hath beene sayd Of the reciprocall duty of parents and children See Lib. 3. Cap. 14. CHAP. XLVIII Lords and slaues Masters and seruants THe vse of slaues and the full and absolute power of Lords and Masters ouer them although it be a thing common 1 The vse of slaues vniuersall and against nature thorowout the world and at all times except within these foure hundred yeeres in which time it hath somewhat decayed though of late it reuiue againe yet it is a thing both monstrous and ignominious in the nature of man and such as is not found in beasts themselues who consent not to the captiuitie of their like neither actiuely nor passiuely The law of Moyses hath permitted this as other things ad duritiam cordis eorum but not such as hath beene elswhere for it was neither so great nor so absolute nor perpetuall but moderated within the compasse of seuen yeeres at the most Christianitie hath left it finding it vniuersall in all places as likewise to obey idolatrous Princes and Masters and such like matters as could not at the first attempt and altogether be extinguished they haue abolished There are foure sorts Naturall that is slaues borne Enforced 2 Distinction and made by right of warre Iust termed slaues by punishment by reason of some offence or debt whereby they are slaues to their Creditors at the most for seuen yeeres according to the law of the Iewes but alwayes vntill paiment and restitution be made in other places Voluntaries whereof there are many sorts as they that cast the dice for it or sell Tacit. de mort German their libertie for money as long sithence it was the custome in Almaigne and now likewise in some parts of Christendom where they do giue and vow themselues to another for euer as the Iewes were woont to practise who at the gate bored a hole in their eare in token of perpetuall seruitude And this kind of voluntarie captiuitie is the strangest of all the rest and almost against nature It is couetousnesse that is the cause of slaues enforced and lewdnesse the cause of voluntaries They that are Lords and 3 The cause of Slaues Masters haue hoped for more gaine and profit by keeping than by killing them and indeed the fairest possessions and the richest commodities were in former times slaues By this meanes Crassus became the richest among the Romanes who had besides those that serued him fiue hundred slaues who euery day brought gaine and commoditie by their gainefull artes and mysteries and afterwards when he had made what profit by them he could he got much by the sale of them It is a strange thing to reade of those cruelties practised by Lords vpon their slaues euen by the approbation and permission 4 The cruelties of Lords against their slaues of the lawes themselues They haue made them to till the earth being chained together as the manner is in Barbary at this day they lodge them in holes and ditches and being old or impotent and so vnprofitable they sell them or drowne them and cast them into lakes to feed their fish withall They kill them not only for the least fault that is as the breaking of a glasse but for the least suspition yea for their owne pleasure and pastime as Flaminius did one of the honestest men of his time And to giue delight vnto the people they were constrained in their publicke Theaters to kill one another If a Master hapned to be killed in his house by whomsoeuer the innocent slaues were all put to death insomuch that Pedonius the Romane being slaine although the murtherer were knowne yet by the order of the Senat foure hundred of his slaues were put to death On the other side it is a thing as strange to heare of the rebellions insurrections and cruelties of slaues against their 5 The cruelties of Slaues against their Lords Lords when they haue beene able to worke their reuenge not only in particular by surprise and treason as it fell out one night in the Citie of Tyre but in set battaile both by sea and land from whence the prouerb is So many slaues so many enemies Now as Christian religion and afterwards Mahumetisme 6 Diminution of Slaues did increase the number of slaues did decrease and seruitude did cease insomuch that the Christians and afterwards the Turks like apes imitating them gaue
the first Law-breakers for they do nothing and many times do quite contrarie to that they enioyne others like the Pharises Imponunt onera grauia nolunt ea digito mouere So do some Physitians and Diuines so liues the world rules and precepts are enioined and men not only by an irregularitie of life and maners but also by contrarie opinion and iudgement follow others There is likewise another fault full of iniustice they are farre more scrupulous exact and rigorous in things free and accidentall than in necessarie and substantiall in positiue and humane than in naturall and diuine like them that are content to lend but not to pay their debts and all like the Pharises as the great and heauenly Doctour telleth them to their reproch All this is but hypocrisie and deceit CHAP. LII People or vulgar sort THe people we vnderstand heere the vulgar sort the popular rout a kinde of people vnder what couert soeuer of base seruile and mechanicall condition are a strange beast with many heads and which in few words can not be described inconstant and variable without stay like the waues of the sea they are mooued and appeased they allow and disallow one and the same thing at one and the same instant there is nothing more easie than to driue them into what passion he will they loue not warres for the true end thereof nor peace for rest and quietnesse but for varieties sake and the change that there is from the one to the other confusion makes them desire order and when they haue it they like it not they run alwaies one contrary to another and there is no time pleaseth but what is to come hi vulgi mores odisse praesentia ventura cupere praeterita celebrare They are light to beleeue to gather together newes especially such as are most hurtfull holding all reports for assured trueths With a whistle or some sonnet of newes a man may assemble them together like bees at the sound of a bason Without iudgement reason discretion Their iudgement and wisdome is but by chance like a cast at dice vnaduised and headlong of all things and alwayes ruled by opinion or custome or the greater number going all in a line like sheepe that run after those that goe before them and not by reason and truth Plebi non iudicium non veritas ex opinione multa Tacit. Cic. ex veritate paucae iudicat Enuious and malicious enemies to good men contemners of vertue beholding the good hap of another with an ill eye fauouring the more weake and the more wicked and wishing all ill they can to men of honor they know not wherefore except it be because they are honourable and well spoken of by others Treacherous and vntrue amplifying reports smothering of truthes and alwayes making things greater than they are without faith without holde The faith or promise of a people and the thought of a childe are of like durance which change not onely as occasions change but according to the difference of those reports that euery houre of the day may bring forth Mutinous desiring nothing but nouelties and changes seditious enemies to peace and quietnesse ingenio mobili seditiosum discordiosum cupidum rerum nouarum quieti otio aduersum Salust especially when they meet with a leader for then euen as the calme sea of nature tumbleth and foameth and rageth being stirred with the furie of the windes so doe the people swell and grow proud wilde and outragious but take from them their leader they become deiect grow wild are confounded with astonishment sine rectore praeceps pauidus socors nil ausura plebs principibus amotis Procurers and fauorers of broiles and alterations in householde affaires they account modestie simplicitie wisdome rusticitie and contrariwise they giue to fierie and heady violence the name of valour and fortitude They prefer those that haue hot heads and actiue hands before those that haue a setled and temperate iudgement and vpon whom the weight of the affaires must lie boasters and pratlers before those that are simple and stayed They care neither for the publike good nor common honestie but their priuate good only and they refuse no base offices for their gaine and commodity Priuata cuique stimulatio vile decus publicum Alwayes muttering and murmuring against the State alwayes belching out slanders and insolent speeches against those that gouerne and command The meaner and poorer sort haue no better pastime than to speake ill of the great and rich not vpon cause and reason but of enuie being neuer content with their gouernours nor the present State They haue nothing but a mouth they haue tongues that cease not spirits that bowge not they are a monster whose parts are all tongues they speake all things but know nothing they look vpon all