your anguish mitigate your pensivenesse and stay your needlesse mourning and bootlesse lamentation for why If minde be sicke what physicke then But reasons fit for ech disease A wise man knowes the season when To use those meanes the heart to ease And according as the wise Poet Euripides saith Ech griefe of minde ech maladie Doth crave a severall remedie If restlesse sorow the heart torment Kind words of friends worke much content Where folly swaies in every action Great need there is of sharpe correction For verily among so many passions and infirmities incident to the soule of man dolor and heavinesse be most irkesome and goe neerest into it By occasion of anguish many a one they say hath run mad and fallen into maladies incurable yea and for thought and hearts-griefe some have bene driven to make away themselves Now to sorow and be touched to the quicke for the losse of a sonne is a passion that ariseth from a naturall cause and it is not in our power to avoid which being so I cannot for my part holde with them who so highly praise and extoll I wot not what brutish hard and blockish indolence and stupiditie which if it were possible for a man to enterteine is not any way commodious and available Certes the same would bereave vs of that mutuall benevolence and sweet comfort which we finde in the reciprocall interchange of loving others and being loved againe which of all earthly blessings we had most need to preserve and mainteine Yet do I not allow that a man should suffer himselfe to be transported and caried away beyond all compasse measure making no end of sorow for even that also is likewise unnaturall and proceedeth from a corrupt and erronious opinion that we have and therefore as we ought to abandon this excesse as simply naught hurtfull and not beseeming vertuous and honest minded men so in no wise must we disallow that meane and moderation in our passions following in this point sage Crantor the Academick Philosopher I could wish quoth he that we might be never sicke howbeit if we chance to fall into some disease God send us yet some sense and feeling in case any part of our bodie be either cut plucked away or dismembred in the cure And I assure you that senselesse impassibilitie is never incident unto a man without some great mischiefe and inconvenience ensuing for lightly it falleth out that when the bodie is in this case without feeling the soule soone after will become as insensible reason would therefore that wise men in these and such like crosses cary themselves neither void of affections altogether nor yet out of measure passionate for as the one bewraieth a fell and hard heart resembling a cruell beast so the other discovereth a soft and effeminate nature beseeming a tender woman but best advised is he who knoweth to keepe a meane and being guided by the rule of reason hath the gift to beare wisely and indifferently aswell the flattering favours as the scowling srownes of fortune which are so ordinarily occurrent in this life having this forecast with himselfe That like as in a free State and popular government of a common wealth where the election of sovereigne magistrates passeth by lots the one whose hap is to be chosen must be a ruler and commander but the other who misseth ought patiently to take his fortune and beare the repulse even so in the disposition and course of all our wordly affaires we are to be content with our portion allotted unto us and without grudging and complaint gently to yeeld our selves obedient for surely they that can not so doe would never be able with wisedome and moderation to weld any great prosperitie for of many wise speeches and well said sawes this sentence may go for one How ever fortune smile and looke full faire Be thou not proud nor beare a loftie mind Ne yet cast downe and plung'd in deepe ae spaire If that she frowne or shew herselfe unkind But alwaies one and same let men thee find Constant and firme reteine thy nature still As gold in fire which alter never will For this is the propertie of a wise man and wel brought up both for any apparent shew of prosperitie to be no changling but to beare himselfe alwaies in one sort also in adversitie with a generous and noble mind to mainteine that which is decent beseeming his own person for the office of true wisdome considerate discretion is either to prevent avoid a mischiefe cōming or to correct and reduce it to the least narrowest compasse when it is once come or els to be prepared and ready to beare the same manfully and with all magnanimitie For prudence as touching that which we call good is seene and emploied foure maner of waies to wit in getting in keeping in augmenting or in well and right using the same these be the rules as well of prudence as of other vertues which we are to make use and benefit of in both fortunes as well the one as the other for according to the old proverb No man there is on earth alive In every thing who ay doth thrive And verily By course of nature unneth it wrought may be That ought should check fatall necessitie And as it falleth out in trees and other plants that some yeeres they beare their burden and yeeld great store of frute whereas in others they bring foorth none at all also living creatures one whiles be frutefull and breed many yoong otherwhiles againe they be as barren for it and in the sea it is now tempest and then calme semblably in this life there happen many circumstances and accidents which winde and turne us into the chaunces of contrarie fortunes in regard of which varietie a man may by good right and reason say thus O Agamemnon thy father Atreus hee Alwaies to prosper hath not begotten thee For in this life thou must have one day joy Another griefe and wealth mixt with annoy And why thou art by mort all nature fraile Thy will against this course cannot prevaile For so it is the pleasure of the gods To make this change and worke in man such ods As also that which to the same effect the poet Menander wrote in this wise Sir Trophimus if you the onely wight Of women borne were brought into this light With priviledge to have the world at will To taste no woe but prosper alwaies still Or if some god had made you such behest To live in joy in solace and in rest You had just cause to fare thus as you doe And chafe for that he from his word doth goe And hath done what he can not justifie But if so be as truth will testifie Under one law this publike vitall aire You draw with us your breath for to repaire I say to you gravely in tragick stile You ought to be more patient the while To take all this in better woorth I say Let
our neighbours eie so we ought by the forme maner of other mens orations to take the patterne and representation of our owne to the end that we be not too forward and bolde in despising others but may more carefully take heed to our selves when wee likewise come to speake To this purpose also it would dec very well to make a kinde of conference and comparison in this maner Namely to retire our selves apart when we have heard one make an oration and to take in hand some points which wee thinke had not beene well and sufficiently handled and then to assay either to supply that which was defective in some or to correct what was amisse in others or els to varie the same matter in other wordes or at leastwise to discourse altogether thereof with new reasons and arguments like as Plato himselfe did upon the oration of Lysias For I assure you no hard matter it is but very easie to contradict the oration and reason by another pronounced mary to set a better by it that is a piece of worke right hard and difficult Much like as when a certaine Lacedaemonian heard that Phlip king of Macedon had demolished and rased the city Olynthus Hath he so quoth he But is not able to set up such another Now when as we shall see that intreating of the same subject and argument there is no great differenece betweene our owne doings and other mens before us and that we have not farre excelled them we shall be reclaimed much from the contempt of others and quickly represse and stay our owne presumptuous pride and selfe love seeing it thus checked by this triall and comparison And verily to admire other mens doings as it is a thing adverse and opposite to despising so it is a signe of a milder nature and more enclined to indifferencie and equitie But even herein also there would be no lesse heed taken if not more than in the contempt beforesaid for as they which are so presumptious bolde and given so much to dispraise and despise others receive lesse good and smaller profit by hearing to the simple and harmelesse sort addicted overmuch to others and having them in admiration are more subject to take harme and hurt thereby verifying this sentence of Heraclîtus A foolish sot astonied is anone A shall he hear's or seeth done As for the praises therefore of him that speaketh we ought favorablie and of course without great affectation to passe them out of our mouthes in giving credite unto their reasons and arguments we are to be more warie and circumspect and as touching the phrase utterance and action of those that exercise to make speeches we must both see and heare the same with a single hart and a kind affection As for the utilite and truth of those matters which are delivered we should examine and weigh the same exactly with more severitie of judgement Thus we who be hearens shall avoid the suspitions of evill will and harted they againe that are speakers shall do usno harme For oftentimes it falleth out that upon a speciall faustine and good liking unto those that preach unto us we take lesse heed to our selves and by our credulitie admit embrace from their lips many false erroneous opinions The Lacedaemonian rulers Lords of the Counsel of estate upon a time liking wel of the good advise and opinion of a person who was an ill liver caused the same to be delivered openly by another of approoved life and good reputation wherein they did very wisely as prudent politicians to accustome the people for to affect the behavior and honest cariage of their counsellors rather than to respect their words onely But in Philosophie it is otherwise For we must lay aside the reputation of the man who hath in publike place spoken his minde and examine the matter apart by it selfe For that like as in warre we say there be many false ahrmes so also in an auditorie there passe as many vanities The goodly grey beard and hoafie hard of the speaker his solemne gesture and composing of his countenance his grave eie browes his glorious words in behalfe of himselfe but above all the acclamations the applause and clapping of hands the leaping and shouting of the standersby and those that are present in place are enough otherwhiles to trouble and astonish the spirits of a yoong hearer who is not well acquainted with such matters and carie him away perforce as it were with a streame Over and besides there is in the very style and speech it lelfe a secret power able to beguile and deceive a yoong novice namely if it runne round away smooth and pleasant and if withallthere be a certeine affected gravitie and artificiall port and loftinesse to set out and grace the matter And even as they that play upon the pipe be it corner recorder of fife fault many times in musioke and are not perceived by the hearers so a brave and elegant tongue a copious and gallant oration dazeleth the wits of the hearer so a she can not judge fourdly of the matter in hand Melanthus being demaunded upon a time what he thought of a Tragaedie of Diogenes Prould not see it quoth he for so many words where with it was choaked up But the Orations declamations for the most part of these Sophisters who make shew of their eloquence not onely have their sentences covered as it were with vailses and curtaines of words but that which more is they themselves do dulce their voice by the meanes of I wot not what devised notes soft sounds exquisite and musicall accents in their pronuntiation so as they ravish the wits of the hearers and transport them beside themselves leading and carying them which way they list and thus for a certeine little vaine pleasure that they give receive againe applause and glorie much more vaine Insomuch as that befalleth properly unto them which by report Dionysius answered upon a time who seemed to promise unto a famous minstrell for his oxcellent play in an open Theatre to reward him with great gifts gave him in the end just nothing but said he had recompensed him sufficiently already For looke quoth he how much pleasure I have received from thee by thy song and minstrelsy so much contentment and joy thou hast had from me by hoping for some great reward And verily such recompense as this have those Sophisters and great Orators at their hearers hands For admired they are so long as they sit in their chaire and give delight unto their auditorie No sooner is their speech ended but gone is the pleasure of the one and the glorie of the other Thus the Auditours spend their time and the speakers employ their whole life in vaine For this cause it behooveth a yoong hearer to sequester and set aside the ranke superfluitie of words and to seeke after the fruit it selfe and heerein not to imitate women that plait and make garlands
she sent a letter unto him in this forme Either do better or tarie there still and never thinke to save thy selfe here In like manner another wrote unto her sonne accused of an hainous crime in these tearmes My sonne quit thy selfe of this imputation or else quit thy life Another accompanying a son of hers upon the way when he went to battell said unto him Sonne remember every foot that thou steppest to vertue and prowesse and fight like a man Another whose sonne returned out of the field wounded in the foot and complayning unto her of the great paine which he endured Sonne quoth she if thou wouldst remember vertue and valour thou shouldest never thinke of thy paine A certaine Lacedaemonian chanced so grievously to be wounded in a skirmish that he had much adoe to stand upon his legs so that he was saine to go with crutches as it were upon foure feet now when he was abashed to see some laugh at him for it his mother said Greater cause thou hast my sonne to rejoice for this testimonie of thy valour and prowesse than to be dismaied at their fond and senslesse laughter Another woman when she gave unto her sonne a shield admonished him to use it well and do his devoir like a man and these words she used unto him My sonne either bring this shield home againe or let it bring thee dead upon it Another likewise giving a targuet to her sonne when he tooke his leave of her to go to warre said unto him Thy father kept this targuet well from time to time see thou for thy part keepe it as well or else die with it Another when her sonne found fault with his short sword said unto him Then set foot neerer to thine enemie A woman hearing that her sonne died valiantly in battell No marvell quoth shee for he was my sonne Contrariwise another when she heard that her sonne tooke him to his heeles and escaped by good footmanship He was never quoth she a sonne of mine But another hearing that her sonne was slaine fighting in the verie place where his captaine had set him Remoove him than quoth she from thence and let his brother step into his place A Lacedaemonian woman being in a solemne and publicke procession with a chaplet of flowers upon his head understood that her sonne had wonne a field but was so grievously wounded that ready he was to yeeld up his breath without putting off her chaplet of flowers from her head but glorying as it were in these newes Oh my friends quoth she how much more glorious and honourable is it for a souldier to die with victorie in battell than for a champion to survive after he hath wonne the prize in the Olympicke games A brother reported unto his sister how valiant her sonne died in battell unto whom she answered againe Looke how much I joy take pleasure to heare this of him so much I am displeased and discontented at you brother for that you would not beare him companie in so vertuous a voiage but tarie behind him When one sent unto a Lacedaemonian woman to sollicit and sound her whether she would consent unto him she made this answere When I was a maiden I learned to obey my father and so I did evermore and when I was a wife I did the the like unto my husband if then that which he demaundeth of me be honest and just let him acquaint my husband with it first A poore maiden being asked the question what dowrie she would bring her husband The pudicitie quoth shee and honestie of my countrey Another Lacedaemonian woman being demaunded whether she had yet beene with her husband Not I quoth shee but hee hath beene with me Also another yoong woman chanced secretly to be deflowred and to leese her maiden head now when by some mishap she fell unto untimely labour and to slip an abortive fruit she endured the paines of travell thereto belonging so patiently without one crie or groane that neither her father nor any one about her perceived any thing at all that she was delivered for shame and honestie fighting together overcame all the vehemencie of her paines A Lacedaemonian woman being sold in the market for a slave was asked what she could doe I can skill quoth shee to bee true and faithfull Another likewise being a captive and demaunded the like question answered that she could keepe the house well Another likewise when she was asked by one whether shee would proove good if he bought her made answer thus Yea that I will although you never buy me Last of all a Lacedaemonian woman when she was to be sold in port-sale and the crier demaunded of her what she had skill in answered To be free Now when he that bought her commaunded her to do some things unbeseeming a free person You will repent quoth she that you envied your selfe so noble a possession and so she killed herselfe THE VERTVOVS DEEDS OE WOMEN The Summarie VErtue alwaies deserveth praise wheresoever it is found but especially when is proceedeth from feeble instruments and those of small shew for by that meanes the excellencie thereof is so much better seene our Author therefore in that regard hath made here a collection of histories relating the woorthy demeanours of many women who have shewed manly courage in sundry dangers the consideration whereof is able greatly to move and affect the reader In the Preface of this discourse after he had refuted the opinion of Thucydides who would confine women as it were into a perpetuall ermitage he proveth by divers reasons that vertue being alwaies the selfe-same notwithstanding that it hath objects and subjects different it were meere injurie and too much iniquitie either to forget or to de spise those women who for their valour have deserved that their name and example should continue to the end that the same might be imitated as occasion requireth in many sorts not onely by other women but also by the most part of men Which done he describeth the notable exploits of some in generall and then he commeth to speake of certeine in particular noting and observing in them divers graces and commendable parts but especally an extreame hatred of tyrannie and servitude an 〈◊〉 love and affection toward their countrey a singular affection to their husbands rare honestie pudicitie chastitie joined with a generous nature which hath caused them both to enterprise and also to execute heroique acts and well deserving that praise which hath beene preservedentire for such women after so many yeeres untill this day by the meanes of this present historicall fragment the which conteineth goodly instructions for men and women of name and marke to induce them to governe themselves in such sort that in the mids of the greatest confusions they might take a good courage and lay their hands to that which their vocation requireth and to hold this for certeine that enterprises lawfull and necessarie will sooner or later have
souldiers to fight when the Poet estsoones inferreth these and such like speeches Fy fy for shame ô Lycians you are now light of foote To runne away thus as you do iwis it will not boote Also A conflict sharpe is toward Sirs wherefore let every one Set shame and just revenge in sight else all I doubt is gone By which words the Poet seemeth to ascribe fortitude vnto shamefastnesse and modestie For that those who are bashfull and ashamed to commit filthinesse are able likewise not onely to overcome voluptuous pleasures but also to undergoe all daungerous adventures By occasion whereof Timotheus also in his Poeme entituled Persa was mooved not unaptly to encourage the Greekes fight saying thus Have honest shame in reverence and honour her I you advise She helpeth Prowesse and from hence the victorie doth oft arise AEschylus also reputeth it a point of wisedome not to be vaine glorious nor desirous to be seene of the multitude ne yet to be lifted up with the puffes of popular praise when he describeth Amphiaraus in this wise He seeketh not to seeme the very best But for to be the best in word and deed He sowed hath within his woorthy brest In furrow deepe all good and vertuous seed Which yeeld both leafe fruit in season due I meane sage counsel join'd with honor true For the part it is of a wise man and of good conceit to stand upon his owne botome that is to say to rest in himselfe and to thinke highly of his owne resolutions and courses as the verie best Thus you see how all good things being reduced unto prudence there is no kinde of vertue but it commeth to a man afterwards and is acquired by learning and discipline Moreover like as Bees have this propertie by nature to finde and sucke the mildest and best honie out of the sharpest and most eager flowers yea and from among the roughest and most prickly thornes even so children and yoong men if they be well nourtuted and orderly inured in the reading of Poemes will learne after a sort to draw alwaies some holesome and profitable doctrine or other even out of those places which moove suspition of lewd and absurd sense At the first sight Agamemnon may seeme suspected of avarice and briberie in that he exempted from warfare that rich man in regard of the faire mare Aetha he gave unto him as a gift and gratuitie That unto Troy that stately towne he might not with him go To serve in armes but stay at home and rest there far from wo Where he might live in solace much enjoying all his owne For Iupiter in measure great had wealth on him bestowen Howbeit as Aristotle saith he did very well in preferring a good mare before a man no better than he was For I assure you a coward hartlesse man flowing in abundance of riches wallowing in pleasures and delight and thereby made effeminate is not in prise comparable either to a dog or an asse Semblaby it may seeme that Thetis did exceeding badly to incite her sonne to pleasures and to put him in minde of the fleshly delights of Venus But even there the continencie of Achilles is woorthie to be considered who notwithstanding that he had beene enamoured of Briseis and saw that she was returned againe unto him yea and knew that he had not long to live but that his end was neere yet neither made he haste to enjoy his pleasures while he might nor as many men use to do bewailed the death of his friend sitting idlely the while doing nothing at all and neglecting the duties of his calling but as in sorrow and griefe of heart he forbare his delights and pleasures so in action and conduct of his regiment he shewed himselfe a martiall and valorous man In like manner Archilochus is not commended for this that being to mourne and lament for the losse of his brother in law who married his sister and was perished in the sea he would seeme to conquer his sorow with drinking wine making good cheere yet neverthelesse he alleageth a cause of his doing so which carrieth some apparence of reason in these words For neither can my plaints and teares restore his life and heale Ne yet my mirth and pleasant sports will harme him euer a deale And if he were of this minde and had reason to thinke that in following his delights meriments pastimes and bankets he could not empaire the state of his brother departed how should our present condition be the worse and our affaires go backward by the studie and practise of Philosophie by managing the government of publike weale by frequenting the cōmon hall and courts of pleas by going downe to the Academie and schooles of learning or by following Agriculture and husbandrie And therefore the corrections of some poeticall verses by changing certaine words which practise Cleanthes and Antisthenes were woont to use are not amisse For one of them upon a time when the Athenians in full Theatre tooke offense and made a great stirre at this verse 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 What filthy thing can be that breedeth shame Vnlesse they thinke it so that use the same quieted all the trouble presently by changing it and pronouncing another in this wise 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 A filthie thing is soule and filthie still Thinke it or thinke it not That doth not skill As for Cleanthes when he read these verses as touching riches 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Among good frends for to be slow and spend upon your selfe Your sickly body to preserve thus use your worldly pelfe He altered them in this manner and wrote thus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 That you may it to harlots give and pampring much your selfe A crasit body overthrow abusing worldly pelfe Semblaby Zeno reading these verses of Sophocles 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Who once in court of Tyrant serve become His slaves anone though free they thither come turned the same and wrote this againe 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 His slave ywis he cannot bec If he at first came thither free But you must not understand that he meaneth here by a free man one that is timorous but fearelesse magnanimous whose heart is not easie to be danted What should hinder us then but that we also by such suggestions and corrections as these may reclaime and withdraw yoong men from the woorse to the better Whereas therefore we shall meete with these verses 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The thing that men are for to wish and most desire is this That when they shoote at their delights the arrow may not mis. Not so but rather thus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 That when they aime at their profit The arrow may be sure to hit For to reach into those things which a man ought not to desire yea and to obtaine and have the same is pitifull and
lamentable and in no wise to be wished for Likewise when we read in Homer thus Thy part of weale and woe thou must ô Agamemnon have For Athens did not thee beget alwaies to winor save We verily are thus to say rather Thou art to joy and never for to grieve But in a meane estate delight to live For Athens did not Agamemnon get The world at will to have and finde no let Againe when we meet with this verse Alas what mischiefe sent to men is this from gods above That they should see what thing is good and it not use nor love Sent from gods above nay rather it is a brutish unreasonable yea a wofull and lamentable thing that a man seeing that which is better should for all that be caried away and transported to the worse by reason of intemperance slouth and effeminate softnesse of the minde Also if we light upon this sentence Behaviour t' is and good cariage That do perswade and not language Not so iwis but maners and words together are perswasive or rather the maners by meanes of speech like as the horse is ruled by the bit and bridle and as the Pilot guideth the ship by the rudder or helme For surely vertue is furnished with no instrument or meanes so gracious with men and so familiar as speech is Moreover where you encounter these verses For wanton love how stands his minde To male more or to female kinde Answer Both hands are right with him where beauty is Neither of twaine to him can come amis Nay rather thus he should have answered Where vertue is seated and continence Both hands are like there is no difference And to speake truely and more plainly in equall balance poised he is indeed inclining neither the one way nor the other Whereas contrariwise he that with pleasure and beautie swaieth to and fro is altogether left handed inconstant and incontinent Read you at any time this verse 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Religion true and right godlinesse Make wise men too fearefull alwaies more or lesse In no wise admit thereof but say thus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Religion true and right godlinesse Make wise men bolde and hardy more or lesse For in trueth feare and despaire by the meanes of religion ariseth in the hearts of none but of fooles unthankfull and senselesse persons who have in suspition and do dread that divine power which is the first cause of all good things as hurtfull unto them Thus much concerning correction of sentences There is besides an amplification of that which we read whereby a sentence may be stretched farther than the bare wordes import And thus Chrysippus hath rightly taught us how to transfer and apply that which was spoken of one onely thing to many of the like kinde and so to make a profitable use thereof for after this manner when Hesiodus saith An oxe or cow a man shall never loose If neighbour his be not malicious He meaneth by oxe or cow his dog likewise and asse yea and all things else that may perish Semblably whereas Euripides saith thus A slave indeed whom may we justly call Even him of death who thinketh not all We must understand that he meant and spake aswell of labour affliction and sicknesse as of death And verily as physitians finding the vertue and operations of a medicine applyed and fitted to one maladie by the knowledge thereof can skill how to accommodate the same to all others of the like nature and use it accordingly even so when we meete with a sentence that is common and whereof the profit may serve to many purposes we ought not to oversee and neglect the manifold use thereof and leave it as appropriate to one onely matter but to handle the same so that it may be applyed to all of like sort and herein we must inure and exercise yoong men to see and know readily this communion and with a quicke conceit to transferre that which they finde apt and proper in many and by examples to be practised and made prompt therein so as they be able to marke at the first hearing the semblable To the ende that when they come to read in Menander this verse A happie man we may him call Who hath much wealth and wit withall They may verie well thinke that in naming wealth he meant and included Honor authoritie and eloquence Also that the imputation which Vlysses charged upon Achilles sitting idlely in the Iland Scyros among the yoong maidens and damosels in these words You sir whose father was a knight the best that ever drew His sword of all the Greekes in fight and many acaptaine slew Sit you here carding like a wench and spinning wooll on rocke Thereby the glorious light to quench of your most noble stocke may be aptly said unto any loose liver and voluptuous wanton unto a covetous and wretched miser unto an idle luske an untaught or ignorant lozell As for example in lieu of this verse in the foresaid imputation 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 What what good sir are you become a spinster now for need Whose father was of all the Greekes a knight of doughtiest deed A man may read and not unfitly thus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. Can you carrouse so lustily and tosse the pot so round Whose father knew to shake a speare and stoutly stand his ground Or after this manner 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. Your courage serves to hazard all at casting of three dies Your fathers heart was tried in war and martiall ieopardies Either thus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. You cunning are to play at quoites the game Where as your sire by prowesse wan much same Or in this wise 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. Are you become indeed a Tavernour Whose father was a woorthy governour Or lastly thus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. In hundred ten you can full well call for at such a day Your father tens and hundreds knew to range in battellray And in one word so well as you are descended there is no goodnes nor great thing in you worthy thy the noble parentage Moreover where you happen upon these verses What tell you me of Pluto and his chievance For such a god as he with all his puissance Iworship not since that the lewdest wreach In all the world to wealth may quickly reach A man may say as much of glory of outward beauty of the rich mantels of a captaine generall of a Bishops miter and the sacred coronet of a priest which we see the wickedest wretches in the world may attaine unto Againe whereas the words of another verse import thus much onely That children gotren of cowardise Be foule and those whom men despise The same verily do imply also that Intemperance Superstition Envie and all other vices and maladies of the minde bring foorth no better ofspring Now whereas Homer saide excellent well in one place Paris a coward thou art for sooth For all thy face