but see nothing they laugh at all and weepe at all fit to mutine and rebell not to fight Their propertie is rather to assay to shake off their yoke than to defend their libertie procacia plebis ingenia impigrae linguae Tacit. ignaui animi Salust They neuer know how to holde a measure nor to keepe an honest mediocritie Either like slaues they serue ouer-basely or like lords they are beyond all measure insolent and tyrannicall They can not endure a soft and temperate bit nor are pleased with a lawfull libertie they run alwaies to extremities either out of hope too much trusting or too much distrusting out of feare They will make you afeard if you feare not them when they are frighted you chocke them vnder the chin and you leape with both feet vpon their bellies They are audacious and proud if a man shew not the cudgell and therefore the prouerbe is Tickle them and they will pricke thee pricke them and they will tickle thee Nil in vulgo modicum terrere ni paueant vbi pertimuerint impunè contemni audacia turbidum nisi vbi metuat aut seruit humiliter aut superbè dominatur libertatem quae media nec spernere nec habere Very vnthankfull towards their benefactors The recompense of all those that haue deserued well of the Common-wealth haue alwayes beene banishment reproch conspiracie death Histories are famous of Moyses and all the Prophets Socrates Aristides Phocion Lycurgus Demosthenes Themistocles And the Truth it selfe hath said That he being one that procured the good and health of the people escaped not and contrariwise they that oppresse them are dearest vnto them They feare all they admire all To conclude the people are a sauage beast all that they thinke is vanitie all they say is false and erroneous that they reprooue is good that they approoue is naught that which they praise is infamous that which they doe and vndertake is follie Non tam bene cum rebus humanis geritur vt Seneca meliora pluribus placeant argumentum pessimi turba est The vulgar multitude is the mother of ignorance iniustice inconstancie idolatrie vanitie
that wisdome and sottish simplicitie do meete in one and the same point touching the bearing and suffering of humane actions It is then very dangerous to iudge of the probitie or improbitie of a man by his actions we must sound him within from what foundation these motions doe arise wicked men performe many times many good and excellent actions and both good and euill preserue themselues alike from doing euill oderunt peccare boni mali To discouer therefore and to know which is the true Honestie we must not stay in the outward action that is but the signe the simplest token and many times a cloke and maske to couer villanie we must penetrate into the inward part and know the motiue which causeth the strings to play which is the soule and the life that giueth motion to all It is that whereby we must iudge it is that wherein euery man should prouide to be good and entire and that which we seeke That honestie which is commonly accounted true and so much preached and commended of the world whereof they 3 Vulgar honestie and according to the stile of the world make expresse profession who haue the title and publike reputation to be men of honestie and setled constancie is scholasticall and pedanticall seruant to the lawes enforced by hope and feare acquired learned and practised out of a submission too a consideration of the religion lawes customes commaunds of superiors other mens examples subiect to prescript formes effeminate fearefull and troubled with scruples and doubts sunt quibus innocentia nisi metu non placet which is not only in respect of the world diuers and variable according to the diuersitie of religions lawes examples formes for the iurisdictions changing the motions must likewise alter but also in it selfe vnequall wauering deambulatorie according to the accesse recesse and successe of the affaires the occasions which are presented the persons with whom a man hath to do as a ship driuen with the winds and the oares is caried away with an vnequall tottering pase with many blowes blasts and billows To be breefe these are honest men by accident and occasion by outward and strange euents and not in veritie and essence they vnderstand it not and therefore it is easie to discouer them and to conuince them by shaking of a little their bridle and sounding them somewhat nearer but aboue all by that inequalitie and diuersitie which is found in them for in one and the same action they will giue diuers iudgements and cary themselues altogether after a diuers fashion going sometimes a slow pase sometimes running a maine gallop This vnequall diuersitie proceedeth from this that the outward occasions which moue and stirre them do either puffe them vp multiplie and increase them or make them luke-warme and deiect them more or lesse like accidents quae recipiunt magis minus Now that true honestie which I require in him that will be wise is free manly and generous pleasant and cheerefull equall 4 The description of true honestie vniforme and constant which marcheth with a stayed pase stately and hawtie going alwaies his owne way neither looking on this side or behind him without staying or altering his pase or gate for the wind the times the occasions which are changed but that is not I meane in iudgement and will that is in the soule where honestie resideth and hath it seate For outward actions especiallie the publike haue another iurisdiction as shall be said in his place This honestie I will describe in this place giuing you first to vnderstand that following the designment of this booke declared in the Preface I speake of humane honestie and wisdome as it is humane whereby a man is called an honest man and a wise and not of Christian though in the end I may chaunce to speake a word or two thereof The iurisdiction of this honestie is Nature which bindeth 5 Nature enioyneth honestie euery man to be and to make himselfe such as he ought that is to say to conforme and rule himselfe according vnto it Nature is together both a mistris which enioyneth and commaundeth honestie and a law and instruction which teacheth it vnto vs. As touching the first there is a naturall obligation inward and vniuersall in euery man to be honest iust vpright following the intention of his author and maker A man ought not to attend or seeke any other cause obligation instinct or motiue of this honestie and he can neuer know how to haue a more iust and lawfull more powerfull more ancient it is altogether as soone as himselfe borne with himselfe Euery man should be or should desire to be an honest man because he is a man and he that takes no care to be such is a monster renounceth himselfe belieth destroyeth himselfe by right he is no more a man and in effect should desist to be a man It is necessarie that honestie grow in him by himselfe that is to say by that inward instinct which God hath put in him and not from any other outward and strange cause any occasion or induction A man will not out of a iust and regular will any thing that is depraued or corrupt or other than it owne nature requireth it implieth a contradiction to desire or accept a thing and nothing to care whether it be worth the caring for a man would haue all his parts good and sound his bodie his head his eies his iudgement his memorie yea his hose and shooes and why will he not like wise haue his will and his conscience good that is to say be whollie good and sound I will therefore that he be good and haue his will firme and resolued to equity and honesty for the loue of himselfe and because he is a man knowing that he can be no other without the renouncing and destruction of himselfe and so his honesty shall be proper inward essentiall euen as his owne essence is vnto him and he vnto himselfe It must not then be for any outward consideration and proceeding from without whatsoeuer it bee for such a cause being accidentall and outward may happen to faile grow weake and alter and consequently all that honesty that is grounded thereupon must doe the like If he be an honest man for honour or reputation or other recompence being in a solitary place where he hath no hope to be knowen hee either ceaseth to be honest or putteth it in practise very coldly and negligently If for feare of the lawes magistrates punishments if he can deceiue the lawes circumuent the iudges auoid or disprooue the proofes and hide himselfe from the knowledge of another there is an end of his honesty And this honestie is but fraile occasioned accidentall and miserable and yet it is that which is in authoritie and vse no man knowes of any other there is not an honest man but such as is enforced or inuited by some cause or occasion nemo gratis bonus est Now
many places by common vse The little care of hauing children the murther of parents of children of himselfe mariage of the neerest in bloud theft publike marchandize of their libertie and bodies as well of males as females are receiued by publike vse in many nations Doubtlesse there remaineth no more any image or trace of nature in vs we must go seeke it in beasts where this troublesome 11 And we must seeke it elsewhere and vnquiet spirit this quick-siluer neither arte nor beautifull ceremonie hath power to alter it they haue it pure and entire if it be not corrupted by our vsage and contagion as sometimes it is All the world followeth nature the first and vniuersall rule which the author thereof hath giuen and established except man only who troubleth the policie and state of the world with his gentle spirit and his free-will to wickednesse he is the only irregular creature and enemy of nature So then the true honestie the foundation and piller of wisdome is to follow nature that is to say reason The good and 12 True honestie the end of man in whom consisteth his rest his libertie his contentment and in a word his perfection in this world is to liue and do according to nature when that which is the most excellent thing in him commaundeth that is to say reason True honestie is a right and firme disposition of the will to follow the counsell of reason And as the heedle touched with the adamant neuer resteth it selfe vntill he see the north point and thereby ordereth and directeth the nauigation so a man is neuer well yea he is as it were vndone and dislocated vntill he see this law and directeth the course of his life his maners his iudgements and willes according to the first diuine naturall law which is an inward domesticall light whereof all the rest are but beames But to effect it and to come to the practise it is farre more easie to some than to others There are some that haue their 13 The distinction of true honestie particular nature that is to say their temper and temperature so good and pleasing which especially proceedeth from the first formation in the womb of the mother and afterwards from the milke of the nurse and this first and tender education that they find themselues without endeuor and without arte or discipline whollie caried and disposed to goodnesse and honestie that is to say to follow and conforme themselues to the vniuersall nature whereby they are tearmed well-borne gaudeant bene nati This kind of naturall and easie honestie and as it were Naturall goodnes borne with vs is properly called goodnesse a qualitie of a soule well borne and well gouerned it is a sweetnesse facilitie and debonairie mildnesse of nature and not lest any bodie should be deceiued a softnesse a feminine sottish calmenesse and vitious facilitie whereby a man delighteth to please all and not to displease or offend any although he haue a iust and a lawfull cause and it be for the seruice of reason and iustice whereby it comes to passe that they will not employ themselues in lawfull actions when it is against those that take offence thereat nor altogether refuse the vnlawfull when they please thereby those that consent thereunto Of these kind of people it is said and this commendation is iniurious He is good since he is good euen to the wicked and this accusation true How should he be good since he is not euill to those that are euill We should rather call this kind of goodnesse innocencie as men call little children sheepe and the like innocent creatures But an actiue valiant manly and effectuall goodnesse is that I require which is a readie easie and constant affection vnto that which is good right iust according to reason and nature There are others so ill borne and bred that it seemeth that like monsters their particular natures are made as it were in despite of the vniuersall nature so crosse and contrarie are they thereunto In this case the remedie to correct reforme sweeten make tame and amend this euill rough sauage and crooked nature to bend it and applie it to the rule of this generall and great mistris the vniuersall nature is to haue recourse to the study of philosophie as Socrates did and vnto Acquired vertue vertue which is a combate and painfull endeuor against vice a labourious studie which requireth time labour and discipline Virtus in arduo circa difficile ad ianuam virtutis excubant labor sudor Dij mortalibus virtutem laboris pretio vendiderunt This is not to bring in a new strange or artificiall honestie and so accidentall and such as I haue said before is not the true but it is by taking away the lets and hinderances to stirre vp and enlighten this light almost extinct and languishing and to reuiue those seeds almost choked by the particular vice and ill temperature of the particular person as by taking away the moat from the eie the sight is recouered and the dust from off the glasse a man seeth the clearer By all this that hath beene said it appeareth that there are 14 Three degrees of perfection two sorts of true honestie the one naturall sweet easie iust called goodnesse the other acquired difficult painfull and laborious called vertue But to say the truth there is also a third which is as it were composed of the two and so there should be three degrees of perfection The lowest of the three is a facill and debonairie nature distasted by it selfe by reason of vice we haue named it goodnesse innocencie The second more high which wee haue named vertue is with a liuelie force to hinder the progresse of vice and hauing suffered himselfe to be surprised with the first motions of the passions to arme and bend himselfe to staie their course and to ouercome them The third and chiefest is out of a high resolution and a perfect habit to be so well framed that temptations cannot so much as grow in him and the seedes of vice are whollie rooted out in so much that his vertue is turned into a complexion and into nature This last may be called perfection That the first which is called goodnesse do resemble one the other and differ from the second in that they are without stirre paine or endeuour This is the true tincture of the soule hir naturall and ordinary course which costeth nothing The second is alwaies in care and in awe The last and perfect is acquired by the long studie and serious exercise of the rules of philosophie ioined to a beautifull and rich nature For both are necessarie the naturall and the acquired This is that those two sects did so much studie the Stoickes and much more the Epicures which would haue seemed strange if Seneca and other ancient Philosophers did not testifie it who are rather to bee credited than all the other more moderne who
owne willes and the more voluntarie it is the more honorable and there are a thousand waies vnto it We may want meanes whereby to liue but not to die Life may be taken away from euery man by euery man but not death vbique mors est optime hoc cauit deus eripere vitam nemo non homini potest at nemo mortem mille ad hanc aditus patent The most fauorable present that nature hath bestowed vpon vs and that taketh away from vs all meanes of complaint is that it hath left vnto vs the key of the closet libertie to die when we will Wherefore complainest thou in this world It holdeth thee not if thou liue in paine thy idlenes and feare is the cause for to die there is nothing necessarie but a will The other case is a liuely apprehension and desire of the life to come which maketh a man to thirst after death as after a great gaine the seed of a better life the bridge vnto paradise the way to all good and an earnest pennie of the resurrection A firme beleefe and hope of these things is incompatible with the feare and horror of death it perswadeth vs rather to be wearie of this life and to desire death vitam habere in patientia mortem in desiderio to haue life in affliction and death in affection their life is a crosse their death a comfort and therefore their vowes and their voices are cupio dissolui mihi mors lucrum quis me liberabit de corpore montis huius And for this cause those Philosophers and Christians haue been iustlie reproched which is to be vnderstood of those that are weake and idle and not of all that play the publike dissemblers and do not in veritie beleeue that which they do so much talke of and so highlie commend touching that happie immortalitie and those vnspeakable pleasures in the second life since they doubt and feare death so much the necessarie passage thereunto The fift and last is the execution of this precedent desire 18 To kill himselfe which is for a man to be his owne executioner and the authour of his owne death This seemeth to proceed from vertue and the greatnes of a mans courage hauing been ancientlie practised by the greatest and most excellent men and women of euerie nation and religion Greekes Romanes Egyptians Persians Medes French Indians Philosophers of all sects Iewes witnes that good old man Razis called the father of the Iewes for his vertue and his wiues who