of flowres but to follow the Bees For those women laying for and choosing faire flowres and odoriferous herbes twist plat and compose them so as they make thereof a peece of worke I must needs say pleasant to the senses but fruitlesse altogether and not lasting above one day whereas the Bees flying oftentimes over over the medowes full of Violets Roses and Crowtoes light at length upon Thyme an herbe of a most strong sent and quicke taste and there settle Intending then great paines to take The yellow home for to make and when they have gathered from them some profitable juice or liquor to serve their turne they flie away unto their proper worke and businesse Semblably ought an auditour who is studious of skill and knowledge and hath his minde and understanding free from passions to let passe affected flourishing and superfluous words yea and such matters also as be fit for the Stage and Theatre reputing them to be food meet for drone Bees I meane Sophisters and nothing good for honie and rather with diligence and attentive heed to sound the very depth and profound intention of the speaker for or draw that which is good prositable remēbring eftsoons that he is not come thither as to a Theatre either to see sports pastimes or to heare musiscke and Pocticall fables but into a schoole auditorie for to learne how to amend and reforme his life by the rule of reason And therefore he must enter into his wone heart and examine himselfe when he is alone how he was mooved and affected with the Lecture of Sermon that he heard consider I say and reason he ought with himselfe whether he find any turbulent passions of his minde thereby dulced and appeased whether any griefe or heavinesse that trouble him be mitigated and asswaged whether his courage 2nd confidence of heart be more resolute and better confirmed and in one word whether he feele any instinct unto vertue and honestie to be more kindled and enflamed When we rise out of the Barbars chaire we thinke it meete presently to consult with a mirrour or looking glasse we stroke our head to see whether he hath polled and notted it well we consider and peruse our beard and every haire whether we have the right cut be trimmed as we ought a shame it were then to depart from a schole or a lecture and not immediately to retire apart and view our minde well whether it have laide away any foolish thought that troubled it whether it be eased of superfluous and wandring thoughts that clogged it and be thereby more lightsome and pleasant For neither a Baine and Striph as Ariston saith nor a sermon doth any good if the one do not scoure the skin and the other clense the heart A yoong man therefore is to take joy and delight if he have made profit by a lecture or be better edified by hearing a sermon And yet I write not this as if this pleasure should be the finall end that he proposeth to himselfe when he goeth to such a lecture or sermon neither would I have him thinke that he should depart out of the Philosophers schoole with a merie note singing jocundly or with a fresh and cheerefull countenance ne yet to use meanes to be perfumed with sweete odors and ointments whereas he hath more need of Embracations Fomentations and Cataplasmes but to take it well and be thankfull if haply by some sharpe words and cutting speeches any man hath cleansed and purified his heart full of cloudie mists and palpable darkenes like as men drive Bee-hives and rid away Bees with smoke For albeit he that preacheth unto others ought not to be altogether earelesse and negligent in his stile but that it may carrie with it some pleasure delectation and grace aswel as probabilitie and reason yet a yoong man when he commeth to heare should not stand so much thereupon but have least regard thereto especially at the first marrie afterwards I will not say but he may well ynough have an eie unto it also For like as those that drinke after they have once quenched their thirst engraven or imprinted upon them even so when a yong student or auditor is well replenished and furnished with doctrine after he hath breathed and paused a while may be permitted to consider farther of the speech namely what elegant and copious phrases it hath As for him who at the verie beginning attendeth not nor cleaveth unto the matter and substance but hunteth after the language onely desiring that it should be pure Atticke fine and smooth I can liken such a one to him who being empoisoned will not drinke any Antidore or counterpoison unlesse the pot or cup wherein it is be made of the Colian earth in Aitica or who in the cold of winter will not weare a garment except it were made of the wooll that came from the Attike sheepes backe but had rather sit still idle doing nothing and stirring not with some thin mantell and overworne gaberdine cast over him such as be the orations of Lystas his penning The errours committed in this kinde have beene the cause why there is found so little wit and understanding and contrariwise so much tongue and bibble-babble such vaine chattring about words in yoong men throughout the Schooles who never observe the life the deeds the carriage and demeanor in State government of a Philosopher but give all praise and commendation to his fine termes and elegant words onely setting out his eloquence action and readie deliverie of his oration but will not in any wise learne or enquire whether the matter so uttered be profitable or unprofitable necessarie or vaine and superfluous Next to these precepts how we should heare Philosopher to discourse at large and with a continued speech there followeth in good consequence a rule and advertisement as touching short questions and problemes A man that commeth as a bidden guest unto a great supper ought to be content with that which is set before him upon the table and neither to call for any viands else nor to finde fault with those that are present He also that is invited to a Philosophicall feast or banket as I may say of discourses in case they be matters and questions certaine and chosen long before for to be handled ought to do nothing else but heare with patience and silence him that speaketh for they that distract and hale him away to other theames interposing interrogations and demaunds or otherwise moove doubts or make oppositions as he speaketh are troublesome and unportunate hearers such as be unsociable and accord not with an auditorie who besides that they receive no profit themselves disturbe doth the speaker and the speech also But in case the partie that standeth ad oppositum doe of himselfe will and pray his auditors to aske him questions and to propose what they will then they ought to propound such demaunds as be either necessarie or profitable Vlisses verily in
But very few there be among many others who dare freely and plainely speake unto their friends but rather sooth them up and seeke to please them in every thing And even in those as few as they be hardly shall you find any that know how to do it well but for the most part they thinke that they speake freely when they do nothing but reproove reproch and raile Howbeit this libertie of speech where of I speake is of the nature of a medicine which if it be not given in time convenient and as it ought to be besides that it doth no good at all it troubleth the body worketh greevance and in stead of a remedie prooveth to be a mischiefe For even so he that doth reprehend and find fault unseasonably bringeth foorth the like effect with paine as flatterer doth with pleasure For men are apt to receive hurt and damage not onely by overmuch praise but also by inordinate blame when it is out of due time for it is the onely thing that of all others maketh them soonest to turne side unto flatterers and to be most easily surprised by them namely when from those things that stand most opposite and highest against them they turne aside like water and run downe those waies that be more low easie and hollow In which regardit behooveth that this libertie in fault finding be tempered with a cettaine amiable affection and accompanied with the judgement of reason which may take away the excessive vehemencie and force of sharpe words like the over-bright shining of some glittering light for feare lest their friends being dazeled as it were and frighted with the flashing beames of their rebukes seeing themselves so reprooved for ech thing and blamed every while may take such a griefe and thought thereupon that for sorrow they be ready to flie unto the shadow of some flatterer and turne toward that which will not trouble them at all For we must avoid all vice ô Philopappus and seeke to correct the same by the meanes of vertue not by another vice contrary unto it as some do who for to shun foolish and rusticall bashfulnesse grow to be overbold and impudent for to eschew rude incivilitie fall to be ridiculous jesters and pleasants and then they thinke to be farthest off from cowardise and effeminate tendernesse when they come neerest to extreme audacitie and boasting braverie Others there be who to proove themselves not to be superstitious become meere Atheists and because they would not be though and reputed idiots and fooles proove artificiall conny-catchers And surely in redressing the enormities of their maners they do as much as those who for want of knowledge and skill to set a peece of wood streight that twineth and lieth crooked one way do curbe and bend it as much another way But the most shamefull means to avoid shun the suspicion of a flatterer is to make a mans selfe odious troublesom without profit and a very rude and rusticall fashion this is of seeking to win favor and that with favour of no learning skill and civilitie to become unpleasant harsh and sowre to a friend for to shunne that other extreame which in friendship seemeth to be base and servile which is as much as if a freed slave newly franchised should in a Comedie thinke that he could not use and enjoy his libertie of speech unlesse he might be allowed licenciously to accuse another without controlment Considering then that it is a foule thing to fall to flatterie in studying to please as also for the avoiding of flatterie by immoderate libertie of speech to corrupt and marre aswell the grace of amitie and winning love as the care of remedying and reforming that which is amisse and seeing that we ought to avoid both the one and the other and as in all things else so free speaking is to have the perfection from a meane and mediocritie reason would and by order it were requisit that toward the end of this Treatise we should adde somewhat in maner of a corollarie and complement as touching that point Forasmuch as therefore we see that this libertie of language and reprehension hath many vices following it which doe much hurt let us assay to take them away one after another and begin first with blinde selfe-love and private regards where we ought especially to take heed that we be not seene to do any thing for our owne interest and in respect of our selves and namely that we seeme not for wrong that we have received our selves or upon any griefe of our owne to reproch upbraid or revile other men for they will never take it as done for any love or good will that we beare unto them but rather upon some discontentment and heart-burning that we have when they see that our speech tendeth unto a matter wherein we are interessed our selves neither will they repute our words spoken by way of admonition unto them but rather interpret them as a complaint of them For surely the libertie of speech whereof we treat as it respecteth the welfare of our friend so it is grave and venerable whereas complaints savour rather of selfe-love and a base minde Hereupon it is that we reverence honour and admire those who for our good deliver their minds frankly unto us contrariwise we are so bolde as to accuse chalenge and charge reciprocally yea and contemne those that make complaints of us Thus we reade in Homer That Agamemnon who could not beare and endure Achilles when he seemed to tell him his minde after a moderate maner but he was well enough content to abide and suffer Ulysses who touched him neere and bitterly rebuked him in this wise Ah wretch would God some abject hoast beside us by your hand Conducted were so that in field you did not us command As sharpe a checke as this was yet being delivered by a wise man proceeding from a carefull minde and tendering the good of the common weale he gave place thereto and kicked not againe for this Ulysses had no private matter nor particular quarell against him but spake frankly for the benefit of all Greece whereas Achilles seemed to be offended and displeased with him principally for some private matter betwene them twaine And even Achilles also himselfe although he was never knowen for to be a man of a gentle nature and of a milde spirit But rather of a stomacke full and one who would accuse A guiltlesse person for no cause and him full soone abuse endured Patroclus patiently and gave him not a word againe notwithstanding he taunted and tooke him up in this wise Thou mercilesse and cruell wretch sir Peleus valiant knight Was never sure thy father true 〈◊〉 yet dame Thetis bright Thy mother kinde but sea so greene or rocks so steepe and hard Thee bare thy heart of pittie hath so small or no regard For like as Hyperides the Oratour required the Athenians who complained that his orations were bitter to consider of
he had in flouting and reviling others and even the verie comicall Poëts in old time exhibited and represented to the Theaters many grave austere and serious remonstrances and those pertaining to policy goverment of State but there be scurrile speeches intermingled among for to moove laughter which as one unsavorie dish of meate among many other good viands marre all their libertie of speech and the benefit thereof so as it is vaine and doth no good at all And even so the Authors and Actors of such broad jests get nothing thereby but an opinion and imputation of a malicious disposition and impure scurrilitie and to the hearers there accreweth no good nor profit at all At other times and in other places I hold well with it and grant that to jest with friends and moove laughter is tolerable enough but surely the libertie of speech then ought to be serious and modest shewing a good intention without any purpose to gall or sting And if it do concerne weightie affaires indeed let the words be so set and couched the affection so appeere the countenance be so composed and the gesture so ordred and the voice so tuned that all concurring together may win credite to the speech and be effectuall to moove But as in all things els fit opportunity overslipt and neglected doth much hurt so especially it is the occasion that the fruit of free speech is utterly lost in case it be omitted and forgotten Moreover this is evident that we must take heed how we speake broad at a table where friends be met together to drinke wine liberally and to make good cheere for he that amid pleasant discourses and mery talke mooveth a speech that causeth bending and knitting of browes or others maketh men to frowne and be frowning he doth as much as overcast faire weather with a blacke and darke cloud opposing himselfe unto that God Lyaeus who by good right hath that name as Pindarus the Poet saith For that the cord he doth untie Of cares that breed anxietie Besides this neglect of opportunitie bringeth with it great danger for that our minds and spirits kindled once with wine are easie enflamed with cholar yea and oftentimes it falleth out that a man after he hath taken his drinke well when he thinketh but to use his freedome of tongue for to give some wholesome advertisement and admonition ministreth occasion of great enmitie And to say all in few words it is not the part of a generous confident and resolute heart but rather of a craven kind and unmanly to forbeare plaine speech when men are sober and to keepe a barking at the boord like unto those cowardly cur dogs who never snarle but about a bone under the table And now of this point needlesse it is to discourse any longer But forasmuch as many men neither will nor dare controll and reforme their friends when they do amisse so long as they be in prosperitie as being of opinion that such admonition can not have accesse nor reach into a fortunate state that standeth upright and yet the same persous when men are falling are ready to lay them along and being once downe to make a foot-ball of them or tread them under feet or else keepe them so when they be once under the hatches giving their libertie of speech full scope to run over them all at once as a brooke-water which having beene kept up perforce against the nature and course thereof is now let go and the floud-gates drawen up rejoicing at his change and infortunitie of theirs in regard as well of their pride and arrogancie who before disdained and despised them as also of themselves who are but in meane and lowestate it were not impertinent to this place for to discourse a little of this matter and to answere that verse of Euripides When fortune doth upon men smile What need have they of friends the while Namely that even then when as they seeme to have fortune at commaund they stand in most necessitie and ought to have their friends about them to plucke downe their plumes and bring under their haughtinesse of heart occasioned by prosperitie for few there be who with their outward felicitie continue wise and sober in mind breaking not foorth into insolence yea many there are who have need of wit discretion and reason to be put into them from without to abate and depresse them being set a gog and puffed up with the favors of fortune But say that the Divine power do change and turne about and overthrow their state or clip their wings and diminish their greatnesse and authoritie then these calamities of themselves are scourges sufficient putting them in minde of their errors and working repentance and then in such distresse there is no use at all either of friendsto speake unto them frankly or of pinching and biting speeches to molest and trouble them but to say a truth in these mutations It greatly doth content our minds To see the face of pleasant friends who may yeeld consolation comfort and strength to a distressed heart like as Xenophon doth write that in battailes and the greatest extremities of danger the amiable visage and cheerefull countenance of Clearchus being once seene of the souldiors encouraged them much more to play the men and fight lustily whereas he that useth unto a man distressed such plaine speech as may gall and bite him more doth as much as one who unto a troubled and inflamed eie applieth some quicke eie-salve or sharpe drug that is proper for to cleere the sight by which meane he cureth not the infirmitie before said neither doth he mitigate or alay the paine but unto sorrow and griefe of minde already addeth anger moreover and doth exasperate a wounded heart And verily so long as a man is in the latitude of health he is not so testie froward and impatient but that he will in some sort give eare unto his friend and thinke him neither rough nor altogether rude and uncivill in case he tell him of his loosenesse of life how he is given too much either unto women or wine or if he finde fault with his idlenesse and sitting still or contrariwise his excessive exercise if he reproove him for haunting so often the baines or hot-houses and never lying out of them or blame him for gourmandise and belly cheere or eating at undue houres But if he be once sicke then it is a death unto him and a griefe insupportable which doth aggravate his maladie to have one at his bedside sounding ever in his eares See what comes of your drunkennesse your idlenesse your surfetting and gluttony your wenching and leacherie these are the causes of your disease But what will the sicke man say againe Away good sir with these unseasonable words of yours you trouble me much and do me no good iwis I am about making my last will and testament my Physicians are busie preparing and tempering a potion of Scammonie or a drinke
things unjust are constreined afterwards to beare both shame and blame at their hands who justly call them to their answer and accuse them woorthily and whiles they feare some light checke or private rebuke many times they are faine to incurre and susteine open disgrace and reproch for being abashed to denie a friend who craveth to borrow money as being loth to say they have none within a while after with shame enough they blush when they shal be convinced to have had none and having promised to assist and stand to some who have suit in law by that meanes are forced to contend with others and afterwards being ashamed thereof are driven to hide their heads and flie out of the way Also there be many whom this foolish modestie hath caused to enter into some disadvantageous promise as touching the mariage either of daughter or sister and being entangled therewith have beene constreined afterwards upon change of minde to breake their word and faile in their promise as for him who said in old time that all the inhabitants of Asia served as slaves unto one man for that they knew not how to pronounce one onely negative syllable that is No he spake not in earnest but by way of bourd and was disposed to jest but surely these bashfull persons may if they list without one word spoken by knitting and bending their browes onely or nodding downward to the ground avoid and escape many offices and absurd inconveniences which often-times they do unwillingly and onely upon importunitie For as Euripides said very well Wise men do know how things to take And of silence an answere to make And haply we have more cause to take that course with such as be senselesse and unreasonable for to those who be honest sensible and of more humanitie we need not feare to make excuse and satisfie them by word of mouth And for this purpose it were not amisse to be furnished with many answers and notable apothegmes of great and famous persons in times past and to have them ready at hand to allege against such importunate impudent fellows Such was that saying of Phocion to Antipater You can not have me to be your friend and a flatterer to likewise the answere which he made unto the Athenians who were earnest with him to contribute and give somewhat toward the charges of solemnizing a great feast and withall applauded and clapped their hands It were a shame quoth he that I should give any thing over and above unto you and not to pay that which I owe to him yonder pointing therewith to Callicles the usurer for as Thucydides said It is no shame to confesse and acknowledge povertie but more shamefull it is indeed not to avoid and eschew it But he who by reason of a faint feeble and delicate heart dare not for foolish shame answere thus unto one that demaundeth to borrow money My friend I have in house or purse No silver white for to disburse and then suffreth to passe out of his mouth a promise as it were an earnest pennie or pawne of assurance Is tied by foot with fetters not of brasse Nor yron wronght but shame and cannot passe But Perseus when he lent foorth a summe of money to one of his familiar friends and acquaintance went into the open market place to passe the contract at the very banke or table of exchangers and usurers being mindfull of that rule and precept of the Poet Hesiodus which teacheth us in these words How ever thou laugh with brother more or lesse With him make no contract without witnesse now when his friend marveiled hereat and said How now Perseus so formally and according to law Yea quoth he because I would receive my money againe of you friendly not require it by course and suit of law For many there be who at the first upon a kinde of foolish modestie are abashed to call for assurance securitie but afterward be forced to proceed by order of law so make their friends their enemies Againe Cato sending commendatory letters unto Denis the Tyrant in the behalfe and favour of one Helicona Cyzicena as of a kind modest and courteous person subscribed in maner of a post-date under his letter thus That which you read above take it as written in the commendation of a man that is to say of a living creature by nature mutable Contrariwise Xenocrates although he were otherwise in his behaviour austere yet being overcome and yeelding to a kind of foolish modestie of his owne recommended in his letters unto Polysperchon a man of no worth or qualitie as it prooved afterwards by the sequell Now when as that Macedonian Lord bade the partie welcome and friendly gave him his hand and withall used some words of course and complement demaunding whether he had neede of ought and bidding him call for what he would he made no more adoo but craved a whole talent of silver at his hands which Polysperchon caused presently indeed to be weighed out unto him but he dispatched his letters withall unto Xenocrates to this effect That from thencefoorth he should be more circumspect and consider better whom he recommended unto him and verily herein onely was the error of Xenocrates for that he knew not the man for whom he wrote but we oftentimes knowing well enough that they be leawd and naughtie persons yet are verie forward with our commendatorie letters yea and that which more is our purse is open unto them we are ready to put money into their hands to our owne binderance and damage not with any pleasure that we take nor upon affection unto them as they do who bestow their silver upon courtesanes pleasants and slatterers to gratifie them but as displeased and discontented with their impudencie which overturneth our reason upside downe and forceth us to do against our owne judgement in such sort that if ever there were cause besides we may by good reason say unto these bold and shamelesse beggers that thus take vantage of our bashfulnesse I see that I must for your sake Leawd courses ever undertake namely in bearing false witnesse in pronouncing wrong judgement in giving my voice at any election for an unworthie and unmeet person or in putting my money into his hands whom I know unsufficient and who will never repay it And therefore of all passions this leawd and excessive modestie is that which is accompanied presently with repentance and hath it not following afterwards as the rest for at the verie instant when we give away our money we grieve when we beare such witnesse we blush when we assist them and set to our helping hand we incurre infamie and if wee furnish them not with that which they require wee are convinced as though we were not able And forasmuch as our weaknesse is such that we cannot denie them simply that which they would have we undertake and promise many times unto those who do importune ly upon us uncessantly
seene to grow These good parts therefore be they more or lesse in others if he that seemeth to have them in farre better and in greater measure do not debase smother hide and hinder them nor deject his brother as in some solemnitie of games for the prize from all the principall honours but rather yeeld reciprocally unto him in some points and acknowledge openly that in many things he is more excellent and hath a greater dexteritie than himselfe withdrawing alwaies closely all occasions and matter of envie as it were fewell from the fire shall either quench all debate or rather not suffer it at all to breed or grow to any head and substance Now he that alwaies taketh his brother as a colleague counseller and coadjutor with him in those causes wherin himselfe is taken to be his superiour as for example If he be a professed Rhetorician and Oratour using his brother to pleade causes if he be a Politician asking his advice in government if a man greatly friended imploying him in actions and affaires abroad and in one word in no matter of consequence and which may win credit and reputation leaving not his brother out but making him his fellow and companion in all great and honourable occasions and so giving out of him taking his counsell if he be present and expecting his presence if he be absent and generally making it knowen that he is a man not of lesse execution than himselfe but one rather that loveth not much to put himselfe forth nor stands so much upon winning reputation in the world and seeking to be advanced in credit by this meanes he shall lose nothing of his owne but gaine much unto his brother These be the precepts and advertisements that a man may give unto him that is the better and superiour To come now to him who is the inferiour he ought thus to thinke in his minde That his brother is not one alone that hath no fellow nor the onely man in the world who is richer better learned or more renowmed and glorious than himselfe but that often-times he also is inferiour to a great number yea and to many millions of us men Who on the earth so large do breed Upon her fruits who live and feed but if he be such an one as either goeth up and downe bearing envie unto all the world or if he bee of so ill a nature as that among so many men that are fortunate he alone and none but he troubleth him who ought of all other to be dearest and is most neerely joined unto him by the obligation of blood a man may well say of him That he is unhappy in the highest degree and hath not left unto another man living any meanes to go beyond him in wretchednesse As Metellus therefore thought that the Romans were bound to render thanks unto the gods in heaven for that Scipio so noble and brave a man was borne in Rome and not in any other citie so everie man is to wish and pray unto the gods that himselfe may surmount all other men in prosperity if not yet that he might have a brother at least-wise to attaine unto that power and authoritie so much desired but some there be so infortunate and unlucky by nature in respect of any goodnesse in them that they can rejoice and take a great glorie in this to have their friends advanced unto high places of honor or to see their hoasts and guests abroad princes rulers rich and mightie men but the resplendent glorie of their brethren they thinke doth eclypse and darken their owne renowme they delight and joy to heare the fortunate exploits of their fathers recounted or how their great grandsires long ago had the conduct of armies and were lord praetours and generals in the field wherein they themselves had never any part nor received thereby either honor or profit but if there have fallen unto their brethren any great heritages or possessions if they have risen unto high estate and atchieved honorable dignities if they are advanced by rich and noble mariages then they are cast downe and their hearts be done And yet it had behooved and right meet it were in the first place to bee envious to no man at all but if that may not be the next way were to turne their envie outward and eie-bite strangers and to shew our spite unto aliens who are abroad after the maner of those who to rid themselves from civill seditions at home turne the same upon their enimes without and set them together by the eares and like as Diomedes in Homer said unto Glaucus Of Trojanes and their allies both who aide them for goodwill Right many are beside your selfe for me in fight to kill And you likewise have Greeks enough with whom in bloodie field You may your prowessetry and not meete me with speare and shield even so it may be said unto them There be a number besides of concurrents upon whom they may exercise their envie and jealousie and not with their naturall brethren for a brother ought not to be like unto one of the balance scales which doth alwaies contrarie unto his fellow for as one riseth the other falleth but as small numbers do multiplie the greater and serve to make both them bigger and their selves too even so an inferior brother by multiplying the state of his brother who is his superior shall both augment him and also increase and grow himselfe together with him in all good things marke the fingers of your hand that which holdeth not the pen in writing or striketh the string of a lute in playing for that it is not able so to do nor disposed and made naturally for those uses is never a whit the worse for all that nor serveth lesse otherwise but they all stir and moove together yea and in some sort they helpe one another in their actions as being framed for the nonce unequal one bigger longer than other that by their opposition and meeting as it were round together they might comprehend claspe and hold any thing most sure strong and fast Thus Craterus being the naturall brother of king Antigonus who reigned and swaid the scepter Thus Perilaus also the brother of Cassander who ware the crowne gave their minds to be brave warriors and to lead armies under their brethren or else applied themselves to governe their houses at home in their absence whereas on the contrary side the Antiochi and Seleuci as also certeine Grypi and Cyziceni and such others having not learned to beare a lower saile then their brethren and who could not content themselves to sing a lower note nor to rest in a second place but aspiring to the ensignes and ornaments of roiall dignitie to wit the purple mantle of estate with crowne diademe and scepter filled themselves and one another with many calamities yea and heaped as many troubles upon all Asia throughout Now forasmuch as those especially who by nature are ambitious and disposed