vnder Antiochus hauing circumcised their children cast themselues hedlong from the rock with them And Christians too witnes those two canonized Saints Pelagius and Sophronia whereof the first with his mother and sisters cast himselfe into the riuer and the other killed hir selfe with a knife to auoid the violence of Maxentius the Emperour Yea witnes diuers people and whole cities as Capona in Italy Astupa Numantia in Spaine besieged by the Romans the Abideens enforced by Philip a citie in India besieged by Alexander But this resolution hath been likewise approued and authorized by many common-weales by lawes and rules established thereupon as at Marseilles in the I le of Cea in Nigropont and other nations as in the Hyperborean Ilands and iustified by many great reasons drawne from the precedent article which is of the iust desire of death For if it be permitted to desire to aske to seeke after death why should it be an ill acte to giue it vnto our selues If a mans owne death be iust in the will why should it not be as iust in the hand and the execution Why should I expect that from another which I can do my selfe and why should it not be better to giue it than to suffer another to giue it to meete than to attend it for the fairest death is the more voluntarie Finallie I offend not the law made against theeues and robbers when I take but my owne goods and cut but my owne purse neither am I guiltie of the lawes made against murtherers by taking away my owne life But this opinion is reproued by diuers not only Christians but Iewes as Iosephus disputeth against his captaines in the caue du Puis and Philosophers as Plato Scipio who held this proceeding not only for a vice of cowardlines and impatiencie for it is for a man to hide himselfe from the blowes of fortune Now a true and liuely vertue must neuer yeeld for euils and crosses are nourishments thereunto and it is greater constancie well to vse the chaine wherewith we are tied than to breake it and more setled resolution in Regulus than in Cato Rebus in aduersis facile est contemnere vitam Fortius ille facit qui miser esse potest Si fractus illabitur orbis Impauidum ferient ruinae But also for a fault of desertion for a man ought not to abandon his charge without the expresse commaundement of him that gaue it him we are not heere for our selues nor our owne masters This then is not a matter beyond all doubt or disputation It is first beyond all doubt that wee are not to attempt this last exploit without very great and iust cause nay I cannot see how any cause should be great and iust enough to the end that it be as they say 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 an honest and reasonable departure It must not then be for any light occasion whatsoeuer some say that a man may die for light causes since they that hold vs in life are not weightie It is ingratitude to nature not to accept and vse hir present it is a signe of lightnes to be too anxious and scrupulous to breake companie for matters of no moment and not for such as are iust and lawfull if there be any such And therefore they had not a sufficient excuse and iust cause of their death of whom I made mention before Pomponius Atticus Marcellinus and Cleantes who would not stay the course of their death for this only reason because they were alreadie neere vnto it The wiues of Petus of Scaurus of Labio of Fuluius the friend of Augustus of Seneca and diuers others who died only to accompanie their husbands in death or rather to encourage them therein Cato and others who died because their businesse succeeded not well and because they would not fall into the hands of their enemies notwithstanding they feared no ill vsage at their hands They that haue murthered themselues because they would not liue at the mercie and by the grace and fauor of those whom they hated as Grauius Siluanius and Statius Proximus being pardoned by Nero. They that die to recouer a shame and dishonor past as that Romane Lucretia Sparzapizes the sonne of Queene Tomyris Boges the Lieutenant of king Xerxes They that for no particular cause but only because they see the weale-publike in a bad and declining estate murther themselues as Nerua that great Lawyer Vibius Vircus Iubellius in the taking of Capona They that
foure principall and princely vertues 3 Especially 4. vertues in principalitie And therefore that great Prince Augustus was wont to say that Pietie and Iustice did deifie Princes And Seneca saith that clemencie agreeth better with a Prince than any other The pietie of a soueraigne consisteth in his care for the maintenance and preseruation of religion as the protector thereof This maketh for his owne honor and preseruation of himselfe for they that feare God dare not attempt nay thinke of any thing either against their Prince who is the image of God vpon earth or against the state For as Lactantius doth many times teach it is a religion that maintaineth humane societie which cannot otherwise subsist and would soone be filled with all maner of wickednes and sauage cruelties if the respect and feare of religion did not bridle men and keepe them in order The state of the Romans did increase and flourish more by religion saith Cicero himselfe than by all other meanes Wherefore a Prince must take care and endeuor that religion be preserued in it puritie according to the ancient lawes and ceremonies of the countrie and hinder all innouation and controuersies therein roughlie chastising those that goe about to breake the peace thereof For doubtlesse change in religion and a wrong done thereunto draweth with it a change and declination in the Common-wealth Dion as Mecenas well discourseth to Augustus After pietie commeth Iustice without which states are but 4 Iustice. robberies which a Prince must keepe and practise both in himselfe and others In himselfe for he must detest all those tyrannicall barbarous speeches which dispence with soueraignes quitting them from all lawes reason equitie obligation which tell them that they are not bound vnto any other dutie than to their owne willes and pleasures that there is no law for them that all is good and iust that serueth their turnes that their equitie is their force their dutie is in their power Principi leges nemo scripsit licet si libet In summa fortuna Plin. Pan. Tacitus Senec. in tr id aequius quod validius nihil iniustum quod fructuosum Sanctitas pietas fides priuata bona sunt quà iuuat reges eant And he must oppose against them those excellent and holy counsels of the wise that he that hath most power in him to breake lawes should take most care to keepe them and liue most in order The greatest power should be the streightest bridle the rule of power is dutie minimum decet liberè cui Senec. Euripides nimium licet non fas potentes posse fieri quod nefas The Prince then must first be iust keeping well and inuiolablie his faith the foundation of iustice to all and euery one whosoeuer he be Then he must cause that his iustice be kept and maintained in others for it is his proper charge and for that cause he is installed He must vnderstand the causes and the persons giue vnto euery one that which appertaineth to him iustly according to the lawes without delay labyrinths of suits and controuersies inuolution of processe abolishing that villanous and pernitious mysterie of pleading which is an open fayre or marchandize a lawfull and honorable robberie concessum latrocinium auoiding the multiplicitie of lawes and ordinances a testimonie of a sicke Common-weale Corruptissimae Colum. Tacit. reipublicae plurimae leges as medicines and plaisters of a bodie ill disposed and all this to the end that that which is established by good lawes be not destroyed by too many Plin. Pan. lawes But you must know that the iustice vertue and probitie of a soueraigne goeth after another maner than that of An aduertisement priuate men it hath a gate more large and more free by reason of the great weight and dangerous charge which he carieth and swayeth for which cause it is fit to march with a pase which seemeth to others vneasie and irregular but yet is necessarie and lawfull for him He must sometimes step aside and goe out of the way mingle prudence with iustice and as they say couer himselfe with the skin of the Lion if that of the Foxe serue not the turne But this is not alwaies to be done and in all cases but with these three conditions that it be for the euident and important necessitie of the weale-publike For the weale-pub that is to say of the State and of the Prince which are things conioyned vnto which he must runne this is a naturall obligation and not to be dispensed with and to procure the good of the Common-weale is but to do his dutie Salus populi suprema lex esto That it be to defend and not to offend to preserue himselfe and not to increase his greatnes to saue and shield himselfe For defence and conseruation either from deceits and subtilties or from wicked and dangerous enterprises and not to practise them It is lawfull by subtiltie to preuent subtiltie and among foxes to counterfet the foxe The world is full of arte and malicious cousenage and by deceits and cunning subtilties states are commonlie ouerthrowne saith Aristotle Why then should it not be lawfull nay why should it not be necessarie to hinder and to diuert such euill and to saue the weale-publike by the selfe-same meanes that others would vndermine and ouerthrow it Alwaies to deale simplie and plainly with such people and to follow the streight line of true reason and equitie were many times to betray the State and to vndo it Thirdly it must be with discretion to the end that others abuse it not and such as are wicked take from thence occasion 5 Discreetly without wickednes to giue credit and countenance to their owne wickednes For it is neuer permitted to leaue vertue and honestie to follow vice and dishonestie There is no composition or compensation betwixt these two extremities And therefore away with all iniustice treacherie treason and disloyaltie Cursed be the doctrine of those who teach as hath beene said that all things are good and lawfull for soueraignes but yet it is sometimes necessarie and required that he mingle profit with honestie and that he enter into composition with both He must neuer turne his back to honestie but yet sometimes goe about and coast it employing therein his skill and cunning which is good honest and lawfull as saith that great S. Basil 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and doing for the weale-publike as mothers and physitians who feede their children and sick with faire speeches deceiue them for their health To be brief doing that closely which he may not do openly ioyne wisdome to valor arte and spirit where nature and the hand sufficeth not be as Pindarus saith a Lyon in his blowes a Fox in his counsell a Doue and a Serpent as diuine veritie speaketh And to this matter more distinctly there is required in a soueraigne distrust and that he keepe himselfe close yet so as
Tacit. It is the part of wisdome to temper this neither seeking to be feared by making himselfe terrible nor loued by too much debasing himselfe The second meane to attaine beneuolence is beneficence 3 Beneficence I meane first towards all especiallie the meaner people by prouidence and good policie whereby corne and all other necessarie things for the sustenance of this life may not be wanting but sold at an indifferent price yea may abound if it be possible that dearenesse and dearth afflict not the subiect For the meaner sort haue no care for the publike good but for this end vulgo vna ex republica annonae cura Tacit. The third meane is liberalitie beneficence more speciall 4 Liberality which is a bait yea an enchantment to draw to winne and captiuate the willes of men So sweet a thing is it to receiue honorable to giue In such sort that a wise man hath said That a state did better defend it selfe by good deeds than by armes This vertue is alwaies requisite but especiallie in the entrance and in a new state To whom how much and how liberalitie must be exercised hath beene said before The meanes of beneuolence haue beene wisely practised by Augustus Chap. 2. act 23. Tacit. qui militem donis populum annona cunctos dulcedine otij pellexit Authoritie is another pillar of state maiestas imperij salutis 5 Authority tutela The inuincible fortresse of a prince whereby he bringeth into reason all those that dare to contemne or make head against him Yea because of this they dare not attempt and all men desire to be in grace and fauor with him It is composed of feare and respect by which two a prince and his state is feared of all and secured To attaine this authoritie besides the prouision of things aboue named there are three meanes which must carefully be kept in the forme of commaunding By what it is acquired The first is seueritie which is better more wholsome assured durable than common lenitie and great facilitie 6 Seuerity which proceedeth first from the nature of the people which as Aristotle saith is not so well borne and bred as to be ranged into dutie and obedience by loue or shame but by force and feare of punishment and secondly from the generall corruption of the maners and contagious licentiousnes of the world which a man must not thinke to mend by mildnes and lenitie which doth rather giue aid to ill attempts It ingendreth contempt and hope of impunitie which is the plague of Common-weales and states Illecebra peccandi maxima spes Cicero impunitatis It is a fauour done to many and the whole weale-publike sometimes well to chastice some one And he must sometimes cut off a finger lest the Gangreene spread it selfe through the whole arme according to that excellent answere of a king of Thrace whom one telling that he played the mad man and not the king answered That his madnes made his subiects sound and wise Seueritie keepeth officers and magistrates in their deuoire driueth away flatterers courtiers wicked persons impudent demaunders and petytyrannies Whereas contrariwise too great facilitie openeth the gate to all these kind of people whereupon followeth an exhausting of the treasuries impunitie of the wicked impouerishing of the people as rheumes fluxes in a rheumatike diseased bodie fall vpon those parts that are weakest The goodnes of Pertinax the licentious libertie of Heliogabalus are thought to haue vndone and ruinated the Empire The seueritie of Seuerus and afterwards of Alexander did reestablish it and brought it into good estate But yet this seueritie must be with some moderation intermission and to purpose to the end that rigour towards a few might hold the whole world in feare vt poena ad paucos metus ad omnes And the more seldome punishments serue more for the reformation of a state saith an ancient writer than the more frequent This is to be vnderstood if vices gather not strength and men grow not opinatiuely obstinate in them for then he must not spare either sword or fire crudelem medicum intemperans aeger facit The second is constancie which is a stayed resolution whereby the prince marching alwaies with one and the same 7 Constancy pase without altering or changing mainteineth alwaies and enforceth the obseruation of the ancient lawes and customes To change and to be readuised besides that it is an argument of inconstancie and irresolution it bringeth both to the lawes and to the soueraigne and to the state contempt and sinister opinion And this is the reason why the wiser sort do so much forbid the change and rechange of any thing in the lawes and customes though it were for the better for the change or remoue bringeth alwaies more euill and discommoditie besides the vncertaintie and the danger than the noueltie can bring good And therefore all innouators are suspected dangerous and to be chased away And there cannot be any cause or occasion strong and sufficient enough to change if it be not for a very great euident and certaine vtilitie or publike necessitie And in this case likewise he must proceed as it were stealingly sweetly and slowly by little and little and almost insensiblie leuiter lentè The third is to hold alwaies fast in the hand the sterne of the state the raines of gouernment that is to say the honour and power to commaund and to ordaine and not to trust or commit it to another referring all things to his counsell to the end that all may haue their eye vpon him and may know that all dependeth vpon him That soueraigne that loseth neuer so little of his authoritie marreth all And therefore it standeth him vpon not ouer-much to raise and make great any person Communis custodia principatus neminem vnum magnum facere And if there be alreadie any such he must Aristot draw him backe and bring him into order but yet sweetly and gently and neuer make great and high charges and offices perpetuall or for many yeares to the end a man may not get meanes to fortifie himselfe against his master as it many times falleth out Nil tam vtile quà m breuem potestatem esse Senec. quae magna sit Behold heere the iust and honest meanes in a soueraigne to maintaine with beneuolence and loue his authoritie and to 9 Against vniust authority and tyraunie make himselfe to be loued and feared altogether for the one without the other is neither secure nor reasonable And therefore we abhorre a tyrannicall authoritie and that feare that is an enemy to loue and beneuolence and is with a publike hate oderint quem metuant which the wicked seeke after abusing their power The conditions of a good prince and of a tyrant are nothing alike and easily distinguished They may be all reduced to these two points the one to keepe the lawes of God and of nature or to