disposition and condition of an Atheist to be happie as the state of freedome and libertie but now the Atheist hath no sparke at all of superstition whereas the superstitious person is in will and affection a meere Atheist howbeit weaker than to beleeve and shew in opinion that of the gods which he would and is in his minde Moreover the Atheist in no wise giveth any cause or ministreth occasion that superstition should arise but superstition not onely was the first beginning of impietie and Atheisme but also when it is sprung up and growne doth patronise and excuse it although not truely and honestly yet not without some colourable pretence for the Sages and wise men in times past grew not into this opinion that the world was wholly voide of a divine power and deitie because they beheld and considered any thing to be found fault withall in the heaven some negligence and disorder to be marked some confusion to be observed in the starres in the times and seasons of the yeere in the revolutions thereof in the course and motions of the sunne round about the earth which is the cause of night and day or in the nouriture and food of beasts or in the yeerely generation and increase of the fruits upon the earth but the ridiculous works and deeds of superstition their passions woorthy to be mocked and laughed at their words their motions and gestures their charmes forceries enchantments and magicall illusions their runnings up and downe their beating of drums tabours their impure purifications their filthy castimonies and beastly sanctifications their barbarous and unlawfull corrections and chastisements their inhumane and shamefull indignities practized even in temples these things I say gave occasion first unto some for to say that better it were there had bene no gods at all than to admit such for gods who received and approoved these abuses yea and tooke pleasure therein or that they should be so outragious proud and injurious so base and pinching so easie to fall into choler upon a small cause and so heard to be pleased againe Had it not beene farre better for those Gaules Scythians or Tartarians in old time to have had no thought no imagination no mention at all delivered unto them in histories of gods than to thinke there were gods delighting in the bloudshed of men and to beleeve that the most holie and accomplished sacrifice and service of the gods was to cut mens throates and to spill their bloud and had it not beene more expedient for the Carthaginians by having at the first for their law-givers either Critias or Diagoras to have beene perswaded that there was neither God in heaven nor divell in hell than to sacrifice so as they did to Saturne who not as Empedocles said reprooving and taxing those that killed living creatures in sacrifice The sire lists up his deere belooved son Who first some other forme and shape did take He doth him slay and sacrifice anon And therewith vowes and foolish praiers doth make but witting and knowing killed their owne children indeed for sacrifice and looke who had no issue of their owne would buie poore mens children as if they were lambes young calves or kiddes for the saide purpose At which sacrifice the mother that bare them in her wombe would stand by without any shew at all of being mooved without weeping or sighing for pittie and compassions for otherwise if shee either fetched a sigh or shed ateare shee must loose the price of her childe and yet notwithstanding suffer it to be slaine and sacrificed Moreover before and all about the image or idoll to which the sacrifice was made the place resounded and rung againe with the noise of flutes and hautboies with the sound also of drums and timbrels to the end that the pitifull crie of the poore infants should not be heard Now if any Tryphones or other such like giants having chased and driven out the gods should usurpe the empire of the world and rule over us what other facrifices would they delight in or what offrings else and service besides could they require at mens hands Antestries the wife of the great Monarch 〈◊〉 buried quicke in the ground twelve persons and offred them for the prolonging of her owne life unto Pluto which god as Plato saith was named Pluto Dis and Hades for that being full of humanitie unto mankind wise and rich besides he was able to enterraine the soules of men with perswasive speeches and reasonable remonstrances Xenophanes the Naturalist seeing the Egyptians at their solemne feasts knocking their breasts and lamenting pitiously admonished them verie fitly in this wise My good friends if these quoth he be gods whom you honor thus lament not for them and if they be men sacrifice not unto them But there is nothing in the world so full of errors no maladie of the minde so passionate and mingled with more contrarie and repugnant opinions as this of superstition in regard whereof we ought to shunne and avoide the same but not as many who whiles they seeke to eschue the assaults of theeves by the high way side or the invasion of wilde beasts out of the forcst or the danger of fire are so transported and caried away with feare that they looke not about them nor see what they doe or whither they goe and by that meanes light upon by-waies or rather places having no way at all but in stead thereof bottomlesse pits and gulfes or else steepe downe-fals most perilous even so there be divers that seeking to avoid superstition fall headlong upon the cragged rocke of perverse and stif-necked Impietie and Atheisme leaping over true religion which is feated just in the mids betweene both OF EXILE OR BANISHMENT The Summarie THere is not a man how well soever framed to the world and setled therein who can promise unto himselfe any peaceable and assured state throughout the course of his whole life but according as it seemeth good to the clernall and wise providence of the Almightie which governeth all things to chaslise our faults or to try our constancy in faith he ought in time of a calme to prepare himselfe for a tempest and not to attend the mids of a danger before he provide for his safetie but betimes and long before to fortifie and furnish himselfe with that whereof he may have necd another day in all occurences and accidents whatsoever Our Authour therefore in this Treatise writing to comfort and encourage one of his friends cast downe with anguish occasioned by his banishment sheweth throughout all his discourse that vertue it is which maketh us happie in everie place and that there is nothing but vice that can hurt and endamage us Now as touching his particularising of this point in the first place he treateth what kinde of friends we have need of in our affliction and how we ought then to serve our turnes with them and in regard of exile mone particularly he adjoineth this advertisment
they in their private carriage as in that which they see them doe and heare them speake in publike loving some with a kinde of admiration and hating others in disdainfull and contemptuous manner What will some one say do not some cities otherwhiles love to be ruled by governors whom they know to be dissolute and disordinate in their manner of life Yes I beleeve it verie well And so forsooth we see some women when they are with childe long many times to eate grit of stones and they who are stomacke-sicke and have a peevish appetite desire salt-fish and such other naughtie meates but within a while after when the fit is once past they reject refuse and lothe the same even so many States and Comminalties often-times upon an insolencie wantonnesse and disordinate desire or for default of better governours be served with those that come first and they care not with whom notwithstanding they have them in contempt and detestation but afterwards they are very well content when such speeches goe of them as Plato a comicall Poet in one of his Comedies inferreth to be spoken by the people themselves Take me by hand take holde and that right soone Agyrrius els I 'll captaine chuse anon And againe in another place he bringeth in the people calling for a bason and a feather for to provoke vomit saying thus At my tribunall seat most eminent Herselfe to me Mantile doth present And a little after Astinking head it keepes and feedeth now Amaladie most foule I do avow And the people of Rome at what time as Carbo avouched a thing and bound it by a great oath yea and the same with a curse and execration if it were not so yet for all that all with one voice sware aloud to the contrary and protested that they would not beleeve him Also at Lacedaemon when one Demosthenes a wicked and dissolute person had delivered his opinion and advice verie well fitting and behoovefull to the matter in question the people rejected it but the Ephori having chosen one of their Ancients and honourable counsellers of Estate willed him to speake to the same point and the like effect which was as much as if they had taken it out of one foule and filthie vessell and put the same into another that was faire and cleane and all to please and content the people and multitude so effectuall is for the government of an Estate the assured perswasion of the honestie of a personage and as forcible likewise is the contrarie I write not thus to this end that we should neglect the grace of eloquence and the powerfull skill of well-speaking as if all should lie upon vertue and nothing els but that we are to thinke that Rhetoricall speech and brave utterance is not the thing alone which perswadeth the people but that it is a good helpe and doth cooperate in perswasion so that we may in some sort correct and amend that sentence of Menander The honest life of him that speakes in place And not his tongue doth credit win and grace For life and language both ought to concurre unlesse haply one would say That it is the pilot onely that governeth the ship and not the helme and the rider alone turneth the horse head and not the reines or bridle semblably that the science of policie and government of weale-publike useth maners and not eloquence as an helme or bridle to manage direct and governe a whole citie which is according to Plato a creature as one would say most easie to be turned so that it be conducted and guided as it were in the poope for seeing that those great kings the sonnes of Jupiter as Homer calleth them set out and puffe up their magnificent part with long robes of purple with scepters in their hands with a guard of squires and pensioners about their persons with whom they were environed on everie side yea and with the oracles of the gods in their favour subjecting unto their obeisance by this outward venerable shew the common sort and imprinting an opinion that they are in greater state than men and yet for all this were desirous to learne how to speake wisely and not carelesse and negligent to winne grace by good speech And eloquence whereby more perfect they In warlike feats might be another day not recommending themselves to Jupiter onely the Counseller nor to bloodie Mars and warlike Minerva but invocating the Muse Calliope Who doth upon great kings attend And makes them ay more reverend with her perswasive grace and vertue dulcing and appeasing the violent mood and fiercenesse of the people Seeing I say that mightie princes be furnished with so many helps and meanes is it possible that a private person with a simple robe and popular habit taking upon him to weld and rule a whole citie or State should ever be able to effect his purpose namely to tame and range into order an unruly multitude unlesse he have eloquence to aide him in this businesse for to perswade and bring them to the bent of his bow for mine owne part I thinke No. As for the masters and captaines of gallies and other ships they have other officers under them as their boat-swaines to give knowledge what they would have to be done but a good governour of State ought to have within himselfe the skill and knowledge of the steeres-man to sit at sterne and guide the helme and besides that good speech also to make knowen his will and pleasure to the end that he need not at all the voice of another nor be forced to say as Iphicrates did when he was overcome and braved out by the eloquent words of Aristophon My adversaries plaier acteth better than mine but surely my play is much better than theirs and that he have not need often-times to have in his mouth these verses of Euripides Would God the seed and race of mortall men Were speechlesse cleane or could not speake words ten As also of these Oh God that mens affaires and causes all Required no words and for no speech did call That oratours whose tongues do plead so hard Were not emploied nor in so good regard For these sentences perhaps might give leave to some Alcamenes Nesiots and Ictines or such maner of people who live by their handy-worke get their living by the sweat of their browes and are past all hope to atteine unto any perfection of eloquence to flie there-fro as it is reported of two Architects or great Masons at Athens sometimes who came in question for their skill whether of the twaine was more sufficient to make a great fabricke and publike piece of worke the one who could speake very well and expresse his minde with varietie and elegancie of words pronounced a premeditate oration as touching the frame and building thereof which he did so well that he moved the whole assembly therewith the other who was more skilfull in Architecture the better workman by far but one that could
lawyer although he had no law in the world in him and was besides a man of very grosse capacity this man was served with a writ to appeare in the court for to beare witnesse of a trueth touching a certeine fact in question but he answered That he knew nothing at all True quoth Cicero for peradventure you meane of the law and thinke that you are asked the question of it Hortensius the orator who pleaded the cause of Verres had received of him for a fee or a gentle reward a jewel with the portraiture of Sphinx in silver it fell out so that Cicero chanced to give out a certeine darke and ambiguous speech As for mee quoth Hortensius I can not tell what to make of your words for I am not one that useth to solve riddles and aenigmaticall speeches Why man quoth Cicero and yet you have Sphinx in your house He met upon a time with Voconius and his three daughters the foulest that ever looked out of a paire of eies at which object he spake softly to his friends about him This man I weene his children hath begot In spight of Phoebus and when he would it not Faustus the sonne of Sylla was in the end so farre endebted that he exposed his goods to be sold in open sale and caused billes to be set up on posts in every quarrefour to notisie the same Yea mary quoth Cicero I like these billes and proscriptions better than those that his father published before him When Caesar and Pompeius were entred into open warre one against another I know full well quoth Cicero whom to flie but I wot not unto whom to flie He found great fault with Pompeius in that he left the citie of Rome and that he chose rather in this case to imitate the policy of Themistocles than of Pericles saying That the present state of the world resembled rather the time of Pericles than of Themistocles Hee drew at first to Pompeius side and being with him repented thereof When Pompey asked him where he had left Piso his son-in-law he answered readily Even with your good father-in-law meaning Caesar. There was one who departed out of Caesars campe unto Pompey and said That he had made such haste that hee left his horse behinde him Thou canst skill I perceive better to save thy horses life than thine owne Unto another who brought word that the friends of Caesar looked soure and unpleasant Thou saiest quoth he as much as if they thought not well of his proceedings After the battell of Pharsalia was lost and that Pompeius was already fled there was one Nonius who came unto him and willed him not to despaire but be of good cheere for that they had yet seven eagles left which were the standerds of the legions Seven eagles quoth he that were somewhat indeed if we had to warre against jaies jackdawes After that Caesar upon his victorie being lord of all had caused the statues of Pompey which were cast done to be set up againe with honor Cicero said of Caesar In setting up these statues of Pompey he hath pitched his owne more surely He so highly esteemed the gift of eloquence and grace of well speaking yea and he tooke so great paines with ardent affection for to performe the thing that having to plead a cause onely before the Centumvirs or hundred judges and the day set downe being neere at hand for the hearing and triall thereof when one of his servants Eros brought him word that the cause was put off to the next day he was so well contented and pleased therewith that incontinently he gave him his freedome for that newes CAIUS CAESAR at what time as he being yet a yoong man fled and avoided the furie of Sylla fell into the hands of certeine pirats or rovers who at the first demanded of him no great summe of money for his ransome whereat hee mocked and laughed at them as not knowing what maner of person they had gotten and so of himselfe promised to pay them twise as much as they asked and being by them guarded and attended upon very diligently all the while that he sent for to gather the said summe of money which he was to deliver them he willed them to keepe silence and make no noise that he might sleepe and take his repose during which time that he was in their custodie he exercised himselfe in writing aswell verse as prose and read the same to them when they were composed and if hee saw that they would not praise and commend those poemes and orations sufficiently to his contentment he would call them senselesse fots and barbarous yea and after a laughing maner threaten to hang them and to say a truth within a while after he did as much for them for when his ransome was come and he delivered once out of their hands he levied together a power of men and ships from out of the coasts of Asia set upon the said rovers spoiled them and crucified them Being returned to Rome and having enterprised a sute for the soveraign Sacerdotall dignitie against Catulus who was then a principall man at Rome whenas his mother accompanied him as farre as to the utmost gates of his house when he went into Mars field where the election was held he took his leave of her and said Mother you shall have this day your sonne to be chiefe Pontifice and high priest or else banished from the citie of Rome He put away his wife Pompeia upon an ill name that went of her as if she had beene naught with Clodius whereupon when Clodius afterwards was called into question judicially for the fact and Caesar likewise convented into the court peremptorily for to beare witnesse of the truth being examined upon his oath he sware that he never knew any ill at all by his wife and when he was urged and replied upon againe wherefore he had put her away he answered That the wife of Caesar ought not onely to be innocent and cleere of crime but also of all suspicion of crime In reading the noble acts of Alexander the great the teares trickled downe his cheeks and when his friends desired to know the reason why he wept At my age quoth he Alexander had vanquished subdued Darius and I have yet done nothing As he passed along through a little poore towne situate within the Alpes his familiar friends about him merrily asked one another whether there were any factions and contentions in that burrough about superioritie and namely who should be the chiefe whereupon he staid suddenly and after he had studied and mused a while within himselfe I had rather quoth he be the first here than the second in Rome As for hautie adventerous enterprises he was wont to say They should be executed not consulted upon and verily when he passed over the river Rubicon which divideth the province of Gaul from Italy for to leade his power against Pompeius Let the Die
shoe upon a litle foot When one in reasoning debating a matter upon a time challenged him and said Sir you gave your consent once unto it and eftsoones iterating the same words charged him with his grant and promise True indeed quoth he if the cause were just I approved it in good earnest gave my promise but if not I did but barely say the word no more but as the other replied againe and said Yea but kings ought to accomplish performe whatsoever they seeme once to grant it be but with the nod of the head Nay said he againe they are no more bound thereto than those that come unto them are tied for to speake and demand all things just and reasonable yea and to observe the opportunity and that which fitteth and sorteth well with kings When he heard any men either to praise or dispraise others he said That it behoved to know the nature disposition and behaviour no lesse of those who so spake than of the parties of whom they did speake Being whiles he was very yoong at a certeine publicke and festivall solemnitie wherein yoong boies daunced as the maner was all naked the warden or overseer of the said shew and daunce appointed him a place for to beholde that sight which was not verie honourable wherewith notwithstanding he stood well contented albeit he was knowen to be heire apparant to the crowne and already declared king and withall said It is very well for I will shew that it is not the place which crediteth the person but the person that giveth credit and honour to the place A certeine Physician had ordeined for him in one sicknesse that he had a course of physicke to cure his maladie which was nothing easie and simple but very exquisit curious and withall painfull By Caslor and Pollux quoth he if my destinie be not to live I shal not recover though I take all the drogues and medicines in the world Standing one day at the altar of Minerva surnamed Chalceoecos where he sacrificed an oxe there chanced a louse to bite him and he was nothing dismaied and abashed to take the said louse but before them all who were present killed her and swore by the gods saying That it would do him good at the heart to serve them all so who should treacherously lay wait to assaile him yea though it were at the very altar Another time when he saw a little boy drawing a mouse which he had caught out of a window and that the said mouse turned upon the boy and bit him by the hand insomuch as shee made him leave his holde and so escaped hee shewed the sight unto those that were present about him and said Loe if so little a beast and sillie creature as this hath the heart to be revenged upon those that doe it injurie what thinke you is meet and reason that men should doe Being desirous to make warre upon the king of Persia for the deliverance and freedome of those Greeks who did inhabit Asia he went to consult with the oracle of Jupiter within the sorest Dodona as touching this desseigne of his and when the oracle had made answere according to his minde namely That if it pleased him he should enterprise that expedition he communicated the same to the controllers of State called Ephori who willed him also to goe forward and aske the counsell likewise of Apollo in the citie of Delphos and being there he entred into the chapell from whence the oracles were delivered and said thus O Apollo art thou also of the same minde that thy father is and when he answered Yea whereupon hee was chosen for the generall to conduct this warre and set forth in his voiage accordingly Tissaphernes lieutenant under the king of Persia in Asia being astonied at his arrivall made a composition and accord with him at the very first in which treatie he capitulated and promised to leave unto his behoofe all the townes and cities of the Greeks which are in Asia free and at libertie to be governed according to their owne lawes meane while hee dispatched messenges in post to the king his master who sent unto him a strong and puissant armie upon the confidence of which sorces he gave defiance and denounced warre unlesse he departed with all speed out of Asia Agesilaus being well enough pleased with this treacherous breach of the agreement made semblant as though he would go first into Caria and when Tissaphernes gathered his forces in those parts to make head against him all on a sudden he invaded Phrygia where he won many cities and raised rich booties from thence saying unto his friends That to breake faith and promise unjustly made unto a friend was impietie but to abuse and deceive an enemie was not onely just but also pleasant and profitable Finding himselfe weake in cavallery he returned to the citie of Ephesus where he intimated thus much unto the rich men who were willing to be exempt from going in person unto the warres that they should every one set sorth one horse and a man by which meanes within few daies he levied a great number both of horse and also of men able for service in stead of those that were rich and cowards wherein he said That he did imitate Agamemnon who dispensed with a rich man who was but a dastard and durst not go to the warre for one faire and goodly mare When he solde those prisoners for slaves whom he had taken in the warres the officers for this sale by his appointment made money of their clothes and other furniture apart but of their bodies all naked by themselves now many chapmen there were who willingly bought their apparell but few or none hads any minde to the persons themselves for that their bodies were soft and white as having bene delicately nourished and choisly kept within house and under covert and so seemed for no use at all and good for nothing Agesilaus standing by Beholde my masters quoth hee this is that for which you fight shewing their spoiles but these be they against whom you fight pointing to the men Having given Tissaphernes an overthrow in battel within the country of Lydia and slaine a great number of his men he overran and harried all the kings provinces and when he sent unto him presents of gold and silver praying him to come unto some agreement of peace Agesilaus made this answere As touching the treatie of peace it was in the citie of Lacedaemons power to doe what they would but otherwise for his owne part he tooke greater pleasure to enrich his soldiers than to be made rich himselfe as for the Greeks they reputed it an honour not to receive gifts from their enemies but to be masters of their spoiles Megabaetes the yoong sonne of Spithridates who was of visage most faire and beautifull came toward him as it were to embrace and kisse him for that he thought as he was right amiable to