are that if the factions be betwixt two great personages 2 The aduisements and remedies the Prince must endeuour by good words or threatnings to make peace and atonement betwixt them as Alexander the Great did betwixt Ephestion and Craterus and Archidamus betwixt two of his friends If he cannot doe it let him appoint arbitrators such as are free from suspition and passion The like he should do if the faction be betwixt diuers subiects or cities and communities And if it fall out that it be necessarie that hee speake himselfe hee must doe it with counsell being called to auoid the malice and hatred of those that are condemned If the faction be betweene great multitudes and that it be so strong that it cannot be appeased by iustice the prince is to employ his force for the vtter extinguishment thereof But he must take heed that he cary himselfe indifferent not more affectioned to one than to another for therein there is great danger and many haue vndone themselues And to say the truth it is vnworthie the greatnes of a prince and he that is master of all to make himselfe a companion to the one and an enemie to the other And if some must needs be punished let it light vpon those that are the principall heads and let that suffice IX Sedition SEdition is a violent commotion of a multitude against a 1 The description prince or a magistrate It ariseth and groweth either from oppression or feare For they that haue committed any great offence feare punishment others thinke feare they shal be oppressed and both of them by the apprehension of an euill are stirred to sedition to preuent the blow It likewise springeth from a licentious libertie from want and necessitie in such sort that men fit for this busines are such as are indebted malecontents and men ill accommodated in all things light persons and such as are blowen vp and feare iustice These kind of people cannot continue long in peace peace is warre vnto them they cannot sleepe but in the middest of sedition they are not in liberty but by the meanes of confusion The better to bring their purposes to passe they conferre together in secret they make great complaints vse doubtfull speeches afterwards speake more openly seeme zealous of their libertie and of the publike good and case of the people and by these faire pretences they draw many vnto them The aduisements and remedies are First the selfesame that serued 2 Aduisements and remedies for popular commotions to cause such to shew themselues and to speake vnto them that are fit for such a purpose as hath been said Secondly if that profit not he must arme and fortifie himselfe and for all that not proceed against them but rather giue them leasure and time to put water in their wine to the wicked to repent to the good to reunite themselues Time is a great Physitian especiallie in people more ready to mutine and rebell than to fight Ferocior plebs ad rebellandum quà m bellandū tentare magis quà m tueri libertatem Thirdly he must in the mean time trie all means to shake dissolue them both by hope and feare for these are the 2. waies spem offer metum intende Fourthly endeuour to disioine them and to breake the course of their intelligence Fiftly he must winne and draw vnto him vnder hand some few amongst them by faire promises and secret rewards whereby some of them withdrawing themselues from their company and comming vnto him others remaining with them to serue him and to giue intelligence of their cariages and purposes they may the better be brought a sleepe and their heat be somewhat allaied Sixtly to draw and winne the rest by yeelding vnto them some part of that which they demand and that with faire promises and doubtfull tearmes It shall afterwards bee easie iustlie to reuoke that which they haue iniustlie by sedition extorted Irrita facies quae per seditionem expresserint and to make all whole with lenitie and clemencie Lastly if they returne vnto reason and obedience and become honest men they must be handled gentlie and a man must be contented with the chastisement and correction of some few of the principall authours and firebrands without any further inquirie into the rest of the confederates that all may thinke themselues in safety and in grace and fauour X. Tyranny and rebellion TYrannie that is to say a violent rule or domination against the lawes and customes is many times the cause The description of great and publike commotions from whence commeth rebellion which is an insurrection of the people against the Prince because of his tyrannie to the end they may driue him away and plucke him from his throne And it differeth from sedition in this they will not acknowledge the Prince for their master whereas sedition proceedeth not so farre being raised only from a discontent of the gouernment complaining and desiring an amendment thereof Now this tyranny is pactised by people ill bred cruell who loue wicked men turbulent spirits tale-bearers hate and feare men of honesty and honour quibus semper aliena virtus formidolosa nobilitas opes omissi gestique honores pro crimine ob virtutes certissimum exitium non minus ex magna fama quà m mala But they cary their punishment with them being hated of all and enemies to all They liue in continuall feare and apprehension of terrour they suspect all things they are pricked and gauled inwardly in their consciences and at last die an euill death and that verie soone For an old tyrant is seldome seene The aduisements and remedies in this cafe shall bee set downe at large heereafter in his proper place The counsels are reduced to two at his entrance to stay and hinder him lest he get the mastrie being enstalled and acknowledged to Chap. 16. Plutarch in Bruto suffer and obey him It is better to tolerate him than to moue sedition and ciuill warre peius deteriusque tyrannide siue iniusto imperio bellum ciuile for there is nothing gotten by rebelling or spurning against him but it rather incenseth wicked princes and makes them more cruell Nihil tam exasperat feruorem vulneris quà m ferendi impatientia Modestie and obedience allaieth and pacifieth the fierce nature of a prince for the clemency of a prince saith that great prince Alexander doth not onely consist in their owne natures but also in the natures of their subiects who many times by their ill cariage and bad speeches do prouoke a prince and make him farre worse obsequto mitigantur imperia contrà contumaciâ inferiorum lenitatem imperitantis diminui contumaciam cum pernicie Curt. Tacit. quà m obsequium cum securitate malunt XI Ciuill warres VVHen one of these forenamed publike commotions popular insurrections faction sedition rebellion 1 The description comes to fortifie it selfe and to continue vntill it get an ordinarie traine and forme it is
rest for second and subsidiarie helps are no way comparable to the first and principall The diuersitie and distinction of friendship is great That of the ancients into foure kinds Naturall Sociable Hospitall 4 The first distinction of the causes Venereous is not sufficient We may note three The first is drawne from the causes which ingender it which are foure nature vertue profit pleasure which sometimes goe together in troope sometimes two or three and very often one alone But vertue is the more noble and the stronger for that is spirituall and in the heart as friendship is Nature in the bloud profit in the purse pleasure in some part or sense of the body So likewise vertue is more liberall more free and pure and without it the other causes are poore and idle and fraile He that loueth for vertue is neuer weary with louing and if friendship be broken complaineth not He that loueth for profit if it faile complaineth and it turneth to his reproch that when he hath done all he can he hath lost all He that loueth for pleasure if his pleasure cease his loue ceaseth with it and without complaint enstrangeth himselfe The second distinction which is in regard of the persons is 5 2 Of persons in three kinds the one is in a straight line betweene superiours and inferiours and it is either naturall as betweene parents and children vncles and nephues or lawfull as between the prince and the subiects the lord his vassals the master and his seruants the doctor and the disciple the prelat or gouernor and the people Now this kind to speake properly is not friendship both because of the great disparitie that is betwixt them which hindreth that inwardnes and familiaritie and entire communication which is the principall fruit and effect of friendship as likewise because of the obligation that is therein which is the cause why there is lesse libertie and lesse choice and affection therein And this is the reason why men giue it other names than of friendship for in inferiours there is required of them honor respect obedience in superiours care and vigilancie ouer their inferiours The second kind of friendship in regard of the persons is in a collaterall