be exceedingly beloved of him but Agesilaus turned his face away insomuch as the youth desisted and would no more offer himselfe unto him whereupon Agesilaus demanded the reason thereof and seemed to call for him unto whom his friends made answere That himselfe was the onely cause being afraid to kisse so fasire a boy but if he would not seeme to feare the youth would returne and repaire unto him in place right willingly upon this he stood musing to himselfe a good while and said never a word but then at length hee brake foorth into this speech Let him even alone neither is there any need now that you should say any thing or perswade him for mine owne part I count it a greater matter to be the conquerour and have the better hand of such than to win by force the strongest holde or the most puissant and populous citie of mine enemies for I take it better for a man to preserve and save his owne libertie to himselfe than to take it from others Moreover he was in all other things a most precise observer in every point of whatsoever the lawes commanded but in the affaires and businesse of his friends he said That straightly to keepe the rigour of justice was a very cloake and colourable pretence under which they covered themselves who were not willing to doe for their friends to which purpose there is a little letter of his found written unto Idrieus a prince of Caria for the enlarging and deliverance of a friend of his in these words If Nicias have not transgressed deliver him if he have deliver him for the love of me but howsoever yet deliver him and verily thus affected stood Agesilaus in the greatest part of his friends occasions howbeit there fell out some cases when he respected more the publike utility used his opportunity therefore according as he shewed good proofe upon a time at the dislodging of his campe in great haste hurry insomuch as he was forced to leave a boy whō he loved full well behind him for that he lay sicke for when the partie called instantly upon him by name besought him not to forsake him now at his departure Agesilaus turning backe said Oh how hard is it to be pitifull wise both at once Furthermore as touching his diet the cherishing of his bodie he would not be served with more nor better than those of his traine and company He never did eat untill he was satisfied nor tooke his drinke untill he was drunke and as for his sleepe it never had the command and mastrie over him but he tooke it onely as his occasions and affaires would permit for cold and heat he was so fitted and disposed that in all seasons of the yeere he used to weare but one and the same sort of garments his pavilion was alwaies pitched in the mids of his soldiers neither had he a bed to lye in better than any other of the meanest for he was woont to say That he who had the charge and conduct of others ought to surmount those private persons who were under his leading not in daintinesse and delicacie but in sufferance of paine and travell and in fortitude of heart and courage When one asked the question in his presence What it was wherin the lawes of Lycurgus had made the citie of Sparta better he answered That this benefit it found by them to make no recknoning at all of pleasures And to another who marvelled to see so great simplicitie and plainnesse as well in feeding as appearell both of him and also of other Lacedaemonians he said The fruit my good friend which we reape by this straight maner of life is libertie and freedome There was one who exhorted him to ease and remit a little this straight and austere manner of living For that quoth he it would not be used but in regard of the incertitude of fortune and because there may fall out such an occasion and time as might force a man so to do Yea but I said Agesilaus do willingly accustome my selfe hereto that in no mutation and change of fortune I should not seeke for change of my life And in verie truth when he grew to be aged he did not for all his yeeres give over and leave his hardnes of life and therfore when one asked him Why considering the extreame cold winter and his old age besides he went without an upper coat or gabardine he made this answer Because yoong men might learne to do as much having for an example before their eies the eldest in their countrey and such also as were their governors We reade of him that when he passed with his armie over the Thasians countrey they sent unto him for his refection meale of all sorts geese and other fowles comfitures and pastrie works fine cakes marchpanes and sugar-meats with all manner of exquisite viands and drinks most delicate and costly but of all this provision he received none but the meale aforesaid commanding those that brought the same to carrie them all away with them as things whereof he stood in no need and which he knew not what to do with In the end after they had beene verie urgent and importuned him so much as possibly they could to take that curtesie at their hands he willed them to deale all of it among the Ilots which were in deed the slaves that followed the campe whereupon when they demaunded the cause thereof he said unto them That it was not meet for those who professed valour and prowesse to receive such dainties Neither can that quoth he which serveth in stead of a bait to allure draw men to a servile nature agree wel with those who are of a bold and free courage Over and besides these Thasians having received many favours and benefits at his hands in regard whereof they tooke themselves much bound and beholden unto him dedicated temples to his honour and decreed divine worship unto him no lesse than unto a verie god and hereupon sent an embassage to declare unto him this their resolution when he had read their letters and understood what honour they minded to do unto him he asked this one question of the embassadors whether their State and countrey was able to deifie men and when they answered Yea Then quoth he begin to make your selves gods first and when you have done so I will beleeve that you also can make me a god When the Greeke Colonies in Asia had at their parliaments ordained in all their chiefe and principall cities to erect his statues he wrote backe unto them in this manner I will not that you make for me any statue or image whatsoever neither painted nor cast in mould nor wrought in clay ne yet cut and engraven any way Seeing whiles he was in Asia the house of a friend or hoste of his covered over with an embowed roofe of plankes beames and sparres foure-square he asked him whether the trees in those parts grew so
him most for that with so small a troupe and cornet of his owne horsemen which himselfe put out and addressed against them hee had given those the overthrow who at all times vaunted themselves to be the best men at armes in the world Thither came Diphridas one of the Ephori unto him being sent expresly from Sparta with a commandement unto him that incontinently he should with force and armes invade the countrey of Baeotia and he although he meant and purposed of himselfe some time after to enter with a more puissant power yet would he not disobey those great lords of the State but sent for two regiments of ten thousands a peece drawen out of those who served about Corinth and with them made a rode into Boeotia and gave battell before Coronaea unto the Thebans Athenians Argives and Corinthians where he wan the field which as witnesseth Xenophon was the greatest and most bloudie battell that had beene fought in his time but true it is that hee himselfe was in many places of his body sore wounded and then being returned home notwithstanding so many victories and happie fortunes hee never altered any jot in his owne person either for diet or otherwise for the maner of his life Seeing some of his citizens to vaunt and boast of themselves as if they were more than other men in regard that they nourished and kept horses of the game to runne in the race for the prize he perswaded his sister named Cynisca to mount into her chariot and to goe unto that solemnitie of the Olympick games there to runne a course with her horses for the best prize by which his purpose was to let the Greekes know that all this running of theirs was no matter of valour but a thing of cost and expence to shew their wealth onely He had about him Xenophon the philosopher whom he loved and highly esteemed him he requested to send for his sonnes to be brought up in Lacedaemon and there to learne the most excellent and singular discipline in the world namely the knowledge how to obey and to rule well Being otherwise demaunded wherefore he esteemed the Lacedaemonians more happy then other nations It is quoth he because they professe and exercise above all men in the world the skill of obeying and governing After the death of Lysander finding within the city of Sparta great factions and much siding which the saide Lysander incontinently after he was returned out of Asia had raised and stirred up against him he purposed and went about to detect his lewdnesse and make it appeere unto the inhabitants of Sparta what a dangerous medler he had beene whiles he lived and to this purpose having read an oration found after his decease among his papers which Creon verily the Halicarnassian had composed but Lysander meant to pronounce before the people in a general assembly of the citie tending to the alteration of the State and bringing in of many novelties he was fully minded to have divulged it abroad but when one of the auncient Senatours had read the said oration and doubted the sequell thereof considering it was so well penned and grounded upon such effectuall and perswasive reasons hee gave Agesilaus counsell not to digge up Lysander againe and rake him as it were out of his grave but to let the oration lie buried with him whose advice he followed and so rested quiet and made no more adoo and as for those who underhand crossed him and were his adversaries he did not course them openly but practised and made meanes to send some of them foorth as captaines into certaine forrain expeditions and unto others to commit certaine publike offices in which charges they caried themselves so as they were discovered for covetous wicked persons and afterwards when they were called into question judicially hee shewed himselfe contrary to mens expectation to helpe them out of trouble and succour them so as that he gat their love and good wils insomuch as in the end there was not one of them his adversarie One there was who requested him to write in his favour to his hosts and friends which he had in Asia letters of recommendation that they would defend and maintaine him in his rightfull cause My friends quoth he use to doe that which is equitie and just although I should write never a word unto them Another shewed him the wals of a city how woonderfull strong they were and magnificently built asking of him whether he thought them not stately and faire Faire quoth he yes no doubt for women to lodge and dwell in but not for men A Megarian there was who magnified and highly extolled before him the city Megara Yoong man quoth he and my good friend your brave words require some great puissance Such things as other men had in great admiration hee would not seeme so much as to take knowledge of Upon a time one Callipides an excellent plaier in Tragedies who was in great name and reputation among the Greeks insomuch as all sorts of men made no small account of him when he chanced to meet him upon the way saluted him first and afterwards prosumptuously thrust himselfe forward to walke among others with him in hope that the king would begin to shew some lightsome countenance and grace him but in the end seeing that it would not be he was so bolde as to advance himselfe and say unto him Sir king know you not me and have you not heard who I am Agesilaus looking wistly upon his face Art not thou quoth he Callipides Deicelictas for so the Lacedaemonians use to call a jester or plaier He was invited one day to come and heare a man who could counterfeit most lively and naturally the voice of the nightingale but he refused to go saying I have heard the nightingales themselves to sing many a time Menecrates the Physician had a luckie hand in divers desperate cures whereupon some there were who surnamed him Jupiter and he himselfe would over arrogantly take that name upon him insomuch as he presumed in one letter of his which he sent unto him to set this superscription Menecrates Jupiter unto king Agesilaus wisheth long life but Agesilaus wrote back unto him in this wise Agesilaus to Menecrates wisheth good health When Pharnabasus and Canon the high-admirals of the armada under the Persian king were so farre-foorth lords of the sea that they pilled and spoiled all the coasts of Laconia and besides the walles of Athens were rebuilded with the money that Pharnabasus furnished the Athenians withall the lords of the counsell of Lacedaemon were of advice that the best policie was to conclude peace with the king of Persia and to this effect sent Antalcidas one of their citizens to Tiribasus with commission treacherously to betray and deliver into the barbarous kings hands the Greeks inhabiting Asia for whose libertie Agesilaus before had made warres by which occasion Agesilaus was thought to have his hand in this shamefull and
infamous practise for 〈◊〉 who was his mortall enemie wrought by all meanes possible to effect peace because he saw that warre continually augmented the credit of Agesilaus and made him most mightie and honourable yet neverthelesse he answered unto one that reproched him with the Lacedaemonians saying That they were Medified or turned Medians Nay rather quoth he the Medians are Laconified and become Laconians The question was propounded unto him upon a time whether of these two vertues in his judgement was the better Fortitude or Justice and he answered That where Justice reigned Fortitude bare no sway and was nothing worth for if we were all righteous and honest men there would be no need at all of Fortitude The people of Greece dwelling in Asia had a custome to call the king of Persia The great king And wherefore quoth he is he greater than I unlesse he be more temperat and righteous semblably he said That the inhabitants of Asia were good slaves but naughtie freemen Being asked how a man might win himselfe the greatest name and reputation among men he answered thus If he say well and yet do better This was a speech of his That a good captaine ought to shew unto his enemies valour and hardinesse but unto those that be under his charge love and benevolence Another demanded of him what children should learne in their youth That quoth he which they are to doe and practise when they be men growen He was judge in a cause where the plaintife had pleaded well but the defendant very badly who eftsoones and at every sentence did nothing but repeat these words O Agesilaus a king ought to protect and helpe the lawes unto whom Agesilaus answered in this wise If one had undermined thy house or robbed thee of thy raiment wouldest thou thinke and looke that a carpenter or mason were bound to repaire thy house and the weaver or tailour for to supplie thy want of clothes The king of Persia had writ unto him a letter missive after a generall peace concluded which letter was brought by a gentleman of Persia who came with Callias the Lacedaemonian and the contents thereof was to this effect That the king of Persia desired to enter into some more especiall amitie and fraternitie with him but he would not accept thereof saying unto the messenger Thou shalt deliver this answere from me unto the king thy master that hee needed not to write any such particular letters unto mee concerning private friendship for if hee friend the Lacedaemonians in generall and shew himselfe to love the Greeks and desire their good I also reciprocally will be his friend to the utmost of my power but if I may finde that he practiseth treacherie and attempteth ought prejudiciall to the state of Greece well may he write epistle upon epistle and I receive from him one letter after another but let him trust to this I will never be his friend Hee loved very tenderly his owne children when they were little ones insomuch as he would play with them up and downe the house yea and put a long cane betweene his legs and ride upon it like an hobby horse with them for company and if it chanced that any of his friends spied him so doing he would pray them to say nothing unto any man thereof untill they had babes and children of their owne But during the continuall warres that he had with the Thebans he fortuned in one battell to be grievouslie wounded which when Antalcidas saw he said unto him Certes you have received of the Thebans the due salarie and reward that you deserved for teaching them as you have done even against their willes how to fight which they neither could nor ever would have learned to doe for in trueth it is reported that the Thebans then became more martiall and warlike than ever before-time as being inured and exercised in armes by the continuall roads and invasions that the Lacedaemomans made which was the reason that ancient Lycurgus in those lawes of his which be called Rhetrae expresly forbad his people to make warre often upon one and the same nation for feare lest in so doing their enemies should learne to be good souldiers When he heard that the allies and confederates of Lacedaemon were offended and tooke this continuall warfare ill complaining that they were never in maner out of armes but caried their harnesse continually upon their backs and besides being many more in number they followed yet the Lacedaemonians who were but an handfull to all them he being minded to convince them in this and to shew how many they were commanded all his said confederates to assemble together and to sit them downe pell-mell one with another the Lacedaemonians likewise to take their place over-against them apart by themselves which done he caused an herald to cry aloud in the hearing of all That all the potters should rise first and when those were risen that the brasse-founders and smithes should stand up then the carpenters after them the masons and so all other artisans handi-crafts men one after another by which meanes all the confederats wel-nere were risen up and none in maner left sitting but all this while not a Lacedaemonian stirred off his seat for that forbidden they were all to learne or exercise any mechanicall craft then Agesilaus tooke up a laughter and said Lo my masters and friends how many more souldiers are we able to send into the warres than you can make In that bloodie battell fought at Leuctres many Lacedaemonians there were that ran out of the field fled who by the lawes and ordinances of the countrey were all their life time noted with infamy howbeit the Ephori seeing that the citie by this meanes would be dispeopled of citizens and lie desert in that verie time when as it had more need than ever before of souldiers were desirous to devise a policie how to deliver them of this ignominie and yet notwithstanding preferre the lawes in their entire and full force therefore to bring this about they elected Agesilaus for their law-giver to enact a new lawes who being come before the open audience of the city spake unto them in this manner Yee men of Lacedaemon I am not willing in any wise to be the author and inventor of new lawes and as for those which you have alreadie I minde not to put any thing thereto to take fro or otherwise to alter and chaunge them and therefore mee thinkes it is meere and reasonable that from to morrow forward those which you have should stand in their ful vigor strength and vertue accustomed Moreover as few as there remained in the citie when Epaminondas was about to assaile it with a great fleete and a violent tempest as it were of Thebans and their confederates puffed up with pride for the late victorie atchieved in the plaine of Leuctres with those few I say hee put him and his forces backe and caused them to returne without
the night a voice that gave warning and advertised that shortly after they should looke for the Gaules to warre upon them As for that temple upon the banke of the river Tyber of Fortune surnamed Fortis that is to say Strong Martiall Valiant and Magnanimous for that to her belonged generositie and the forcible power to tame and overcome all things they built a temple to the honour of her within the orchards and gardens that Caesar by his last will and testament bequeathed unto the people of Rome as being perswaded that himselfe by the gracious favour of Fortune became the greatest man of all the Romans as himselfe doth testifie As concerning Julius Caesar I would have bene abashed and ashamed to say that through the favour of Fortune he was lifted up to that rare greatnesse but that his owne selfe beareth witnesse thereof for being departed from Brindois the fourth day of Ianuary and imbarked for to pursue Pompeius even at the verie height and in the heart of Winter he crossed the seas most safely as if Fortune had held in the tempestuous weather of that season and when he found Pompeius strong and puissant aswell by sea as land as having all his forces assembled together about him in a set and standing campe being himselfe but weake and accompanied with a small power for that the companies which Antonius and Sabinus should have brought lingered and staied behinde he adventured to take sea againe and putting himselfe into a small frigat sailed away unknowen both to the master and also to the pilot of the said barke in simple habit as if he had bene some meane and ordinary servitor but by occasion of a violent returne of the tide ful against the current of the river withall of a great tempest that arose seeing that the pilot was readie to alter his course and turne abaft backe he plucked away his garment from his head where with he sat hoodwinked and discovered his face saying unto the pilot Holde the helme hard good fellow and be not afraid to set forward be bolde I say hoise sailes spred them open to the winde at aventure and feare not for thou hast aboord Caesar and his Fortune So much perswaded was he and confidently assured that Fortune sailed with him accompanied him in all his marches and voiages assisted him in the campe aided him in battell conducted and directed him in all his warres whose worke indeed it was and could proceed from nothing els but her to command a calme at sea to procure faire weather and a Summer season in Winter to make them swift and nimble who otherwise were most slow and heavie to cause them to be couragious who were grearest cowards and most heartlesse and that which is more incredible than all the rest to force Pompey to flie and Ptolemeus to kill his owne guest to the end that Pompey might die and yet Caesar be not stained with his bloudshed What should I alledge the testimonie of his sonne the first emperour surnamed Augustus who for the space of fiftie yeeres and foure was absolute commander both by sea and land of the whole world who when he sent his nephew or sisters sonne to the warres praied and wished at Gods hands for no more but that he might prove as valiant as Scipio and as well beloved as Pompey and as fortunate as himselfe ascribing the making of himselfe as great as he was unto Fortune as if a man should intitle some singular piece of worke with the name of the workeman or artificer which Fortune of his was the cause that he got the start and vantage of Cicero Lepidus Pausa Hirtius and Marcus Antonius by whose counsels brave exploits and prowesses expeditions victories voiages armadoes legions campes and in one word by these warres as well by sea as by land she made him ever chiefe and principall lifting him on high still and putting them downe by whom hee was mounted and advanced untill in the end hee remained alone and had no peere nor second For it was for his sake that Cicero gave counsell Lepidus ledde an armie Pansa vanquished the enimie Hirtius lost his life in the sield and Antonius lived riotously in drunkennesse gluttonie and lecherie for I reckon Cleopatra among the favors that Fortune did to Augustus against whom as against some rock Antonius so great a commaunder so absolute a prince and mightie triumvir should runne himselfe be split and sinke to the end that Caesar Augustus might survive and remaine alone And to this purpose reported it is of him that there being so inward acquaintance and familiarity as there was among them that they used often to passe the time away together in playing at tennis or at dice or seeing some prety sport of cocks and quailes of the game which were kept for the nonce to sight when Antonius went evermore away with the worst and on the loosing hand one of his familiar friends a man well seene in the art of divination would manie times frankly say unto him by way of remonstrance and admonition Sir what meane you to meddle or have any dealing with this yoong gentleman meaning Augustus Fly and avoid his company I advise you more renowmed and better reputed you are than he his elder you are you have a greater commaund and seignorie than he more expert in feats of armes and of better experience and practise by farre but good sir your Genius or familiar spirit is afraid of his your Fortune which by it selfe apart is great flattereth and courteth his and unlesse you remoove your selfe farre from him it will forsake you quite and goe unto him Thus you see what evidences and proofes Fortune may alledge for herselfe by way of testimonie But we are besides to bring foorth those which are more reall and drawen from the things themselves beginning our discourse at the very foundation and nativitie as it were of Rome city In the first place therefore who will not say and confesse that for the birth the preservation the nouriture rearing and education of Romulus well might the excellencies of Vertue be the hidden ground-worke and first foundation but surely it was Fortune alone that raised the same above ground and built all up For to beginne at the verie generation and procreation even of those who first founded and planted the citie of Rome they seeme both to proceed from a woonderfull favour of rare Fortune for it is said that their mother lay with god Mars and was by him conceived and like as the report goeth that Hercules was begotten in a long night by reason that the day extraordinarily and besides the course of nature was held backe and the sunne staied in his race and rising even so we finde it recorded in histories that when Romulus was gotten and conceived the sunne became ecclipsed by reason of his ful conjunction indeed with the moone like as Mars being a very god medled with Sylvia a mortall woman also that the same
will than to rubbe or besmeare it with oile like as bees also by that meanes are soone destroied so it is therefore that all those trees which have beene named are of a fattie substance and have a soft and uncteous nature insomuch as there distilleth and droppeth from them pitch and rosin and if a man make a gash or incision in any of them they yeeld from within a certeine bloudie liquor or gumme yea and there issueth from the tortch staves made of them an oileous humour which shineth againe because they are so fattie unguinous This is the reason why they will not joine and be concorporate with other trees no more than oile it selfe be mingled with other liquors When Philo had done with his speech Crato added thus much moreover That in his opinion the nature of their rinde or barke made somewhat for the said matter for the same being thinne and drie withall yeeldeth neither a sure seat socket as it were to the impes or buds which there dies to rest in nor meanes to get sappe and nutriment for to incorporate them like as all those plants which have barks verie tender moist and soft whereby the graffes may be clasped united and soddered with those parts that be under the said barke Then Soclarus himselfe said That whosoever made these reasons was in the right and not deceived in his opinion to thinke it necessarie that the thing which is to receive another nature should be pliable and easie to follow every way to the end that suffring it selfe to be tamed and over-come it might become of like nature and turne the owne proper nutriment into that which is set and graffed in it Thus you see how before wee sow or plant we eare and turne the earth making it gentle soft and supple that being in this manner wrought to our hand and made tractable it may be more willing to apply it selfe for to embrace in her bosome whatsoever is either sowen or planted for contrariwise a ground which is rough stubborne and tough hardly will admit alteration these trees therefore consisting of a light kinde of wood because they are unapt to be changed and overcome will admit no concorporation with others And moreover quoth hee evident it is that the stocke in respect of that which is set and graffed into it ought to have the nature of a ground which is tilled now it is well knowen that the earth must be of a female constitution apt to conceive and beare which is the cause that we make choise of those trees for our stocks to graffe upon which are most frutefull like as we chuse good milch women that have plenty of milke in their brests to be nurses for other children besides their owne who we put unto them but we see plainly that the cypresse tree the sapin and all such like be either barren altogether or else beare very little frute and like as men and women both who are exceeding corpulent grosse and fatte are for the most part unable either to get or beare children for spending all their nourishment as they doe in feeding the body they convert no superfluitie thereof into genetall seed even so these trees employing all the substance of their nouriture to fatten as it were themselves grow indeed to be very thicke and great but either they beare no frute at all or if they doe the same is very small and long ere it come to maturitie and perfection no marvell therefore that a stranger will not breede or grow there whereas the owne naturall issue thriveth but badly THE SEVENTH QUESTION Of the stay-ship fish Echeneis CHaeremonianus the Trallien upon a time when divers and sundry small fishes of all sorts were set before us shewed unto us one with a long head and the same sharpe pointed and told us that it resembled very much the stay-ship fish called thereupon in Greeke Echeneis and he reported moreover that he had seene the said fish as he sailed upon the Sicilian sea and marvelled not a little at the naturall force and propertie that it had so sensiblie in some sort to stay and hinder the course of a shippe under saile untill such time as the marriner who had the government of the prow or foredecke espied it sticking close to the outside of the ship upon the relation of this strange occurrent some there were in place at that time who laughed at Chaeremonianus for that this tale and fiction devised for the nonce to make folke merry and which was incredible went currant with him and was taken for good paiment againe others there were who spake very much in the defence of the hidden properties and secret antipathies or contrarieties in nature There you should have heard many other strange passions and accidents to wit that an elephant being enraged and starke mad becommeth appeased immediatly upon the sight of a ram also that if a man hold a branch or twig of a beech tree close unto a viper and touch her therewith never so little she will presently stay and stirre no farther likewise that a wilde bull how wood and furious soever he be will stand gently and be quiet in case he be tied to a fig-tree semblably that amber doth remoove and draw unto it all things that be drie and light withall save onely the herbe basill and whatsoever is besmeered with oile Item that the Magnet or Lode-stone will no more draw iron when it is rubbed over with garlicke the proofe and experience of which effects is well knowen but the causes thereof difficult if not impossible to be found out But I for my part said That this was rather a shift and evasion to avoid a direct answere unto the question propounded than the allegation of a true cause pertinent thereto for we daily see that there be many events and accidents concurring reputed for causes and yet be none as for example if one should say or beleeve that the blowming of the withie called Chast-tree causeth grapes to ripen because there is a common word in every mans mouth Loe how the chast-trees now do flower And grapes wax ripe even at one hower or that by reason of the fungous matter seene to gather about the candle-snuffes or lamp-weeks the aire is troubled and the skie overcast or that the hooking inwardly of the nailes upon the fingers is the cause and not an accident of the ulcer of the lungs or some noble part within which breedeth a consumption Like as therefore every one of these particulars alledged is a consequent of divers accidents proceeding all from the same causes even so I am of this mind quoth I that one and the same cause staieth the shippe and draweth the little fish Echeneis to sticke unto the side thereof for so long as the ship is drie or not overcharged with moisture soaking into it it with great reason that the keele glideth more smoothly away by reason of the lightnesse thereof and cutteth merrily