line betweene equals or such as are neere equals And this is likewise two-fold for either it is naturall as betweene brothers sisters cosens and this comes neerer to friendship than the former because there is lesse disparitie But yet there is a bond of nature which as on the one side it knitteth and fastneth so on the other it looseth for by reason of goods and diuisions and affaires it is not possible but brothers and kinsfolke must sometimes differ Besides that many times the correspondencie and relation of humours and wills which is the essence of friendship is not found amongst them He is my brother or my kinsman but yet he is a wicked man a foole Or it is free and voluntarie as betweene companions and friends who touch not in bloud and hold of nothing but only of friendship and loue and this is properly and truly friendship 3 The third kind of friendship in regard of the persons is mixt and as it were compounded of the other two whereby it is or it should be more strong this is matrimoniall of maried couples which holdeth of loue or friendship in a streight line because of the superioritie of the husband and the inferioritie of the wife and of collaterall friendship being both of them companions ioined together by equall bands And therefore the wife was not taken out of the head nor foote but the side of man Againe such as are maried in all things and by turnes exercise and shew both these friendships that which is in a streight line in publike for a wise woman honoreth and respecteth hir husband that which is collaterall in priuat by priuat familiaritie This matrimoniall friendship is likewise after another fashion double and compounded for it is spirituall corporall which is not in other friendships saue only in that which is reproued by all good lawes and by nature it selfe Matrimoniall friendship then is great strong and puissant There are neuerthelesse two or three things that stay and hinder it that it cannot attaine to the perfection of friendship The one that there is no part of mariage free but the entrance for the progresse and continuance thereof is altogether constrained enforced I meane in christian mariages for euery where else it is lesse enforced by reason of those diuorcements which are permitted The other is the weaknes and insufficiencie of the wise which can no way correspond to that perfect conference and communication of thoughts and iudgements hir soule is not strong and constant enough to endure the streightnes of a knot so fast so strong so durable it is as if a man should sow a strong and course peece of cloth to a soft and delicate This filleth not the place but vanisheth and is easily torne from the other Againe this inconuenience followeth the friendship of maried cupples that it is mingled with so many other strange matters children parents of the one side the other and so many other distaffe busines that doe many times trouble and interrupt a liuely affection The third distinction of friendship respecteth the force and intention or the weaknes and diminution of friendship 7 3 Of degrees According to this reason there is a two-fold friendship the common and imperfect which we may call good will familiaritie priuate acquaintance and it hath infinite degrees one more strict intimate and strong than another and the perfect which is inuisible and is a Phenix in the world yea hardly conceiued by imagination We shall know them both by confronting them together 8 The differēces of friendship common and perfect and by knowing their differences The common may be attained in a short time Of the perfect it is said that we must take long time to deliberate and they must eate much salt togther before it be perfected 2 The common is attained built and ordered by diuers profitable and delightfull occasions occurrents and therefore a wise man hath set downe two meanes to attaine vnto it to speake things pleasant and to doe things profitable the perfect is acquired by an only true and liuely vertue reciprocallie knowne 3 The common may be with and betweene diuers the perfect is with one only who is another selfe and betweene two only who are but one It would intangle and hinder it selfe amongst many for if two at one time should desire to be succoured if they should request of me contrarie offices if the one should commit to my secrecie a thing that is expedient for another to know what course what order may be kept heerein Doubtlesse diuision is an enemie to perfection and vnion hir cosen-germaine 4 The common is capable of more and lesse of exceptions restraints and modifications it is kindled and cooled subiect to
penalties and punishments that the religion be neither changed troubled nor innouated This is a thing that highly redoundeth to his honour and securitie for all doe reuerence and more willingly obey and more slowly attempt or enterprise any thing against him whom they see feareth God and beleeue to be in his protection and safegard vna custodia pietas pium virum Mercur. Trism nec malus genius nec fatum deuincit Deus enim eripit eum ab omni malo And also to the good of the state for as all the wisest haue said Religion is the band and cement of humane societie The Prince ought also to be subiect and inuiolablie to obserue 2 To obserue the lawes of superiors and cause to be obserued the lawes of God and nature which are not to be dispensed with and he that infringeth them is not only accounted a tyrant but a monster Concerning the people he ought first to keepe his couenants 3 To keepe his promise and promises be it with subiects or others with whom he is interessed or hath to do This equitie is both naturall and vniuersall God himselfe keepeth his promise Moreouer the prince is the pledge and formall warrant of the law and those mutuall bargaines of his subiects He ought then aboue all to keepe his faith there being nothing more odious in a prince than breach of promise and periurie and therefore it was well said that a man ought to put it among those casuall cases if the prince do abiure or reuoke his promise and that the contrarie is not to be presumed Yea he ought to obserue those promises and bargaines of his predecessors especiallie if he be their heire or if they be for the benefit and welfare of the common-wealth Also he may relieue himselfe of his vnreasonable contracts and promises vnaduisedlie made euen as for the selfe-same causes priuat men are releeued by the benefit of the prince He ought also to remember that although he be aboue the law I meane the ciuill and humane as the Creator is aboue 4 To obserue the lawes the creature for the law is the worke of the prince and which he may change and abrogate at his pleasure it is the proper right of the soueraigntie neuerthelesse though it be in force and authoritie he ought to keepe it to liue to conuerse and iudge according vnto it and it would be a dishonor and a very euill example to contradict it and as it were falsifie it Great Augustus hauing done something against the law by his owne proper acte would needs die for griefe Lycurgus Agesilaus Seleucus haue left three notable examples in this point and to their cost Thirdly the prince oweth iustice to all his subiects and he ought to measure his puissance and power by the rule of 5 To do iustice iustice This is the proper vertue of a prince trulie royall and princelike whereof it was rightlie said by an old man to king Philip that delayed him iustice saying he had no leisure That he should then desist leaue off to be king But Demetriu sped not so well who was dispossest of his realme by his subiects for casting from a bridge into the riuer many of their petitions without answere or doing them iustice Finally the prince ought to loue cherish to be vigilant and carefull of his state as the husband of the wife the father of 6 To take care and affect the common good his children the shepheard of his flock hauing alwaies before his eies the profit and quiet of his subiects The prosperitie and welfare of the state is the end and contentment of a good prince vt respub opibus firma copijs locuples gloria ampla virtute Senec. honesta sit The prince that tieth himselfe to himselfe abuseth himselfe for he is not his owne man neither is the state his but he is the states He is a Lord not to domineere but to defend Cui non ciuium seruitus tradita sed tutela to attend to watch to the end his vigilance may secure his sleeping subiects his trauell may giue them rest his prouidence may maintaine their prosperitie his industrie may continue their delights his businesse their leisure their vacation and that all his subiects may vnderstand and know that he is as much for them as he is aboue them To be such and to discharge his dutie well he ought to demeane and carie himselfe as hath bin said at large in the second and third chapter of this booke that is to say to furnish himselfe of good