most justly of all others to be eaten For my part quoth Polycrates I thinke it passing well spoken but this moreover and besides troubleth my head and maketh me doubt whether this nation upon any honour or reverent regard of swine or for meere abomination and hatred of the beast doth absteine from their flesh as for that which themselves alledge it resembleth fables and devised tales unlesse haply they have some other serious and secret reasons which they are loth to deliver before the face of the world To say what I thinke quoth Callistratus I am verily perswaded that the swine is in some honour among them for admit that it be a foule and ilfavoured beast what then that it be filthie besides what of that I can not see that it is more ugly in shape to see to or more untoward of nature to be endured than the bettill the crocodile or the cat which notwithstanding the Aegyptian priests do honour and reverence as most holy creatures some in one place and some in others and as for the hogge it is said that they regard and honour it by way of thanksgiving as gratefull persons acknowledging a benesit received from that beast in that it sheweth them the maner how to til and eare the ground breaking up the earth digging and rooting as he doth into it with his snout and withall what say you to this that he hath shewed the making of a plough-share which some thinke thereupon tooke the name 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as derived of the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is to say a swine And verily the Aegyptians at this day such as inhabit the low-countrey and the flats along the river Nilus have no need of other plough than the swines snout for when the river is returned againe within his banks after he hath watered the plaines champian field sufficiently the peasants of the countrey doe no more but follow presently with their seed and put in all their hogges after it who partly trampling with their feet and in part turning up the soft earth with their noses cover the seeds which the husbandmen have cast upon the ground No marvell therefore if there be some nations who in this respect forbeare to eat swines flesh considering there be other beasts who for as small matters as these yea and some that be meere ridiculous and to be laughed at have had right great honours done unto them by barbarous nations for it is said that the Aegyptians make a god of the silly blinde mouse Mygate and why so because darkenesse was before light and is of greater antiquitie also they have an opinion that this creature is ingendred of mice in the fifth generation or at the fifth time that they breed and that in the verie change of the moone also that the liver of it doth decrease as the moone is in the wane and doth decay with her light Moreover they consecrate the lion unto the sunne for that it is the onely foure-footed beast having crooked clawes which bringeth forth whelps that can see also for that the lion is verie wakefull and sleepeth passing little and whiles he sleepeth his eies do shine againe Moreover they set lions heads gaping for the spouts of their fountaines because forsooth the river Nilus bringeth new waters into their fields and corne-grounds when the sunne passeth thorow the signe Leo in the Zodiacke and as for the blacke storke Ibis which they likewise honor they say that when it is first hatched she weigheth two drammes that is to say just as much as the heart of a yoong infant newly borne doth peise also that of the two legs and the bill stretched foorth one from the other and resting upon the ground is made the true proportion of a triangle with three equall sides And why should the Aegyptians be blamed and condemned 〈◊〉 so great folly and absurditie seeing that by report the very Pythagoreans themselves 〈◊〉 and worshipped a white cocke and among other sea fishes they absteined from the 〈◊〉 and the nettle fish considering also that the Magicians who were of the sect of Zoroastres 〈◊〉 nored above all living creatures upon earth the urchin or hedghogge but hated water-mice saying That he should doe best service and most acceptable to the gods yea and be right blessed and happie himselfe who could kill the greatest number of them This giveth me occasion to thinke that if the Jewes had held swine hatefull and abominable creatures they would have killed them like as the Magicians did the said mice where as contrariwise they are as well forbidden to kill them as to eat them and peradventure there is good reason that as they honour the asse for that sometime in a great drought he shewed them a place wherein was a fountaine of water even so they reverence the swine for teaching them how to sowe and till the ground And verily some man haply might say that this people absterneth likewise from eating the hare hating and abhorring the same as an impure and uncleane beast It is not without some cause quoth Lamprias taking the word out of his mouth that they forbeare eating of the hare for the resemblance that it hath to the astle whom they mystically doe worship for the colour of them both is all one the eares be long and bigge withall their eies great and shining in which respects there is a marvellous similitude betweene them in such sort that of a great and small beast there is not to be found such a resemblance againe in any other unlesse peradventure among other similitudes they imitate heerein the Aegyptians who esteeme the swiftnesse of this beast divine yea and the exquisit perfection of some naturall senses admirable for the eies of hares be so vigorous and indefatigable that they will sleepe open eied and their hearing so quicke that the Aegyptians having them in such admiration therefore when they would signifie in their Hieroglyphick characters perfect hearing doe paint and pourtrey hares as for swines slesh the Jewes have in great abhomination for that barbarous nations do of all other diseases abhorre saint Magnus evill or the white leprosie most as well for that they suppose that these maladies may be engendred by feeding upon their flesh as also because looke what persons they do assaile them they doe ear consume in the end and this we doe see ordinarily that a swine under his belly is full of a kind of leprosie and covered all over with a white scurffe called Psora which infection seemeth to proceed from some evill habit and inward corruption within the body bewraying it selfe in the outside of the skinne to say nothing of the filthinesse of this beast both in feeding and otherwise which must needs impart some evill qualitie to the flesh for there is not another beast againe that taketh such pleasure in durt and ordure loving to wallow and welter in the most mirie and stinking places that be as it doth unlesse
thus punished **** The end of this discourse is wanting as also the discussing and deciding of the other five questions proposed in the forefront of this fourth booke THE FIFTH BOOKE OF SYMPOSIAQUES OR TABLE-QUESTIONS The Contents or Summarie 1 WHerefore we willingly heare and see them who counterfeit those that be either angry or sorowfull but such as be wroth or heavie inded we love not either to heare or see 2 That there was an ancient game of prize performed in Poetrie 3 Why the Pitch-tree is consecrated to Neptune and Bacchus also that in the beginning men used to crowne with brances of the said tree those who wan the prize at Isthmicke solemnitie of sacred games afterwards with a garland of smallach and now againe they begin to take up the crowning of them with Pitch-tree 4 What is the meaning of these words in Homer 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 5 Of those that invite many to supper 6 What is the cause of sitting pent and with streight roome at the beginning of supper but at large afterward toward the end 7 Of those who are said to eie-bite or to bewitch 8 What is the reason that the poet called an Apple-tree 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and why Empedocles named Apples 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 9 What is the reason that a Fig-tree being it selfe in taste most sharpe and biting bringeth foorth a fruit exceeding sweet 10 Who are they that are said in the common proverbe to be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 THE FIFTH BOOKE OF Symposiaques or table-questions The Proëme WHat your opinion is at this present ô Sossius Sinecio as touching the pleasures of the soule and bodie I wot not For that now many a mountaine high And shady forest stand betweene The roaring seas likewise do lie So as to part us barres they beene for you seemed not greatly long agoe to approove and allow their sentence who holde That there is nothing properly and particularly delightsome nothing pleasant unto the soule nothing at all that it desireth or joieth in of it selfe but that it liveth onely according to the life of the bodie laughing as it were and sporting with it in the pleasant affections thereof and contrariwise mourning at the heavie passions afflicting it as if the soule were no other thing but a very matter apt to take the impression of sundry formes or a mirror to receive the images and resemblances of those objects which are presented unto the flesh and body for as by many reasons a man may easily refute the blind and illiberall falsitie of this opinion so by this especially that after the table is taken away and supper done men of learning and knowledge incontinently fall to discourse and devise together as it were at a banquet delighting and solacing one another with pleasant talke wherein the bodie hath no part at all unlesse it be very little and a farre off which experience beareth witnesse that this is the provision of daintie cates and delicate pleasures laid up peculiarly for the soule and that these be the onely delights indeed of the minde whereas those other be but bastards and strangers infected with the societie of the bodie like as therefore nurses whiles they give pappes and panades unto their little babes have some small pleasure in feeding them by tasting the same in their owne mouthes before but after they have filled their infants bellies and brought them a sleepe so as they crie no more then they goe themselves to their owne refection meet for them they eate and drinke and make good cheere even so the soule doth participate with the desires and appetites of the bodie in manner of a nurse attending upon it serving it and framing herselfe in some sort to do it pleasure and satisfie the necessities thereof but after that the body is sufficiently served laied at rest and repose then being delivered of her obsequious service and businesse about the bodie she betaketh herselfe from thenceforward unto her owne pleasures and delights making her repast and taking her solace in discourses of learning in good letters in sciences and histories and in seeking to heare somewhat and know more still of that which is singular What should a man say any more of this considering and seeing as he doth that even base mechanicall and unlettered fellowes after supper ordinarily withdraw their minds and employ the same upon other pleasures and recreations farre remooved from the body proposing darke riddles aenigmaticall questions and intricate propositions of names comprised under notes of certeine numbers hardly to be assoiled or gessed at and after all this come in banquets which make way unto plaiers jesters counterfet pleasants giving roome to Menander and the actours of his comedies all which sports and pastimes are not devised for to ease and take away any paine of the body ne yet to procure some gentle motion and kinde contentment in the flesh but onely for that the speculative and studious part of the minde which naturally is in every one of us doth demaund call for some particular pleasure and recreation of her owne when wee are once discharged of the businesse and offices whereabout we are emploied for the body THE FIRST QUESTION What is the cause that willingly we heare and see those who counterfet them that be angrie or sorrowfull but love not to heare or see the parties themselves in those passions OF such matters there passed many discourses when you were present with us at Athens at what time as the comedian actor Strato flourished for hee was then in so great name and reputation that there was no talke but of him But one time above the rest wee were invited and feasted by Boëthus the Epicurean and with us there supped many more of that sect now after supper the fresh remembrance of the comedie which we had seene acted gave occasion unto us being students and lovers of learning to fall into a discourse and question about the cause why we cannot abide but are greatly discōtented to heare the voices of those who are angrie sorrowful timorous or affrighted and contrariwise what the reason is that they who counterfet these passions and represent their words their jestures and behaviour doe much delight and please us And verily all in manner there in place opined the same and were in one song for they gave this reason and said Inasmuch as he who counterfeiteth those pastimes is better than he who suffereth them indeed in regard that he who is not affected himselfe excelleth the other we knowing so much take pleasure and are delighted but I albeit that I set foot as men say in the daunce of another said thus much That we being naturally framed for to discourse by reason and to love things that savour of wit and be artificially done affect and esteeme those who have a dexteritie therein if a thing succeed accordingly for like as the Bee delighting in sweetnesse flieth from flower to flower seeking busily
excesse in unmeasurable curtesie and humanitie when it cannot omit nor leave out any of those with whom a man heeretofore hath feasted or made merrie but draweth all of them as if the case were to goe for to see a plaie behold solemne sights or to heare musicke and for mine owne part I thinke that the good man of the house or master of a feast is not so much woorthy to be blamed or laughed at for being at a fault of bread or drinke for his guests as when hee hath not roome enough to place them of which he ought to make provision with the largest not onely for those who are formally invited but also for commers in and such as bid themselves for strangers also that passe by moreover if there chaunce to be some want of bread or wine the fault may be laid upon the servants as if they had made it away or plaied the theeves but if there be no roome left it cannot chuse but be imputed to the negligence and indiscretion of him who invited the guests Hesiodus is woonderfully much commended for writing thus At first no doubt it was so cast That there might be a Chaos vast For in the beginning of the world requisit is was that there should bee a void place for to receive and comprehend all those things that were to be created Not quoth hee as my sonne yesterday made a supper according to that which Anaxagaras said All things were hudled and jumbled together pell-mell confusedly and admit that there bee place and roome enough yea and provision of meat sufficient yet neverthelesse a multitude would be avoided as a thing that bringeth confusion and which maketh a societie unsociable and a meeting unmeet and not affable certes lesse harme it were and more tolerable a great deale to take from them who are bidden to our table their wine than their communication and felowship of talk and therefore Theophrastus called merrily barbars shops dry banquets without wine for the good talke that is betweene a number of persons sitting there one by another but they who bring a sort together into one place thrumbling them one upon another deprive them of all conference and discoursing reciprocally or rather indeed they bring it so to passe that but verie few can commune converse together for by that meanes they sort themselves apart two by two or three by three for to have some talke as for those who are set farder of hardly they can not discerne no nor know them being distant and remooved a sunder as a man would say the length of an horse race Some where Achilles tents are pight close for to make their stay And some where Ajax quarter is as farre another way Thus you shall see how some rich men heereby otherwhiles shew their foolish magnificence to no purpose in building halles and dyning chambers conteining thirtie tables a piece in them yea and some of greater capacitie than so and verily this manner of preparation for to make suppers and dinners is for folke that have no amitie nor societie one with another when there is more need of some provost of a field to marshal thē than an vsher of an hall to see good order among them but these men may in some sort well bee pardoned for doing so because they thinke their riches no riches but that it is blinde deafe lame also or shut up that it cannot get forth unlesse it have a number of witnesses like as a tragedie many spectators but as for us this remedie we have of not assembling so many at once together namely to bidde often and to make divers suppers to invite I say our friends and well-willers at sundrie times by few at once and so by this meanes wee may make amends for all and bring both ends together for they that feast but seldome and as they say 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is to say by the cart loades are forced to put in the roll all those that any way belong unto them either by kinred friendship or acquaintance whatsoever whereas they who ordinarily picke out three or sower at a time and doe so oft make their feasts as it were little barks to discharge their great hulkes and the same to goe light and nimble moreover when a man considereth continually with himselfe the cause why he inviteth his friends it maketh him to observe a difference and choise in that great multitude of them for like as for every occasion businesse that we have we assemble not all sorts of people but such onely as be meet for ech purpose for if we should have need of good counsell we call for those who be wise if we would have a matter pleaded we send for eloquent oratours if a voiage or journey performed wee seeke for such as will take up with short meales and who have little else to doe and be best at leisure even so in our invitations and feasts we must have regard ever and anon to chuse those who are meet and will sort well together meet men I call these for example sake if he be a prince or great potentate whō we invite to supper the fittest persons to beare him company be the head officers the magistrates and principall men of the citie especially if they be friends or already acquainted if we make a marriage supper or a feast for the birth of a childe those would be bidden who are of kindred and affinitie and in one word as many as are linked together by the bond of Jupiter Homoginos that is to say the protectour of consanguinitie and in all these feasts and solemnities we ought evermore to have a carefull eie to bring them together who are friends or well willers one to another for when we sacrifice unto some one god we make not our praiers to all others although they be worshipped in the same temples upon the same altars but if there be three cups or boules brought full unto us we powre libations out of the first to some the second we offer to others and the last we bestow likewise upon a third sort for there is no envie abideth in the quire ordaunce of the gods semblably the daunce and quire of friends is divine in some sort if so be a man know how to distribute and deale his courtesie and kindnesse decently among them and as it were to goe round about with them all THE SIXTH QUESTION What is the cause that guests at the beginning of a supper sit close together at the table but afterwards more at libertie THese words thus passed and then immediately a new question was mooved namely What the cause might be that men commonly at the beginning of dinner or supper sit at the table very streight and close but toward the end more at large whereas it should seeme by all reason that they should doe cleane contrary for that then their bellies be full Some of the company attributed this unto the forme and positure
of their bodies as they sit for that ordinarily men sit to their meat directly at their full breadth groveling forward and put their right hands streight foorth upon the table but after they have well supped they turne themselves more to a side sit edge-wise taking up no place now according to the superficies of the body not sitting as a man would say by the squire but rather by the line and the plumb like as therefore the cockal bones occupie lesse roome when they fall upon one of their sides than if they be couched 〈◊〉 even so every one of us at the first sitteth bending forward and fronteth the table with his mouth and eies directly upon it but afterwards hee chaungeth that forme from front to flanke and turneth sidelong to the boord Many there were who ascribed the reason of this to the yeelding of the couch or bed whereon men sit at their meat for being pressed downe with sitting is stretched broader and wider like as our shooes with wearing and going in them grow more slacke and easie for us by little and little untill in the end they be so large that we may turne our feet in them Then the good old man spake merrily and said That one and the same feast had alwaies two presidents and governors different one from another at the beginning hunger which cannot skill of keeping any good order toward the end Bacchus and him all men know very well and confesse to have beene a very sufficient captaine and an excellent leader of an armie like as therefore Epaminondas when as other captaines by their ignorance and unskilfulnesse had brought the armie of the Thebanes into a place so narrow that all was thrust together and the ranks and files came one upon another and crushed themselves tooke upon him the place of a commaunder and not onely delivered it out of those streights but also reduced it into good order of battell even so god Bacchus surnamed Lyaeus and Choreus that is to say a deliverer and master of daunces finding us at the beginning of supper thrusting one another and having no elbow roome by reason of hunger that throumbleth us together like a sort of dogges bringeth us againe into a decent order whereby wee sit at ease and libertie enough like good fellowes THE SEVENTH QUESTION Of those who are said to bewitch with their eie THere grew some question upon a time at the table as touching those who are reported to be eie-biters or to bewitch with their eies and when others in maner all passed it over with laughing as a frivolous and ridiculous thing Metrius Florus who had invited us to his house tooke the matter in hand and said That the effects or events rather which daily we doe observe do make marvellous much to the brute and voice that goeth of the thing but 〈◊〉 want of yeelding a good reason thereof and setting downe the true cause the report many times of such matters wanteth credit But unjustly quoth he and wrongfully in mine opinion for an infinit number there be of other matters that have a reall essence and are notoriously knowen to be so although we are ignorant of their cause and in one word whosoever seeketh in each thing for a probable reason overthroweth miracles and woonders in all for where wee faile to give reason of a cause there begin we to doubt make question that is as much to say as to play the philosophers so as we may inferre consequently They that discredit things admirable do in some sort take away and abolish all philosophie but we ought quoth he in such things as these to search Why they are so by reason and learne That they are so by historie and relation for histories do report unto us many narrations of like examples Thus we know that there be men who by looking wistly and with fixed eies upon little infants doe hurt them most of all for that the habit and temperature of their bodies which is moist tender and weake soone receiveth alteration by them and changeth to the woorse whereas lesse subject they be to such accidents when their bodies are better knit more strong and 〈◊〉 And yet Philarchus writeth in his historie of a certeine nation and people inhabiting the realme of Pontus in times past called Thybiens who were by that meanes pestiferous and deadly not onely to yoong babes but also to men growen for looke how many either their eie their breath or their speech could reach unto they were sure to fall sicke and pine away and this harme was felt and perceived as it should seeme by merchants who resorted into those parts and brought from thence slaves to be solde But as for these the example peradventure is not so strange and wonderfull because the touching contagion and familiar conversing together may yeeld a manifest reason and cause of such accidents and like as the wings of other fowles if they be laied together with those of the eagle perish consume and come to nothing for that the plume and downe of the feathers fall off and putrifie even so there is no reason to the contrary but that the touching of a man should be partly good profitable and in part hurtful and prejudiciall mary that folke should take harme by being seene onely and looked on is an accident which as I said before we know to be but for that the cause thereof is so difficult hard to be hunted out the report of it is incredible Howbeit quoth I then you wind the cause already you have met in some sort I say with the tracts and footing thereof and are in the very way of finding it out being come already to those defluxions that passe from bodies for the sent the the voice the speech and breath be certeine defluxions and streames as it were flowing from the bodies of living creatures yea and certeine parcels thereof which move and affect the senses when as they suffer by the same lighting and falling upon them and much more probable it is that such defluxions proceed from the bodies of living creatures by the meanes of heat motion namely when they be enchafed and stirred as also that the vitall spirits then doe beat strongly and the pulses worke apace whereby the body being shaken casteth from it continually certeine defluxions as is before said and great likelihood there is also that the same should passe from the eies more than from any other conduit of the bodie for the sight being a sense very swift active and nimble doth send forth and disperse from it a wonderfull fierie puissance together with a spirit that carrieth and directeth it in such sort that a man by the meanes of this eie-sight both suffereth and doth many notable effects yea and receiveth by the objects which he seeth no small pleasures or displeasures for love one of the greatest and most vehement passions of the minde hath the source and originall beginning at
be steeped in some liquor as having not bene covered but with their owne bare coats for this you may observe ordinarily in stones that those parts and sides which lie covered deeper within the ground as if they were of the nature of plants be more frim and tender as being preserved by heat than those outward faces which lie ebbe or above the earth and therefore skilfull masons digge deeper into the ground for stones which they meane to square worke and cut as being melowed by the heat of the earth whereas those which lie bare aloft and exposed to the aire by reason of the cold prove hard and not easie to be wrought or put to any use in building semblably even corne if it continue long in the open aire and cocked upon the stacks or threshing floores is more hard and rebellious than that which is soone taken away and laid up in garners yea and oftentimes the very winde which bloweth whiles it is fanned or winnowed maketh it more tough and stubburne and all by reason of cold whereof the experience by report is to be seene about Philippi a citie in Macedonie where the remedie is to let corne lie in the chaffe and therefore you must not thinke it strange if you heare husbandmen report that of two lands or ridges running directly one by the side of another the one should yeeld corne tough and hard the other soft and tender and that which more is beanes lying in one cod some be of one sort and some of another according as they have felt more or lesse either of cold or of winde THE THIRD QUESTION What is the cause that the mids of wine the top of oile and the bottome of honie is best MY wives father Alexion one day laughed at Hesiodus for giving counsell to drinke wine lustilie when the vessell is either newly pierced or runneth low but to forbeare when it is halfe drawen his words are these When tierce is full or when it draweth low Drinke hard but spare to mids when it doth grow For that the wine there is most excellent For who knoweth not quoth he that wine is best in the middle oile in the top and honie in the bottome of the vessel but Hesiodus forsooth adviseth us to let the mids alone and to stay untill it change to the woorse and be sowre namely when it runneth low and little is left in the vessell Which words being passed the companie there present bad Hesiodus farewell and betooke themselves into searching out the cause of this difference and diversitie in these liquors And first as touching the reason of honie we were not very much troubled about it because there is none in maner but knoweth that a thing the more rare or hollow the substance of it is the lighter it is said to be as also that solid massie and compact things by reason of their weight do settle downward in such sort that although you turne a vessell up-side-downe yet within a while after each part returneth into the owne place againe the heavie sinks downe the light flotes above and even so there wanted no arguments to yeeld a sound reason for the wine also for first and formost the vertue and strength of wine which is the heat thereof by good right gathereth about the middes of the vessell and keepeth that part of all others best then the bottome for the vicinitie unto the lees is naught lastly the upper region for that it is next to the aire is likewise corrupt for this we all know that the winde or the aire is most dangerous unto wine for that it altereth the nature thereof and therefore we use to set wine vessels within the ground yea and to stop and cover them with all care and diligence that the least aire in the world come not to the wine and that which more is wine will nothing so soone corrupt when the vessels be full as when it hath beene much drawen and groweth low for the aire entreth in apace proportionably to the place that is void the wine the taketh winde thereby and so much the sooner chaungeth whereas if the vessels be full the wine is able to mainteine it selfe not admitting from without much of that which is adverse unto it or can hurt it greatly But the consideration of oile put us not to a little debate in arguing One of the companie said That the bottome of oile was the woorst because it was troubled and muddy with the leis or mother thereof and as for that which is above he said It was nothing better than the rest but seemed onely so because it was farthest remooved from that which might hurt it Others attributed the cause unto the soliditie thereof in which regard it will not well be mingled or incorporate with any other liquor unlesse it be broken or divided by force and violence for so compact it is that it will not admit the very aire to enter in it or to be mingled with it but keepeth it selfe a part and rejecteth it by reason of the fine smoothnesse and contenuitie of all the parts so that lesse altered it is by the aire as being not predominant over it neverthelesse it seemeth that Aristotle doth contradict and gainsay this reason who had observed as he saith himselfe that the oile is sweeter more odoriferous and in all respects better which is kept in vessels not filled up to the brim and afterwards ascribeth the cause of this meliority or betternesse unto the aire For that saith he there entereth more aire into a vessell that is halfe emptie and hath the more power Then I wot not well said I but what and if in regard of one and the same facultie and power the aire bettereth oile and impaireth the goodnesse of wine for we know that age is hurtfull to oile and good for wine which age the aire taketh from oile because that which is cooled continueth still yoong and fresh contrariwise that which is pent in and stuffed up as having no aire soone ageth and waxeth old great apparence there is therefore of truth that the aire approching neere unto oile and touching the superficies thereof keepeth it fresh and yoong still And this is the reason that of wine the upmost part is woorst but of oile the best because that age worketh in that a very good disposition but in this as badde THE FOURTH QUESTION What was the reason that the auncient Romans were very precise not to suffer the table to be cleane voided and all taken away or the lampe and candle to be put out FLorus a great lover of antiquitie would never abide that a table should be taken away emptie but alwaies lest some meat or other standing upon it And I know full well quoth he that both my father and my grandfather before him not onely observed this most carefully but also would not in any case permit the lampe after supper to be put out because for sparing of oile and that thereby