counsell of treasure and sufficient strength within his state to fortifie himselfe with alliance and forraine friends to be readie and to command both in peace and war by this meanes he may be both loued and feared And to conteine all in a few words he must loue God aboue all things be aduised in his enterprises valiant in attempts faithfull and firme in his word wise in counsell carefull of his subiects helpfull to his friends terrible to his enemies pitifull to the afflicted gentle and curteous to good people seuere to the wicked and iust and vpright towards all The dutie of subiects consisteth in three points to yeeld due honor to their princes as to those that carie the image of 9 The dutie of subiects God ordeined and established by him therfore they are most wicked who detract or slaunder such were the seed of Cham and Chanaan 2. To be obedient vnder which is conteined Exod. 12. many duties as to goe to the warres to pay tributes and imposts imposed vpon them by their authoritie 3. To wish them all prosperitie and happinesse and to pray for them But the question is Whether a man ought to yeeld these 10 Whether it be lawfull to lay violēt hands vpon the person of a tyrant A double tyrant The entrāce three duties generallie to all princes if they be wicked or tyrants This controuersie cannot be decided in a word and therefore wee must distinguish The prince is a tyrant and wicked either in the entrance or execution of his gouernmēt If in the entrance that is to say that he treacherouslie inuadeth and by his owne force and powerfull authoritie gaines the soueraigntie without any right be he otherwise good or euill for this cause he ought to be accounted a tyrant without all doubt we ought to resist him either by way of iustice if there be opportunitie place or by surprise and the Grecians saith Cicero ordeined in former times rewards and honors for those that deliuered the common-wealth from seruitude and oppression Neither can it be said to be a resisting of the prince either by iustice or surprise since he is neither receiued nor acknowledged to be a prince If in the execution that is to say that his entrance be rightfull 2 In the execution three waies and iust but that he carieth himselfe imperiouslie cruellie wickedlie and according to the
Antigonus laughed at those that wronged them and hurt them not hauing them in their power Caesar excelled all in this point and Moyses Dauid and all the greatest personages of the world haue done the like magnam fortunam magnus animus decet The most glorious conquest is for a man to conquer himselfe not to be moued by another To be stirred to choler is to confesse the accusation Conuitia si irascare agnita videntur spreta exolescunt He can neuer be great that yeeldeth himselfe to the offence of another If we vanquish not our choler that will vanquish vs. Iniurias offensiones supernè despicere The second head is of those remedies that a man must imploy 2 2. Head when the occasions of choler are offered and that there is a likelihood that we may be moued thereunto which are first to keepe and conteine our bodies in peace and quietnes without motion or agitation which inflameth the bloud and the humours and to keepe himselfe silent and solitarie Secondlie delay in beleeuing and resoluing and giuing leasure to the iudgement to consider If we can once discouer it we shall easily stay the course of this feuer A wise man counselled Augustus being in choler not to be moued before he had pronounced the letters of the Alphabet Whatsoeuer we say or doe in the heate of our bloud ought to be suspected Nil tibiliceat dum irasceris Quà re Quia vis omnia licere Wee must feare and be doubtfull of our selues for so long as we are moued we can do nothing to purpose Reason when it is hindered by passions serueth vs no more than the wings of a bird being fastned to his feet We must therefore haue recourse vnto our friends and suffer our choler to die in the middest of our discourse And lastly diuersion to all pleasant occasions as musicke c. The third head consisteth in those beautifull considerations wherewith the mind must long before be seasoned First 3 3. Head in the consideration of the actions and motions of those that are in choler which should breed in vs a hatred thereof so ill do they become a man This was the maner of the wise the better to disswade a man from this vice to counsell him to behold himselfe in a glasse Secondly and contrarily of the beautie which is in moderation Let vs consider how much grace there is in a sweet kind of mildnes and clemencie how pleasing and acceptable they are vnto others and commodious to our selues It is the adamant that draweth vnto vs the hearts willes of men This is principallie required in those whom fortune hath placed in high degree of honor who ought to haue their motions more remisse and temperate for as their actions are of greatest importance so their faults are more hardly repaired Finally in the consideration of that esteeme and loue which we should beare to that wisdome which we heere studie which especiallie sheweth it selfe in retaining and commanding it selfe in remaining constant and inuincible a man must mount his mind from the earth and frame it to a disposition like to the highest region of the aire which is neuer ouer-shadowed with cloudes nor troubled with thunders but in a perpetuall serenitie so our mind must not be darkned with sorrow nor moued with choler but flie all precipitation imitate the highest planets that of all others are caried most slowlie Now all this is to be vnderstood of inward choler and couered which indureth being ioyned with an ill affection hatred desire of reuenge quae in sinu stulti requiescit vt qui reponunt odia quodque saeuae cogitationis indicium est secreto suo satiantur For the outward and open choler is short a fire made of straw without ill affection which is only to make another to see his fault whether in inferiours by reprehensions or in others by shewing the wrong and indiscretion they commit it is a thing profitable necessarie and very commendable It is good and profitable both for himselfe and for another sometimes to be moued to anger but it 4 To be angry when it is good and commodious must be with moderation and rule There are some that smother their choler within to the end it breake not foorth and that they may seeme wise and moderate but they fret themselues inwardlie and offer For himselfe themselues a greater violence than the matter is worth It is better to chide a little and to vent the fire to the end it be not ouer ardent and painfull within A man incorporateth choler by hiding it It is better that the point thereof should prick a little without than that it should be turned against it selfe Omnia vitia in aperto leuiora sunt tunc perniciosissima cum simulata sanitate subsidunt Moreouer against those that vnderstand not or seldome suffer themselues to be led by reason as against those kind of seruants that doe nothing but for feare it is necessarie that 5 For another with conditions choler either true or dissembled put life into them without which there can be no rule or gouernment in a familie But yet it must be with these conditions First that it be not often vpon all or light occasions For being too common it growes into contempt and works no good effect Secondly not in the aire murmuring and railing behind their backs or vpon vncertainties but be sure that he feele the smart that hath committed the offence Thirdly that it be speedily to purpose and seriously without any mixture of laughter to the end it may be a profitable chastisement for what is past and a warning for that which is to come To conclude it must be vsed as a medicine All these remedies may serue against the following passions CHAP. XXXII Against Hatred THat a man may the better defend himselfe against hatred he must hold a rule that is true that all things haue two handles whereby he may take them by the one they seeme to be grieuous and burthensome vnto vs by the other easie and light Let vs then receiue things by the good handle and we shall finde that there is something good and to be loued in whatsoeuer we accuse and hate For there is nothing in the world that is not for the good of man And in that which offendeth vs we haue more cause to complaine thereof than to hate it for it is the first offence and receiueth the greatest dammage because it loseth therein the vse of reason the greatest losse that may be In such an accident then let vs turne our hate into pitie and let vs endeuour to make those worthie to be beloued which we would hate as Lycurgus did vnto him that had put out his eie whom he made as a chastisement of that wrong an honest vertuous and modest citizen by his good instruction CHAP. XXXIII Against Enuie AGainst this passion we must consider that which wee esteeme and enuie in another We