what banquetting dishes or pastry works he loveth best as also to seeke and enquire of the diversitie of wines and pleasant odors he delighted in were a very uncivil and absurd part but when a man hath many friends many kinsfolks familiars to request such an one to bring with him those especially whose companie he liketh best in whō he taketh greatest pleasure is no absurditie at all nor a thing that can be offensive for neither to saile in one ship nor to dwell in the same house ne yet to plead in the same cause with those whom we are not affected well unto is so displeasant odious as to sit at a supper with them against whō our heart doth rise and the contrary is as acceptable for surely the table is a very communion and societie of mirth and earnest of words and deeds and therefore if men would be merry there and make good cheere I see no need that all manner of persons indifferently should meet but those onely who have some inward friendship and private familiaritie one with another as for our meats and sauces that come up to the boord cooks I confesse doe make them of all maner of sapours different as they be mixing them together and tempering harsh sowre milde sweet sharpe subtill and biting one with another but a supper or feast is nothing acceptable and contenting unlesse it be composed of guests who are of the same humour and disposition and for that as the Peripateticke philosophers doe affirme that there is one Primum mobile above or principall moover in nature which mooveth onely and is not mooved and another thing beneath and in the lowest place which is mooved onely and mooveth not but betweene these two extremities there is a middle nature that mooveth one and is mooved by another even so say I there is the same proportion among three sorts of men the first of those who invite another the second of such as are invited onely and the thirde of them that doe invite others and are invited themselves and now because wee have spoken alreadie of the first and principall feast-maker who inviteth it were not a misse to say somewhat now of the other two folks He then who is bidden and yet hath leave to bidde others ought in great reason as I thinke to be carefull and take heed that he forbeare to bring with him a geat number or multitude lest hee should seeme to make spoile of his friends house as of an enemies territorie and as it were to forage there for all those that belong unto him or to doe as those who come to occupie and inhabit a new countrey that is to say by bringing with him so many of his owne friends disease or at leastwise exclude and put by his guests who invited him and so by that meanes the masters of the feasts might be served as they are who set foorth suppers unto Hecate or Proserpina and to those averruncan gods or apotropaei whom men call upon not to doe good but to avert evill for they themselves nor any of their house licke their lips with any jot of all that cheere onely they have their part of all the smoake and troubles belonging thereto for otherwise they that alledge unto us this common saying At Delphi when one hath done sacrifice Must buy his owne viands if he be wise speake it but merily and by way of jest but certeinly it befalleth even so in good truth and earnest unto those who interteine either strangers or friends so rude and uncivill who with a number of shadowes as if there were so many harpies or cormorants and greedy guls consumed and devoured all their provision secondly a friend that is himselfe solemnly invited must be carefull that he take not with him for to goe unto another mans house those that he first meeteth or that come next hand but such especially as he knoweth to be friends and familiar acquaintance with the feast-maker as if he strived a vie to prevent him in bidding of them if not so to have those with him of his owne friends whom the master of the feast himselfe could have wished and made choise of to have bidden as for example if he be a modest man and a civill to sort him with modest and civill persons if studious and learned to furnish his table with students good scholars if he have bene beforetime in authority to fit him now with personages of power authority and in one word to acquaint him with those whom he knoweth he would be willing to salute and enterteine with speech and communication for this is a wise kinde of courtesie and great civilitie to give unto such a personage occasion and meanes to salute embrace and make much of them whereas hee who commeth to a feast with such about him as have no conformitie at all unto the feast-maker but seeme meere aliens and strangers as namely with great drunkards to a sober mans house to a man that is a good husband wary and thrifty in his expenses with a sort of dissolute ruffians and swaggering companions or unto a yong gentleman that loveth to drinke heartily to laugh to jest and to be merie with grim sires and severe ancients such as in their talke are grave and by their long beards may be taken for sages and profound clearks such an one I say is a very absurd fellow thus to requite the hospitall courtesie of his friend with such impertinent incongruity for he that is invited must be as carefull to please the first inviter as the feast-maker his guest and then acceptable shall hee be and welcome indeed if not himselfe onely but those also who come with him or for the love of him be of good carriage and lovely behaviour As for the third person who remaineth to be spoken of to wit who is bidden and brought in by another if he take pepper in the nose and can not abide to be called a shadow certeinely hee is afraid of his owne shadow but in this case there would be very great circumspection had for it is no point of honestie and good maners to be soone intreated and ready to follow every one indifferently at his call considered it would be and that not slightly what he is who moveth thee to go with him to such a feast for if he be not a very familiar friend but one of these rich magnificoes and portly personages who would as it were upon a scaffold make a shew unto the world of a number of favourites and followers to guard and attend him at his heeles or such an one as would seeme to doe much for thee or to grace and honour thee greatly by taking thee in this order with him thou oughtest flatly to denie him and refuse such courtesie well say that he be a friend and familiar person yet must not thou by and by for all that bee ready and obey but then onely when there is some necessarie occasion
carrying a sense and understanding therewith howbeit with certeine whistles or chirts done by lips or hands or with the sound of some pipe or shell the shepheards and other heardmen can tell how to raise them or make them lie downe and couch even so the brutish part of our soule which hath no understanding nor is capable of reason may be appeased ranged and disposed as it ought to be by songs and sounds by measures tunes and notes as if it were charmed and enchanted by them but to speake what I thinke this is my conceit that neither sound of flute nor lute and harpe by it selfe without mans voice and song to it can make merrie the companie met together at a feast so much as a good speech well and properly fitted for so we must accustome our selves in good earnest to take our principall pleasure and delight in speech and to spend the most part of that time in discourse and communication as for song and harmome we are to make as it were a sauce to our speech not to licke them up and swallow them downe alone by themselves for like as no man will reject and refuse the pleasure that commeth by wine viands taken for the necessitie of our nouriture and bringing therewith commoditie of our health but that which entreth by sweet sents and perfumes is not necessarie but superfluous delicate Socrates sent away as it were with a box of the eare even so we ought not to heare the sound of a flute or psalterie which striketh and beateth upon our eares onely but if it follow or accompanie our speech which doth feast and exhilarat the reason that is in our soule we may well admit and receive the same And verily for mine owne part I thinke that the reason why in old time Apollo punished that presumptuous Marsyas was this that when he had closed up his mouth with his pipe and muzzle together he presumed to contend and strive having nothing but the bare sound of the naked flute against him who together with the sound of the harpe had the song also and musicke of the voice let us therefore in this one thing especially beware and take heed that in the companie of those men who by their speech and learned discourses are able to delight and pleasure one another we bring not in any such thing to enter in at their eares which may be an impeachment and hinderance rather of their delight than a delectation it selfe for not onely they be foolish and ill advised as Euripides saith Who having of their owne at home enough themselves to save Will seeke els where and from abroad their remedie to have but also that they being provided sufficiently of meanes in themselves to make their recreations of and to solace their hearts labour neverthelesse all that ever they can to have their delights from others For the magnificence of that great king of Persia wherewith he meant to enterteine Antalcides the Lacedaemonian seemed I assure you very grosse absurd and impertinent namely when he dipped and wet a chaplet of roses saffron and other odoriferous flowers intermingled together in a precious oile and so sent it unto him doing injurie by that meanes to the flowers and utterly quenching and marring that native beautie and fragrant sweetnesse of their owne semblably no lesse absurditie it were when a feast hath mirth and musicke enough in it selfe to goe about for to enchant and encharme it with other minstrelsie from abroad and so for a strange and borrowed delight to bereave the guests of their owne and proper and as one would say change the principall for the accessorie I conclude therefore that the fittest season for such amusement and occupying of the eares is when the feast beginneth a little to grow turbulent and to fall into some contentious debate and braule by heat of opinionative arguing for to alay and quench all that it breake not out to opprobrious tearmes or to represse a disputation which is like to passe the bounds of reasoning and to grow unto an unpleasant and sophisticall alteration yea and to stay all litigious wrangling and vehement invectives beseeming rather pleas at barre or the orations in the publicke hall of a city untill such time as the banquer be reduced into the former calme and tranquillitie THE NINTH QUESTION That to consult at the table while men are drinking wine was an ancient custome among the Greeks as well as Persians NIcostratus upon a time invited us to a supper and when we were set there arose some speech as touching certeine matters upon which the Athenians were the morrow after to sit in councell and to debate in a generall assemblie of the citie now as one of our companie cast out this word and said This is the Persian fashion my masters thus to consult and holde a councell at the boord And why Persian rather than Grecian quoth Glaucias for a Grecian I am sure he was that said 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 That is to say From bellie full best counsell doth arise And surest plots men in that case devise And Greeks they were who under the conduct of Agamemnon held Troy besieged who as they were eating and drinking together The good old Nestor first began Wisely upon the point to scan who also was himselfe the author of this meeting and advised the king to invite his nobles and the principall captaines of the armie to a dinner for to sit in counsell in these tearmes Make now a feast I you advise my lord And bid your auncient peeres who when at bord They be all set marke who gives counsell best Obey his reed and see therein you rest And therefore the most nations of Greece which were ruled under the best lawes and most constantly reteined their auncient ordinances and customes laid the first foundation of their government and counsell of State upon wine for those guilds and societies in Candy which they called Andreia as also the Phiditia in Sparta were instituted and held for privie counsels and assemblies of senators like unto that if I be not deceived which even in this citie heere of Athens goeth under the name of Prytaneion and Thesmothesion and not farre different from these in that night assemblie of the principall personages and most politicke States-men whereof Plato speaketh in his books unto which he referreth the causes and affaires of most importance which require greatest consultation those counsellers of State also in Homer Who offer wine to Mercurie the last of others all What time as now bed-time it is and them to sleepe doth call doe not they I pray you joine wine and words together when they are about therefore to depart and retire themselves into their bed-chambers the first thing that they do is to make their praiers and powre out their libations of wine unto the wisest God of all others as if he were present with them and their superintendent to oversee them but they who were
maner of Gods service and worship declare the same unto us after three sorts the first naturall the second fabulous and the third civill that is to say restified by the statutes and ordinances of every city and State the naturall is taught by philosophers the fabulous by poets the civill and legall by the customes of ech citie but all this doctrine and maner of teaching is divided into seven sorts the first consisteth in the celestiall bodies appearing aloft in heaven for men had an apprehension of God by starres that shew above seeing how they are the causes of great symphonie and accord and that they keepe a certeine constant order of day and night of Winter and Summer of rising and setting yea and among those living creatures and fruits which the earth beneath bringeth forth whereupon it hath bene thought that heaven was the father and earth the mother to these for that the powring downe of showers and raine seemed in stead of naturall seeds and the earth as a mother to conceive and bring the same forth Men also seeing and considering the starres alwaies 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is to say holding on their course and that they were the cause that we did 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is to say beholde and contemplate therefore they called the sunne and moone c. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is to say gods of the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is to say to run and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is to say to behold Now they range the gods into a second and third degree namely by dividing them into those that be prositable and such as are hurtfull calling the good and profitable Jupiter Juno Mercurie and Ceres but the noisome and hurtfull 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is to say maligne spirits 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is to say furies and Ares that is to say Mars whom they detested as badde and violent yea and devised meanes to appease and qualifie their wrath Moreover the fourth and fifth place and degree they attributed unto affaires passions and affections namely love Venus lust or desire and as for affaires they had hope justice good policie and equitie In the sixth place be those whom the poets have fained for 〈◊〉 being minded to set downe a father for the gods begotten and engendred devised and brought in such progenitors as these To wit 〈◊〉 Ceus and Crius Hyperion and Iapetus whereupon all this kind is named Fabulous But in the seventh place are those who were adorned with divine honors in regard of the great benefits and good deeds done unto the common life of mankind although they were begotten and borne after the maner of men and such were Hercules Castor Pollux and 〈◊〉 and these they said had an humane forme for that as the most noble and excellent nature of all is that of gods so of living creatures the most beautiful is man as adorned with sundry vertues above the rest and simply the best considering the constitution of his minde and soule they thought it therefore meet and reasonable that those who had done best and performed most noble acts resembled that which was the most beautifull and excellent of all other CHAP. VII What is God SOme of the philosophers and namely Diagor as of the isle of Melos Theodorus the Cyrenaean and Euemerus of Tegea held resolutely that there were no gods And verily as touching Euemerus the poet Callimachus of Cyrene writeth covertly in Iambique verses after this maner All in a troupe into that chapell go Without the walles the city not farre fro Whereas sometime that old vain-glorious asse When as he had the image cast in brasse Of Jupiter proceeded for to write Those wicked books which shame was to indite And what books were they even those wherein he discoursed that there were no gods at all And Euripides the tragaedian poet although he durst not discover set abroad in open 〈◊〉 the same for feare of that high court and councell of Areopagus yet he signified as much in this maner for he brought in Sisyphus as the principall author of this opinion and afterwards favourizeth even that sentence of his himselfe for thus he saith The time was when the life of man was rude And as wilde beasts with reason not endu'd Disordinate when wrong was done alway As might and force in ech one bare the sway But afterwards these enormities were laied away and put downe by the bringing in of lawes howbeit for that the law was able to represse injuries and wicked deeds which were notorious and evidently seene and yet many men notwithstanding offended and sinned secretly then some wise man there was who considered and thought with himselfe that needfull it was alwaies to blindfold the trueth with some devised and forged lies yea and to perswade men that A God there is who lives immortally Who heares who sees and knowes all woondrously For away quoth he with vaine dreames and poeticall fictions together with Callimachus who saith If God thou knowest wot well his power divine All things can well performe and bring to fine For God is not able to effect all things for say there be a God let him make snow blacke fire cold him that sitteth or lieth to stand upright or the contrary at one instant and even Plato himselfe that speaketh so bigge when he saith That God created and formed the world to his owne pattern and likenesse smelleth heerein very strongly of some old dotards foolerie to speake according to the poets of the old comedie For how could hee looke upon himselfe quoth he to frame the world according to his owne similitude of how hath he made it round in manner of a globe being himselfe lower than a man ANAXAGORAS is of opinion that the first bodies in the beginning stood still and stirred not but then the minde and understanding of God digested and aranged them in order yea and effected the generations of all things in the universall world PLATO is of a contrary mind saying That those first bodies were not in repose but that they moved confusedly and without order whereupon God quoth he knowing that order was much better than disorder and confusion disposed all these things but as well the one as the other have heerein faulted in common for that they imagined and devised that God was entangled and encumbred with humane affaires as also that he framed the world in regard of man and for the care that he had of him for surely living as he doth happy immortal acomplished with all sorts of good things and wholly exempt from all evill as being altogether implored and given to prefer and mainteine his owne beatitude and immortallity he intermedleth not in the affaires and occasions of men for so he should be as unhappy and 〈◊〉 as some 〈◊〉 mason or labouring workman bearing heavie burdens travelling and sweting about the 〈◊〉 of the world Againe this god of who they
would say pined or famished Or rather it may allude unto the tale that goeth of the shirt empoisoned with the blood of Nessus the Centaure which ladie Deianira gave unto Hercules 61 How commeth it to passe that it is expresly for bidden at Rome either to name or to demaund ought as touching the Tutelar god who hath in particular recommendation and patronage the safetie and preservation of the citie of Rome nor so much as to enquire whether the said deitie be male or female And verely this prohibition proceedeth from a superstitious feare that they have for that they say that Valerius Soranus died an ill death because he presumed to utter and publish so much IS it in regard of a certaine reason that some latin historians do alledge namely that there be certaine evocations and enchantings of the gods by spels and charmes through the power wherof they are of opinion that they might be able to call forth and draw away the Tutelar gods of their enemies and to cause them to come and dwell with them and therefore the Romans be afraid left they may do as much for them For like as in times past the Tyrians as we find upon record when their citie was besieged enchained the images of their gods to their shrines for feare they would abandon their citieand be gone and as others demanded pledges and fureties that they should come againe to their place whensoever they sent them to any bath to be washed or let them go to any expiation to be clensed even so the Romans thought that to be altogether unknowen and not once named was the best meanes and surest way to keepe with their Tutelar god Or rather as Homer verie well wrote The earth to men all is common great and small That thereby men should worship all the gods and honour the earth seeing she is common to them all even so the ancient Romans have concealed and suppresse the god or angell which hath the particular gard of their citie to the end that their citizens should adore not him alone but all others likewise 62 What is the cause that among those priests whom they name Faeciales signifying as much as in geeke 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is to say Officers going between to make treatre of peace or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is to say Agents for truce and leagues he whom they call Pater Patratus is esteemed the chiefest Now Pater Patratus is he whose father is yet living who hath children of his owne and in truth this chiefe Faecial or Herault hath still at this day a certain prerogative speciall credit above the rest For the emperours themselves and generall captains if they have any persons about them who in regard of the prime of youth or of their beautifull bodies had need of a faithfull diligent and trustie guard commit them ordinarily into the hands of such as these for safe custodie IS it not for that these Patres Patrati for reverent feare of their fathers of one side and for modest shames to scandalize or offend their children on the other side are enforced to be wise and discreet Or may it not be in regard of that cause which their verie denomination doth minister and declare for this word PATRATUS signifieth as much as compleat entire and accomplished as if he were one more perfect and absolute every way than the rest as being so happie as to have his owne father living and be a father also himselfe Or is it not for that the man who hath the superintendance of treaties of peace and of othes ought to see as Homer saith 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is to say before and behind And in all reason such an one is he like to be who hath a child for whom and a father with whom he may consult 63 What is the reason that the officer at Rome called Rex sacrorum that is to say the king of sacrifices is debarred both from exercising any magistracie and also to make a speech unto the people in publike place IS it for that in old time the kings themselves in person performed the most part of sacred rites and those that were greater yea and together with the priests offered sacrifices but by reason that they grew insolent proud and arrogant so as they became intollcrable most of the Greeke nations deprived them of this authoritie and left unto them the preheminence onely to offer publike sacrifice unto the gods but the Romans having cleane chased and expelled their kings established in their stead another under officer whom they called King unto whom they granted the oversight and charge of sacrifices onely but permitted him not to exercise or execute any office of State nor to intermedle in publick affaires to the end it should be knowen to the whole world that they would not suffer any person to raigne at Rome but onely over the ceremonies of sacrifices nor endure the verie name of Roialtie but in respect of the gods And to this purpose upon the verie common place neere unto 〈◊〉 they use to have a solemn sacrifice for the good estate of the citie which so soone as ever this king hath performed he taketh his legs and runnes out of the place as fast as ever he can 64 Why suffer not they the table to be taken cleane away and voided quite but will have somewhat alwaies remaining upon it GIve they not heereby covertly to understand that wee ought of that which is present to reserve evermore something for the time to come and on this day to remember the morrow Or thought they it not a point of civill honesty and elegance to represse and keepe downe their appetite when they have before them enough still to content and satisfie it to the full for lesse will they desire that which they have not when they accustome themselves to absteine from that which they have Or is not this a custome of courtesie and humanitie to their domesticall servants who are not so well pleased to take their victuals simply as to partake the same supposing that by this meanes in some sort they doe participate with their masters at the table Or rather is it not because we ought to suffer no sacred thing to be emptie and the boord you wot well is held sacred 65 What is the reason that the Bridegrome commeth the first time to lie with his new wedded bride not with any light but in the darke IS it because he is yet abashed as taking her to be a stranger and not his owne before he hath companied carnally with her Or for that he would then acquaint himselfe to come even unto his owne espoused wife with shamefacednesse and modestie Or rather like as Solon in his Statutes ordeined that the new maried wife should eat of a quince before she enter into the bride bed-chamber to the end that this first encounter and embracing should not be odious or unpleasant to her husband
was not this an holsome lesson and instruction of obedience to teach and advise men to obey their superiors not to thinke much for to be under others but like as the moone is willing to give 〈◊〉 as it were and apply her selfe to her better content to be ranged in a second place and as Parmenides saith Having aneie and due regard Alwaies the bright Sun beames toward even so they ought to rest in a second degree to follow after and be under the conduct and direction of another who sitteth in the first place and of his power authority and honor in some measure to enjoy a part 77 Why think they the yeeres dedicated to Jupiter and the moneths to Juno MAy it not be for that of Gods invisible and who are no otherwise seene but by the eies of our understanding those that reigne as princes be Jupiter and Juno but of the visible the Sun and Moone Now the Sun is he who causeth the yeere and the Moone maketh the moneth Neither are we to thinke that these be onely and simply the figures and images of them but beleeve we must that the materiall Sun which we behold is Jupiter and this materiall Moone Juno And the reason why they call her Juno which word is as much to say as yoong or new is in regarde of the course of the Moone and otherwhiles they surname her also Juno-Lucina that is to say light or shining being of opinion that she helpeth women in travel of child-birth bike as the Moone doth according to these verses By starres that turne full round in Azur skie By Moone who helps child-births right speedily For it seemeth that women at the full of the moone be most easily delivered of childbirth 78 What is the cause that in observing bird-flight that which is presented on the left hand is reputed lucky and prosperous IS not this altogether untrue and are not many men in an errour by ignorance of the equivocation of the word Sinistrum their maner of Dialect for that which we in Greeke call 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is to say on the auke or left hand they say in Latin Sinistrum and that which signifieth to permit or let be they expresse by the verbe Sinere and when they will a man to let a thing alone they say unto him Sine whereupon it may seeme that this word Sinistrum is derived That presaging bird then which permitteth and suffreth an action to be done being as it were Sinisterion the vulgar sort suppose though not aright to be Sinistrum that is to say on the left hand and so they tearme it Or may it not be rather as Dionysius saith for that when Ascanius the sonne of Aeneas wanne a field against Mezentius as the two armies stood arranged one affronting the other in battel ray it thundred on his left hand and because thereupon he obteined the victory they deemed even then that this thunder was a token presaging good and for that cause observed it ever after so to fall out Others thinke that this presage and foretoken of good lucke hapned unto Aeneas and verily at the battell of Leuctres the Thebanes began to breake the ranks of their enemies and to discomfit them with the left wing of their battel and thereby in the end atchieved a brave victorie whereupon ever after in all their conflicts they gave preference and the honour of leading and giving the first charge to the left wing Or rather is it not as Juba writch because that when we looke toward the sunne rising the North side is on our left hand and some will say that the North is the right side and upper part of the whole world But consider I pray you whether the left hand being the weaker of the twaine the presages comming on that side doe not fortifie and support the defect of puissance which it hath and so make it as it were even and equall to the other Or rather considering that earthly and mortall things they supposing to be opposite unto those that be heavenly and immortall did not imagine consequently that whatsoever was on the left in regard of us the gods sent from their right side 79 Wherefore was it lawfull as Rome when a noble personage who sometime had entred triumphant into the city was dead and his corps burnt as the maner was in a funerall fire to take up the reliques of his bones to 〈◊〉 the same into the city and there to strew them according as Pyrrho the Lyparean hath left in writing WAs not this to honour the memorie of the dead for the like honourable priviledge they had graunted unto other valiant warriors and brave captaines namely that not onely themselves but also their posteritie descending lineally from them might be enterred in their common market place of the city as for example unto 〈◊〉 and Fabricius and it is said that for to continue this prerogative in force when any of their posteritie afterwards were departed this life and their bodies brought into the market place accordingly the maner was to put a burning torch under them and doe no more but presently to take it away againe by which ceremonie they 〈◊〉 still the due honour without envie and confirmed it onely to be lawfull if they would take the benefit thereof 80 What is the cause that when they feasted at the common charges any generall captaine who made his 〈◊〉 into the citie with 〈◊〉 they never admitted the Consuls to the feast but that which more is sent 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 hand messengers of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 them not to come unto the 〈◊〉 WAs it for that they thought it meet and convenient to yeeld unto the triumpher both the highest place to sit in and the most costly cup to drinke out of as also the honour to be attended upon with a traine home to his house after supper which prerogatives no other might enjoy but the Consuls onely if they had beene present in the place 81 Why is it that the Tribune of the commons onely weareth no embrodered purple robe considering that all other magistrates besides 〈◊〉 weare the same IS it not for that they to speak properly are no magistrates for in truth they have no ushers or vergers to carie before them the knitches of rods which are the ensignes of magistracie neither sit they in the chaire of estate called Sella 〈◊〉 to determine causes judicially or give audience unto the people nor enter into the administration of their office at the beginning of the yeere as all other magistrates doe neither are they put downe and deposed after the election of a Dictatour but whereas the full power and authoritie of all other magistrates of State he transferreth from them upon himselfe the Tribunes onely of the people continue still and surcease not to execute their function as having another place degree by themselves in the common-weale and like as fome oratours and lawiers doe hold that exception in law
and understanding the elephants as king Juba writeth shew unto us an evident example for they that hunt them are woont to dig deepe trenches and thatch them over with a thinne cote of light straw or some small brush Now when one of the heard chanceth to fall into a trench for many of them use to go and feed together all the rest bring a mighty deale of stones rammell wood and whatsoever they can get which they fling into the ditch for to fill it up to the end that their fellow may have meanes thereby to get up againe The same writer recordeth also that elephants use to pray unto gods to purifie themselves with the sea water and to adore the sunne rising by lifting up their trunked snout into the aire as if it were their hād all thus of their own accord untaught And to say a truth of all beasts the elephant is most devout religious as K. Ptolemaeus Philopater hath wel testified for after he had defaited Antiochus was minded to render condign thanks unto the gods for so glorious a victorie among many other beasts for sacrifice he slew foure elephants but afterwards being much disquieted and troubled in the night with fearefull dreames and namely that God was wroth and threatned him for such an uncouth and strange sacrifice hee made meanes to appease his ire by many other propitiatorie oblations and among the rest hee dedicated unto him fower elephants of brasse in steed of those which were killed no lesse is the sociable kindnesse and good nature which lions shew one one unto another for the yoonger sort which are more able and nimble of body lead forth with them into the chace for to hunt and prey those that be elder and unweldy who when they be weary sit them downe and rest waiting for the other who being gone forward to hunt if they meet with game and speed then they all set up a roaring note altogether much like unto the bellowing of bulles and thereby call their fellowes to them which the old lions hearing presently runne unto them where they take their part and devour they prey in common To speake of the amatorious affections of brute beasts some are very savage and exceeding furious others more milde and not altogether unlike unto the courting and wooing used betweene man and woman yea I may say to you smelling somewhat of wanton and venerious behaviour and such was the love of an elephant a counter suter or corrivall with Aristophanes the grammarian to a woman in Alexandria that sold chaplets or garlands of flowers neither did the elephant shew lesse affection to her than the man for hee would bring her alwaies out of the fruit market as he passed by some apples peares or other fruit and then he would stay long with her yea and otherwhiles put his snout as it were his hand within her bosome under her partlet and gently feele her soft pappes and white skinne about her faire brest A dragon also there was enamoured upon a yoong maiden of Aetolia it would come to visit her by night creepe along the very bare skinne of her body yea and winde about her without any harme in the world done unto her either willingly or otherwise and then would gently depart from her by the breake of day now when this serpent had continued thus for certeine nights together ordinarily at the last the friends of the yoong damosel remooved her and sent her out of the way a good way off but the dragon for three or fower nights together came not to the house but wandred and sought up and downe heere and there as it should seem for the wench in the end with much adoo having found her out he came and clasped her about not in that milde and gentle maner as before time but after a rougher sort for having with other windings and knots bound her hands and armes fast unto her body with the rest of his taile he flapped and beat her legges shewing a gentle kinde of amorous displeasure and anger yet so as it might seeme he had more affection to pardon than desire to punish her As for the goose in Aegypt which fell in love with a boy and the goat that cast a fansie to Glauce the minstrell wench because they are histories so wel knowen and in every mans mouth for that also I suppose you are wearie already of so many tedious tales and narrations I forbeare to relate them before you but the merles crowes and perroquets or popinjaies which learne to prate and yeeld their voice and breath to them that teach him so pliable so tractable and docible for to forme and expresse a certeine number of letters and syllables as they would have them me thinks they plead sufficiently and are able to defend the cause of all other beasts teaching us as I may say by learning of us that capable they be not onely of the inward discourse of reason but also of the outward gift uttered by distinct words and an articulate voice were it not then a meere ridiculous mockerie to compare these creatures with other dumbe beasts which have not so much voice in them as will serve to houle withall or to expresse a groane and complaint but how great a grace and elegancie there is in the naturall voices and songs of these which they resound of themselves without learning of any masters the best musicians and most sufficient poets that ever were do testifie who compare their sweetest canticles and poems unto their songs of swannes and nightingals now forasmuch as to teach sheweth greater use of reason than to learne wee are to give credit unto Aristotle who saith that brute beasts are endued also with that gift namely that they teach one another for hee writeth that the nightingale hath beene seene to traine up her yoong ones in singing and this experience may serve to testifie on his behalfe that those nightingales sing nothing so well which are taken very yong out of the nest and were not fedde nor brought up by their dammes for those that be nourished by them learne withall of them to sing and that not for money and gaine nor yet for glory but because they take pleasure to sing well and love the elegance above the profit of the voice and to this purpose report I will unto you a storie which I have heard of many as well Greeks as Romans who were present and eie witnesses There was a barber within the city of Rome who kept a shoppe over against the temple called Grecostisis or Forum Graecum and there nourished a pie which would so talke prate and chatte as it was woonderfull counting the speech of men and women the voice of beasts and sound of musicall instruments and that voluntarily of her selfe without the constreint of any person onely she accustomed her selfe so to doe and tooke a certeine pride and glory in it endevouring all that she could to leave nothing
pliable shewed very well that he held it for a singular vertue to be sociable and to know how to sort and agree with others like as the same Pindar us himselfe When God did call he gave attendance And never bragd of all his valiance meaning and signifying Cadmus The olde Theologians and Divines who of all Philosophers are most ancient have put into the hands of of the images of the gods musicall instruments minding nothing lesse thereby than to make this god or that a minstrell either to play on lute or to sound the flute but because they thought there was no greater piece of worke than accord and harmonicall symphonic could beseeme the gods Like as therefore hee that would seeke for sesquitertian sesquialterall or double proportions of Musicke in the necke or bridge in the belly or backe of a lute or in the pegs and pinnes thereof were a ridiculous foole for howsoever these parts ought to have a symmetrie and proportion one to another in regard of length and thicknesse yet the harmonie where of we speake is to be considered in the sounds onely Even so probable it is and standeth with great reason that the bodies of the starres the distances and intervals of sphaeres the celeritie also of their courses and revolutions should be proportionate one unto the other yea and unto the whole world as instruments of musicke well set and tuned albeit the just quantitie of the measure be unknowen unto But this we are to thinke that the principall effect and efficacie of these numbers and proportions which that great and sovereigne Creatour used is the consonance accord and agreement of the soule in it selfe with which she being endowed she hath replenished both the heaven it selfe when she was setled thereupon with an infinite number of good things and also disposed and ordeined all things upon the earth by seasons by changes and mutations tempered and measured most excellently well and with surpassing wisdome aswell for the production and generation of all things as for the preservation and safety of them when they were created and made AN EPITOME OR BREVIARIE of a Treatise as touching the creation of the Soule according to Plato in Timaeus THis Treatise entituled Of the creation of the soule as it is described in the booke of of Plato named Timaeus declareth all that Plato and the Platoniques have written of that argument and inferreth certeine proportions and similitudes Geometricall which he supposeth pertinent to the speculation and intelligence of the nature of the soule as also certeine Musical and Arithmeticall Theoremes His meaning and saying is that the first matter was brought into forme and shape by the soule Hee attributeth to the universall world a soule and likewise to every living creature a soule of the owne by it selfe which ruleth and governeth it He bringeth in the said soule in some sort not engendred and yet after a sort subject to generation But hee affirmeth that eternall matter to have bene formed by God that evill and vice is an impe springing from the said matter To the end quoth he that it might never come into mans thought That God was the authour or cause of evill All the rest of this Breviarie is word for word in the Treatise it selfe therefore may be well spared in this place and not rehearsed a second time OF FATALL NECESSITY This little Treatise is so pitiously torne maimed and dismembred thorowout that a man may sooner divine and guesse thereat as I have done than translate it I beseech the readers therefore to holde me excused in case I neither please my selfe nor content them in that which I have written ENdevour I will and addresse my selfe to write unto you most deere and loving friend Piso as plainly and compendiously as possible I can mine opinion as touching Fatall destinie for to satisfie your request albeit you know full well how wary and precise I am in my writing First and formost therefore thus much you must understand That this terme of Fatall destinie is spoken and understood two maner of waies the one as it is an action and the other as it is a substance In the first place Plato hath figuratively drawen it forth under a type described it as an action both in his diologue entituled Phaedrus in these words It is an Adrastian law or inevitable ordinance which alwaies followeth and accompanieth God And also in his treatise called Timaeus after this maner The lawes which God hath pronounced and published to the immortall soules in the procreation of the universall world Likewise in his books of Common-wealth he saith That Fatall necessitie is the reason and speech of Lachesis the daughter of Necessitie By which places he giveth us to understand not tragically but after a theologicall maner what his minde and opinion is Now if a man taking the said places already cited quoted would expound the same more familiarly in other words he may declare the former descriptiō in Phaedrus after this sort namely that Fatall destinie is a divine reason or sentence intransgressible and inevitable proceeding from a cause that cannot be diverted nor impeached And according to that which he delivereth in Timaeus it is a law consequently ensuing upon the nature and creation of the world by the rule whereof all things passe and are dispenced that be done For this is it that Lachesis worketh effecteth who is in trueth the daughter of Necessity as we have both alreadie said also shall better understand by that which we are to deliver hereafter in this and other treatises at our leasure Thus you see what Destinie is as it goeth for an action but being taken for a substance it seemeth to be the universall soule of the whole world and admitteth a tripartite division The first Destiny is that which erreth not the second seemeth to erre and the third is under heaven conversant about the earth of which three the highest is called Clotho that next under it is named Atropos and the lowest Lachesis and she receiveth the influences of her two celestiall sisters transmitting and fastening the same upon terrestriall things which are under her governmēt Thus have we shewed summarily what is to be thought said as touching Destiny being taken as a substance namely What it is what parts it hath after what sort it is how it is ordeined and in what maner it standeth both in respect of it selfe and also in regard of us but as concerning the particularities of all these points there is another fable in the Politiques of Plato which covertly in some sort giveth us intelligence thereof and the same have we assaied to explane unfolde unto you as wel as possibly we can But to returne unto our Destiny as it is an action let us discourse thereof forasmuch as many questions naturall morall and rationall depend thereupon Now for that we have in some sort sufficiently defined already what it is we are to consider consequently
in order the qualitie and maner thereof howsoever there be many that thinke it very strange and absurd to search thereinto I say therefore that Destiny is not infinite but sinite and determinate however it comprehend as it were within a circle the infinitie of all things that are and have beene time out of minde yea and shall be worlds without end for neither law nor reason nor any divine thing whatsoever can be infinite And this shall you the better learne and understand if you consider the totall revolution and the universall time when as the eight sphaeres as Timaeus saith having performed their swift courses shall returne to the same head and point againe being measured by the circle of The same which goeth alwaies after one maner for in this definite and determinate reason all things aswell in heaven as in earth the which doe consist by the necessitie of that above be reduced to the same situation and brought againe to their first head and beginning The onely habitude therefore of heaven which standeth ordeined in all points aswell in regard of it selfe as of the earth and all terrestriall matters after certeine long revolutions shall one day returne yea and that which consequently followeth after and those which are linked in a continuity together bring ech one by consequence that which it hath by necessity For to make this matter more plaine let us suppose that all those things which are in and about us be wrought and brought to passe by the course of the heavens and celestiall influences all being the very efficient cause both of that which I write now and also of that which you are doing at this present yea and in that sort as you do the same so that hereafter when the same cause shall turne about and come againe we shall do the very same that now we do yea and after the same maner yea we shall become againe the very same men And even so it shall be with all other men and looke whatsoever shall follow in a course or traine shall likewise happen by a consequent and dependant cause and in one word whatsoever shall befall in any of the universall revolutions shall become the same againe Thus apparent it is as hath already beene said That Destiny being in some sort infinite is neverthelesse determinate and not infinite as also that according as we have shewed before it is evident that it is in maner of a circle for like as the motion of a circle in a circle and the time that measureth it is also a circle even so the reason of those things which are done and happen in a circle by good right may be esteemed and said to be a circle This therefore if nought els there were sheweth unto us in a maner sufficiently what is destiny in generality but not in particular nor in ech severall respect What then is it It is the generall in the same kinde of reason so as a man may compare it with civill law For first and formost it commaundeth the most part of things if not all at leastwise by way of supposition and then it compriseth as much as is possible all matters apperteining to a city or publike state generally and that we may better understand both the one and the other let us exemplifie and consider the same in specialty The civill or politique law speaketh and ordeineth generally of a valiant man as also of a run-away coward and so consequently of others howbeit this is not to make a law of this or that particular person but to provide ingenerall principally and then of particulars by consequence as comprised under the said generall for we may very well say that to remunerate and recompense this or that man for his valour is lawfull as also to punish a particular person for his cowardise and forsaking his colours for that the law potentially and in effect hath comprized as much although not in expresse words like as the law if I may so say of Physicians and of masters of bodily exercises comprehendeth speciall and particular points within the generall and even so doth the law of nature which first and principally doth determine generall matters and then particulars secondarily by consequence Semblably may particular and individuall things in some sort be said to be destined for that they be so by consequence with the generals But haply some one of those who search and enquire more curiously and exactly into these matters will hold the contrary and say that of particular individuall things proceed the composition of the generals and that the generall is ordeined and gathered for the particular Now that for which another thing is goeth alwaies before that which is for it but this is not the proper place to speake of these quiddities for wee are to referre them to some other howbeit that destiny doth not comprehend all things purely and expresly but onely such as be universall and generall is resolved upon for this present and serveth for that which we have to say heereafter yea and agreeth also to that which hath beene delivered somewhat before for that which is finite and determinate properly agreeable to divine providence is more seene in universall and generall things than in particular of this nature is the law of God and such is likewise the civill law whereas infinity consisteth in particulars After this we are to declare what meaneth this tearme By supposition for surely destiny is to be thought such a thing We have then called By supposition that which is not set downe of it selfe nor by it selfe but supposed and joined after another and this signifieth a sute and consequence This is the law or ordinance of Adrastia that is to say a decree inevitable unto which if any soule can associate it selfe the same shall be able to see by consequence all that will ensue even unto another generall revolution and be exempt from all evill which if it may be able alwaies to doe it shall neither susteine any damage nor doe harme Thus you see what it is that we call By supposition in generall Now that Fatall destiny is of this kind evidently appeereth as well by the substance as the name thereof for it is called in Greek 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as if one would say 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is as much as dependant and linked and a law it is and ordinance for that things therein be ordeined and disposed consequently and in maner of those which are done civilly Heereunto is to be annexed a treatise of relation that is to say what reference and respect hath Fatall destiny unto divine providence as also unto fortune likewise what is that which is in us what is contingent and such like things Moreover we are to decide wherein and how it is false wherein also and how it is true that all things happen and come to passe by Fatall destiny for 〈◊〉 it import and imply thus much That
remaineth now that we should treat of Fortune and casuall adventure and of whatsoever besides that requireth discourse and consideration First this is certeine that Fortune is a kinde of cause but among causes some are of themselves others by accident as for example of an house or ship the proper causes and of themselves be the Mason Carpenter or Shipwright but by accident the Musician and Geometrician yea and whatsoever incident to the mason carpenter or shipwright either in regard of body or minde or outward things whereby it appeereth that the essentiall cause which is by it selfe must needs be determinate certeine in one whereas the accidentall causes are not alwaies one and the same but infinit and indeterminate for many accidents in number infinit and in nature different one from another may be together in one and the same subject This cause then by accident when it is found not onely in such things which are done for some end but also in those wherein our election and will taketh place is called fortune as namely to find treasure when a man diggeth a hole or grave to plant a tree in or to do and suffer any extraordinary thing in flying pursuing or otherwise going and marching or onely in retiring provided alwaies that he doeth it not to that end which ensueth thereupon but upon some other intention And heereupon it is that some of the anncient philosophers have defined fortune to be a cause unknowen and not foreseene by mans reason But according to the Platoniques who come neerer unto it in reason it is defined thus Fortune is an accidentall cause in those things that are done for some end and which are in our election and afterwards they adjoine moreover not foreseene nor knowen by the discourse of humane reason although that which is rare and strange by the same meanes appeareth also in this kinde of cause by accident But what this is if it appeere not manifestly by the oppositions and contradictory disputations yet at leastwise it will be declared most evidently by that which is writtē in a treatise of Plato entituled Phaedon where these words are found What Have you not heard how in what maner the judgement passed Yes iwis For one there was who came and told us of it whereat we marvelled very much that seeing the sentence of judgement was pronounced long before he died a good while after And what might be the cause thereof Ô Phaedon Surely there hapned unto him Ô Echecrates a certeine fortune For it chanced that the day before the judgement the prow of the galley which the Athenians sent to isle Delos was crowned In which words it is to be noted that by this tearme There hapned you must not understand There was but rather it so befell upon a concourse and meeting of many causes together one after another For the priest adorned the ship with coronets for another end and intention and not for the love of Socrates yea and the judges had condemned him also for some other cause but the event it selfe was so strange admirable as if it had hapned by some providence or by an humane creature or rather indeed by some superior nature And thus much may suffice as touching fortune and the definition thereof as also that necessarily it ought to subsist together with some one contingent thing of those which are meant to some end whereupon it tooke the name yea and there must be some subject before of such things which are in us and in our election But casuall adventure reacheth and extendeth farther than fortune for it compriseth both it and also many other things which may chance aswell one way as another and according as the very etymologie and derivation of the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 sheweth it is that which hapneth for and in stead of another namely when that which was ordinary sell not out but another thing in lieu thereof as namely when it chanceth to be colde weather in the Dog daies for sometimes it falleth out to be then colde and not without cause In summe like as that which is in us and arbitrary is part of contingent even so is fortune a part of casuall or accidental adventure and both these events are conjunct and dependant one of another to wit casual adventure hangeth upon contingent and fortune upon that which is in us and arbitrarie and yet not simply and in generall but of that onely which is in our election according as hath beene before said And hereupon it is that this casuall adventure is common aswell to things which have no life as to those which are animate whereas fortune is proper to man onely who is able to performe voluntarie actions An argument whereof is this that to be fortunate happie and blessed are thought to be all one for blessed happinesse is a kinde of well doing and to doe well properly belongeth to a man and him that is perfect Thus you see what things are comprised within fatall destiny namely contingent possible election that which is within us fortune casuall accident or chance adventure together with their circumstant adjuncts signified by these words haply peradventure or perchance howbeit we are not to inferre that because they be conteined within destinie therefore they be fatall It remaineth now to discourse of divine providence considering that it selfe comprehendeth fatall destinie This supreame and first providence therefore is the intelligence and will of the sovereigne god doing good unto all that is in the world whereby all divine things universally and thorowout have bene most excellently and wisely ordeined and disposed The second providence is the intelligence and will of the second gods who have their course thorow the heaven by which temporall and mortall things are ingendred regularly and in order as also whatsoever perteineth to the preservation and continuance of every kinde of thing The third by all probabilitie and likelihood may well be called the providence and prospicience of the Daemonds or angels as many as be placed and ordeined about the earth as superintendents for to observe marke and governe mens actions Now albeit there be seene this threefolde providence yet properly and principally that first and supreame is named Providence so as we may be bolde and never doubt to say howsoever herein we seeme to contradict some Philosophers That all things are done by fatall destinie and by providence but not likewise by nature howbeit some by providence and that after divers sorts these by one and those by another yea and some also by fatall destinie As for fatall destinie it is altogether by providence but providence in no wise by fatall destinie where by the way this is to be noted that in this present place I understand the principall and sovereigne providence Now whatsoever is done by another be it what it will is evermore after that which causeth or maketh it even as that which is erected by law is after the law
like as what is done by nature must needs succeed and come after nature Semblably what is done by fatall destiny is after fatall destiny of necessity must be more new moderne and therfore the supreme providence is the ancientest of all excepting him alone whose intelligence it is or wil or both twaine together to wit the sovereigne authour creatour maker and father of all things And for what cause is it saith Timaeus that he hath made framed this fabricke of the world for that he is all good and in him being all good there can not be imprinted or engendred any envie but seeing he is altogether void and free from it his will was that as much as possibly might be all things should resemble himselfe He then who shall receive and admit this for the most principall and and proper originall of the generation and creation of the world such as wise men have delivered unto us by writing is in the right way and doeth very well For God willing that all things should be good and nothing at all to his power evill tooke all that was visible restlesse as it was and mooving still rashly confusedly irregularly and without order which he brought out of confusion and ranged into order judging this to be every way farre better than the other for neither it was nor is convenient and meet for him who is himselfe right good to make any thing that should not be most excellent and beautifull Thus therefore we are to esteeme that providence I meane that which is principall and soveraigne hath constituted and ordeined these things first and then in order such as ensue and depend thereof even as farre as to the soules of men Afterwards having thus created the universall world hee ordeined eight sphaeres answering in number to so many principall starres and distributed to every one of them a severall soule all which he set ech one as it were within a chariot over the nature of the whole shewing unto them the lawes and ordinances of Fatall destiny *** What is he then who will not beleeve that by these words he plainly sheweth and declareth Fatall destiny and the same to be as one would say a tribunall yea a politicke constitution of civill lawes meet and agreeable to the soules of men whereof afterwards he rendreth a reason And as touching the second providence he doeth after a sort expresly signifie the same in these words saying Having therefore prescribed all these lawes unto them to the end that if afterwards there should be any default he might be exempted from all cause of evill he spred and sowed some upon the earth others about the moone and some againe upon other organs and instruments of time after which distribution he gave commandement and charge to the yoong gods for to frame and create mortall bodies as also to make up and finish that which remained and was wanting in mans soule and when they had made perfect all that was adhaerent and consequent thereto then to rule and governe after the best and wisest maner possible this mortall creature to the end that it selfe should not be the cause of the owne evils and miseries for in these words where it is said That he might be exempt and not the cause of any evill ensuing afterwards he sheweth cleerely and evidently to every one the cause of Fatall destiny The order also and office of these petie-gods declareth unto us the second providence yea and it seemeth that in some sort it toucheth by the way the third providence in case it be so that for this purpose these lawes and ordinances were established because he might not be blamed or accused as the author of any evill in any one afterwards for God himselfe being cleere exempt from all evill neither hath need of lawes nor requireth any Fatall destiny but ech one of these petie-gods led and haled by the providence of him who hath engendred them doth their owne devoir and office belonging unto them That this is true and the very minde and opinion of Plato appeereth manifestly in my conceit by the testimonie of those words which are reported by the law-giver in his books of lawes in this maner If there were any man quoth he so by nature sufficient or by divine fortune so happily borne that he could be able to comprehend this he should require no lawes to command him for no law there is nor ordinance of more woorth and puissance than is knowledge and science neither can he possibly be a servile slave or subject to any who is truely and indeed free by nature but he ought to command all For mine owne part thus I understand and interpret the sentence of Plato For whereas there is a triple providence the first as that which hath engendred Fatall destiny in some sort comprehendeth it the second being engendred with it is likewise wholly comprised in it the third engendred after Fatal destiny is comprised under it in that maner as That which is in us and fortune as we have already said for those whom the assistance of the power of our Daemon doth aid according as Socrates saith expoūding unto Theages what is the inevitable ordinance of Adrastia these I say are those whom you understand well enough for they grow and come forward quickly with speed so as where it is said that a Daemon or angell doth favour any it must be referred to the third providence but that suddenly they grow and come to proofe it is by the power of Fatall destiny And to be short it is very plaine and evident that even this also is a kinde of destiny And peradventure it may seeme much more probable that even the second providence is comprehended under destiny yea and in summe all things whatsoever be made or done considering that destiny according to the substance thereof hath bene rightly divided by us into three parts And verily that speech as touching the chaine and concatenation comprehendeth the revolutions of the heavens in the number and raunge of those things which happen by supposition but verily of these points I will not debate much to wit whether we are to call them Hapning by supposition or rather conjunct unto destiny considering that the precedent cause and commander of destiny it selfe is also fatall And thus to speake summarily and by way of abridgement is our opinion but the contrary sentence unto this ordeineth all things to be not onely under destiny but also according to destiny and by it Now all things accord unto the other and that which accordeth to another the same must be gran-to be the other according then to this opinion contingent is said to be the first that which is in us the second fortune the third accident or casuall chance and adventure the fourth together with all that dependeth thereupon to wit praise blame and those of the same kinde the fifth and last of all may bee said to be the praiers unto the
appertaine unto us to be most accordant unto humane life and the common prenotions inbred anticipations of knowledge abovesaid But to the end that no man might denie that he is repugnant and contrary to himselfe loe what he saith in his third booke of justice This is it quoth he that by reason of the surpassing grandure beawty of our sentences those matters which we deliver seeme feined tales and devised fables exceeding mans power and farre beyond humane nature How can it be that any man should more plainly confesse that he is at war with himselfe than he doth who saith that his propositions and opinions are so extravagant and transcendent that they resemble counterfeit tales and for their exelency surmount the condition and nature of man and yet forsooth for all this that they accord and agree passing well with humane life yea and come neerest unto the said inbred prenotions and anticipations that are in us Hee affirmeth that the very essence and substance of infelicitie is vice writing and firmly mainteining in all his books of morall and naturall philosophy that to live in vice is as much as to live in misery and wretchednesse but in the third booke of Nature having said before that it were better and more expedient to live a senselesse foole yea though there were no hope that ever he should become wise than not to live at all he addeth afterwards thus much For there be such good things in men that in some sort the very evill things goe before and are better than the indifferent in the middes betweene As for this how he hath written elswhere that there is nothing expedient and profitable in fooles and yet in this place setteth downe in plaine termes that it is expedient to live foolish and senselesse I am content to overpasse but seeing hee saith now that evill things goe before and one better than the indifferent or meane which with them of his sect are neither good nor ill surely it is as much as if hee affirmed that evill things are better than things not evill and all are as to say that to be wretched is more expedient than not to be wretched and so by that meanes he is of opinion that not to be miserable is more unprofitable than to be miserable and if it be more unprofitable than also it must be more hurtfull and dammageable But being desirous in some sort to mollifie this absurditie and to salve this sore he subnexeth as touching evill things these words My meaning is not quoth he that they should go before and be preferred but reason is the thing wherewith it is better to live although a man should ever be a foole than not to live at all First and formost then hee calleth vice an evill thing as also whatsoever doth participate of vice and nothing els now is vice reasonable or rather to speake more properly reason delinquent so that to live with reason if we be fooles and void of wisdome what is it els but to live with vice now to live as 〈◊〉 is all one as to live wretched Wherein is it then and how commeth it about that this should go before meane and indifferent things for it was not admitted that happie life should go before miserie neither was it ever any part say they of Chrysippus his meaning to range and count among good things To remaine alive no more than among bad To depart this life but he thought that these things were of themselves indifferent and of a middle nature in which regard otherwhiles it is meet for happy men to leave this life and for wretches to continue alive And what greater contrariety can there be as touching things eligible or refusable than to say that for them who are happy in the highest degree it is sit and beseeming to forgoe and for sake the good things that be present for want of some one thing that is indifferent And yet Chrysippus is of this minde that no indifferent thing is of the owne nature to be desired or rejected but that we ought to chuse that onely which is good and to shun that alone which is bad so as according to their opinion it comes to passe that they never divert their dessignments or actions to the pursute after things desirable nor the avoidance of things refusable but another marke it is that they shoot aime at namely at those things which they neither eschue nor chuse according thereto they live die Chrysippus avoweth confesseth that there is as great a difference betweene good things bad as possibly may be as needs there must in case it be true that as the one sort of them cause those in whom they are to be exceeding happy so the other extreme wretched miserable Now in the first booke of the end of good things he saith that aswell good things as bad be sensible for these be his very words That good and evill things be perceptible by sense we must of necessity acknowledge upon these arguments for not onely the very passions indeed of the minde together with their parts and severall kinds to wit sadnesse feare and such like be sensible but also a man may have a sense of theft adultery and semblable sinnes yea and of follie of cowardise and in one word of all other vices which are in number not a few and not onely joy beneficence and other dependances of vertuous offices but also prudence valour and the rest of the vertues are object to the sense But to let passe all other absurdities conteined in these words who will not confesse but that there is a meere contradiction in that which they delivered as touching one that becomes a wise man and knowes not thereof for considering that the present good is sensible and much different from that which is evill that one possibly should of a wicked person proove to be vertuous and not know thereof not have sense of vertue being present but to thinke that vice is still within him how can this otherwise be but most absurd for either no man can be ignorant and out of doubt whether he hath all vertues together or els he must confesse that there is small difference and the same hard to be discerned betweene vice and vertue felicity and infelicity a right honest life and a most dishonest in case a man should passe from the one to the other and possesse one for the other without ever knowing it One worke he wrote entituled Of lives and the same divided into foure books in the fourth whereof he saith That a wise man medleth not with great affaires but is occupied in his owne businesse onely without being curious to looke into other mens occasions his very words to this purpose be these For mine owne part of this opinion I am that a prudent man gladly avoideth a stirring life intermedleth little and in his owne matters onely for to deale simply in a mans owne affaires and to
hit upon the woorse in these places the casuall inclination of the minde to the first object and the putting of the matter to the hazard of a lot is nothing else but to bring in a choise of things indifferent without any cause In the third booke of Logique having premised thus much that Plato Aristotle and their successours and disciples even as farre as to Polemon and Straton had bestowed great study and travelled much therein but above all others Socrates with this addition that a man would wish with so many and such noble personages to erre for company he commeth in afterwards with these words If they had quoth he treated and discoursed hereof cursarily or by the way a man haply might laugh at this place well enough but since that they have so seriously and exactly disputed of Logique as if it were one of the greatest faculties and most necessarie sciences it is not like that they were so grosly deceived being men throughout all the parts of philosophy so singular as we repute them to be How is it then may a man reply and say that you neverrest baying and barking at these so woorthy and excellent personages and convincing them as you suppose to have erred For there is no likelihood that they writing so diligently and exactly as they have done of Logique should of the principles and elements of the end of good things of Justice and the gods write carelessely and after a loose maner howsoever you are disposed to 〈◊〉 their treatises and discourses blinde repugnant to themselves and stuffed with an infinit 〈◊〉 of faults and errors In one place he denieth that the vice 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is to say a joy to see evill happen unto another hath any being or reall subsistence For that quoth he no good man was ever knowen to rejoice at the harme of another but in his second booke as touching Good having declared what Envie is namely a griefe for another mans well fare because men are desirous to detract and debase their neighbours to the end they might be superiours themselves he addeth afterwards the joy for another mans harme and that in these words Annexed thereunto quoth he is the joy for another mans harme because men are desirous that their neighbours about them should be brought low for the like causes but when they decline and turne to other naturall affections there is engendred Pity and Mercie In which words it appeareth that he ordaineth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to be a thing really subsistent as well as envie and pittie which notwithstanding elsewhere he said had no being at all in the world no more than the hatred of wickednesse or the desire of filthy lucre Having in many places affirmed that men are never a whit more happie for long continuance of felicity but that they be still as happy who enjoy felicity but one minute of an 〈◊〉 in as many other places againe he avoucheth the contrary saying that a man should not so much as put forth his finger for a transitory and momentany prudence which endureth but a while passeth away like unto the flash and leame of a lightening But it shal suffice to relate the very words which he hath written in his sixth booke of morall questions as touching this matter for when he had premised thus much that every good thing doth not cause equall joy nor all vertuous duties like vantery he commeth after with these words For if a man is to have prudence one moment of time or the last daie onely of his life he should not so much as hold up or stretch out his finger for a prudence that lasteth so small a while although no man is said to be the more blessed for long continuance of happinesse neither is eternall beatitude more expetible or desirable than that which passeth away within a minute of an houre Now if he had thought that prudence were a good thing bringing forth blessednesse as Epicurus did a man could have found fault with nothing else but the absurdity onely of so strange an opinion and paradox But seeing that prudence is no other thing than beatitude of it selfe and even very felicity how can it be avoided that herein there should not be a contradiction and repugnancy of speech namely to say that transitory happinesse is as eligible and as much to be desired as that which is perpetuall and to hold that the felicity of one moment is worth naught He affirmeth that vertues doe follow and accompany one another not onely in this respect that he who hath one hath likewise all the rest but also in this that he who worketh by one worketh with all according to the other neither saith he is any man perfect unlesse he be possessed of all vertues Howbeit in the sixt booke of morall questions Chrysippus saith that neither a good and honest man doth alwaies beare himselfe valiantly nor a naughty man behave himselfe cowardly for that as certeine objects be presented into mens fantasies it behooveth one man to persevere and persist in his judgements and another to forsake and relinquish the same for probable he saith it is that even the wicked man is not alwaies lascivious Now in case it be so that to be a valiant man is as much as to shew valour and to be a coward the same that to use cowardise they speake contraries who affirme that a naughty person practising one vice worketh by all together and that a valiant man useth not alwaies valour nor a dastard cowardise He denieth Rhetorique to be an art as touching the ornament dispose and order of an oration pronounced and besides in the first booke he hath thus written And in mine opinion requisit it is to have not onely a regard of an honest decent simple adorning of words but also a care of proper gestures actions pauses and staies of the voice as also a meet conformation of the countenance and the hands Being as you see thus exquisit and curious in this passage yet in the same booke cleare contrary having spoken of the collision of vowels and hitting one of them upon another We are not only quoth he to neglect this and to thinke of that which is of greater moment and importance but also to let passe certeine obscurities and defects solaecismes also and incongruities of which many others would be ashamed Now one while to permit and allow such exquisit curiosity in the orderly dispose of a manstongue even as far as to the decent setting of the countenance and gesture of the hands and another while not to bash at the committing of grosse incongruities defects and obscurities is the property of a man who cares not what he saith but speakes whatsoever comes in his head Over and besides in his naturall positions treating of those things which require the view of the eie and experience after he had given warning that we should go warily to worke and not rashly yeeld our assent
out of water having earth under it there ex haleth aire which aire comming to be subtilized the fire is produced and environeth it round about as for the stars they are set on fire out of these together with the sunne what is more contrary than to be set on fire and to be cooled what more opposite to subtilization and rarefaction than inspissation and condensation the one maketh water and earth of fire and aire the other turneth that which is moist and terrestriall into fire and aire And yet in one place he maketh kindling of fire and in another refrigeration to bee the cause of quickning and giving soule unto a thing for when the said firing and inflammation comes generall throughout then it liveth and is become an annimall creature but after it commeth to be quenched and thickned it turneth into water and earth and so into a corporall substance In the first booke of Providence he writeth thus For the world being throughout on fire presently it is with all the soule and governour of it selfe but when it is turned into moisture and the soule left within it and is after a sort converted into a soule and body so as it seemeth compounded of them both then the case is altered In which text he affirmeth plainly that the very inanimat parts of the world by exustion and inflammation turne and change into the soule thereof and contrariwise by extinction the soule is relaxed and moistned againe and so returneth into a corporall nature Heereupon I inferre that he is very absurd one while to make of senselesse things animat and living by way of refrigeration and another while to transmure the most part of the soule of the world into insensible and inanimat things But over and above all this the discourse which he maketh as touching the generation of the soule conteineth a proofe demonstration contrary to his owne opinion for he saith That the soule is engendred after that the infant is gone out of the mothers wombe for that the spirit then is transformed by refrigeration even as the temper is gotten of steele Now to prove that the soule is engendred and that after the birth of the infant hee bringeth this for a principall argument Because children become like unto their parents in behaviour and naturall inclination wherein the contrariety that he delivereth is so evident as that a man may see it by the very eie for it is not possible that the soule which is engendred after birth should be framed to the maners and disposition of the parents before nativity or else we must say and fall out it will that the soule before it was in esse was already like unto a soule which is all one as that it was by similitude and resemblance and yet was not because as yet it had not a reall substance Now if any one doe say that it ariseth from the temperature and complexion of the bodies that this similitude is imprinted in them howbeit when the soules are once engendred they become changed he shall overthrow the argument and proofe whereby it is shewed that the soule was engendred for heereupon it would follow that the soule although it were ingenerable when it entreth from without into the body is changed by the temperature of the like Chrysippus sometime saith that the aire is light that it mounteth upward on high and otherwhiles for it againe that it is neither heavy nor light To prove this see what he saith in his second booke of Motion namely that fire having in it no ponderosity at all ascendeth aloft semblably the aire and as the water is more conformable to the earth so the aire doth rather resemble the fire But in his booke entituled Naturall arts he bendeth to the contrary opinion to wit that the aire hath neither ponderosity nor lightnesse of it selfe He affirmeth that the aire by nature is darke and for that cause by consequence it is also the primitive cold and that tenebrosity or darknesse is directly opposite unto light and cleerenesse and the coldnesse thereof to the heat of fire Mooving this discourse in the first booke of his Naturall questions contrary to all this in his treatise of Habitudes he saith That these habitudes be nothing else but aires For that bodies quoth he be 〈◊〉 by them and the cause why every body conteined by any habitude is such as it is is the continent aire which in iron is called hardnesse in stone spissitude or thicknesse in silver whitenesse in which words there is great contrariety and as much false absurditie for if this aire remaine the same still as it is in the owne nature how commeth blacke in that which is not white to be called whitenesse softnesse in that which is not hard to be named hardnesse or rare in that which is not solide and massie to be called solidity But in case it be said that by mixture therein it is altered and so becommeth semblable how then can it be an habitude a faculty power or cause of these effects whereby it selfe is brought under and subdued for that were to suffer rather than to doe and this alteration is not of a nature conteining but of a languishing impotencie whereby it loseth all the properties and qualities of the owne and yet in every place they hold that matter of it selfe idle and without motion is subject and exposed to the receit of qualities which qualities are spirits and those powers of the aire which into what parts soever of the matter they get and insinuate themselves doe give a forme and imprint a figure into them But how can they mainteine this supposing as they do the aire to be such as they say it is for if it be an habitude and power it will conforme and shape unto it selfe every body so as it will make the same both blacke and soft but if by being mixed and contempered with them it take formes contrary unto those which it hath by nature it followeth then that it is the matter of matter and neither the habitude cause nor power thereof Chrysippus hath written often times that without the world there is an infinit voidnesse and that this infinitie hath neither beginning middle nor end And this is the principall reason whereby they resute that motion downward of the 〈◊〉 by themselves which Epicurus hath brought in for in that which is infinit there are no locall differences whereby a man may understand or specifie either high or low But in the fourth booke of Things possible he supposeth a certeine middle space and meane place betweene wherein he saith the world is founded The very text where he affirmeth this runneth in these words And therefore we must say of the world that it is corruptible and although it be very hard to proove it yet me thinks rather it should be so than otherwise Neverthelesse this maketh much to the inducing of us to beleeve that it hath a certeine incorruptibility if I may
from it daily is highly to be reckoned and accounted of and therefore neither can the Delphians be noted for follie in that they terme Venus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is to say a chariot by reason of this yoke-fellowship nor Homer in calling this conjunction of man and wife 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is to say amity and friendship Solon likewise is deemed by this to have beene an excellent law-giver and most expert in that which concerneth mariage when he decreed expresly that the husband should thrice in a moneth at the least embrace his wife and company in bed with her not for carnall pleasures sake I assure you but like as cities and states use after a certeine time betweene to renew their leagues and confederacies one with another so he would have that the alliance of mariage should eftsooones be enterteined anew by such solace and delectation after jarres which otherwhiles arise and breed by some bone cast betweene Yea but there be many enormious and furious parts will some one say that are plaied by such as are in love with women And be there not more I pray by those that are enamoured upon boies do but marke him who uttereth these passionate words So often as these eies of mine behold That beardlesse youth that smooth and lovely boy I faint and fall then wish I him to hold Within mine armes and so to die with joy And that on tombe were set where I do lie An Epigram mine end to testifie But as there is a furious passion in some men doting upon women so there is as raging an affection in others toward boies but neither the one nor the other is love Well most absurd it were to say that women are not endued with other vertues for what need we to speake of their temperance and chastity of their prudence fidelity and justice considering that even fortitude it selfe constant confidence and resolution yea and magnaminity is in many of them very evident Now to holde that being by nature not indisposed unto other vertues they are untoward for amitie onely and frendship which is an imputation laid upon them is altogether beside all reason For well knowen it is that they be loving to their children and husbands and this their naturall affection is like unto a fertile field or battell soile capable of amitie not unapt for perswasion nor destitute of the Graces And like as Poesie having sitted unto speech song meeter and thime as pleasant spices to aromatize and season the same by meanes whereof that profitable instruction which it yeeldeth is more attractive and effectuall as also the danger therein more inevitable Even so nature having endued a woman with an amiable cast and aspect of the eie with sweet speech and a beautifull countenance hath given unto her great meanes if she be lascivious and wanton with her pleasure to decive a man and if she be chaste and honest to gaine the good will and favour of her husband Plato gave counsell unto Xenocrates an excellent Philosopher and a woorthy personage otherwise howbeit in his behavior exceeding soure and austere to sacrifice unto the Graces and even so a man might advise a good matron and sober dame to offer sacrifice unto Love for his propitious favour unto mariage and his residence with her and that her husband by her kind loving demeanour unto him may keepe home and not seeke abroad to some other and so be forced in the end to breake out into such speeches as these out of the Comoedie Wretch that I am and man unhappy I So good a wife to quit with injury For in wedlocke to love is a better and greater thing by farre than to be loved for it keepeth folke from falling into many faults slips or to say more truly it averteth them from all those inconveniences which may corrupt marre ruinate a mariage as for those passionate affections which in the beginning of matrimoniall love moove fittes somewhat poinant and biting let me entreat you good friend Zeuxippus not to feare for any exulceration or smart itch that they have although to say a trueth it were no great harme if haply by some little wound you come to be incorporate and united to an honest woman like as trees that by incision are engraffed and grow one within another for when all is said is not the beginning of conception a kinde of exulceration neither can there be a mixture of two things into one unlesse they mutually suffer one of the other be reciprocally affected And verily the Mathematical rudiments which children be taught at the beginning trouble them even as Philosophie also at the first is harsh unto yong men but like as this unpleasantnesse continueth not alwaies with thē no more doeth that mordacity sticke still among lovers And it seemeth that Love at the first resembleth the mixture of two liquors which when they begin to incorporate together boile and worke one with another for even so Love seemeth to make a certaine confused tract and ebullition but after a while that the same be once setled and throughly clensed it bringeth unto Lovers a most firme and assured habit and there is properly that mixtion and temperature which is called universall and thorough the whole whereas the love of other friends conversing and living together may be very well compared to the mixtion which is made by these touching and interlacings of atomes which Epicurus speaketh of and the same is subject to ruptures separations and startings a sunder neither can it possibly make that union which matrimoniall love and mutuall conjunction doeth for neither doe there arise from any other Loves greater pleasures nor commodities more continually one from another ne yet is the benefit and good of any other friendship so honorable or expetible as When man and wife keepe house with one accord And lovingly agree at bed and bord Especially when the law warranteth it and the bond of procreation common betweene them is assistant thereto And verily nature sheweth that the gods themselves have need of such love for thus the Poets say that the heaven loveth the earth and the Naturalists hold that the Sunne likewise is in love with the Moone which every moneth is in conjunction with him by whom also she conceiveth In briefe must it not follow necessarily that the earth which is the mother and breeder of men of living creatures and all plants shall perish and be wholly extinct when love which is ardent desire and instinct inspired from god shall abandon the matter and the matter likewise shall cease to lust and seeke after the principle and cause of her conception But to the end that we may not range too farre nor use any superfluous and nugatory words your selfe doe know that these paederasties are of all other most uncertaine and such as use them are wont to scoffe much thereat and say that the amitie of such boies is in manner of an egge divided
place wherein he might bestow the murder committed by Aminocles upon the person of his owne sonne And whereas Aristophanes the Boeotian wrote that having demanded money of the Thebans he could receive none of them and that when he went about to reason and dispute scholastically with the youth of the city in points of learning the magistrates such was their rusticitie and hatred of good letters would not suffer him other proofe and argument thereof he putteth downe none but Herodotus gave testimonie with Aristophanes whiles those imputations wherewith he chargeth the Thebans hee putteth downe some falsely others ignorantly and some againe upon hatred as one that had a quarrell against them for he affirmeth that the Thessalians combined and sided with the Medians at the first upon meere necessitie wherein he saith true And prophesying as it were of other Greeks as if they minded to betray and forsake the Lacedaemonians he commeth in afterwards with this shift that this was not voluntarily and with their good liking but upon constraint and necessity because they were surprised city by city one after another But yet he alloweth not unto the Thebans the excuse of the same compulsion albeit they had sent a band of five hundred men under the conduct of captaine Mnamias for to keepe the streights of Tempe and likewise unto the passe of Thermopylae as many as king Leonidas demanded who onely together with the Thespians stucke to him and remained with him when he was forsaken of all other after they saw how he was environed round about on every side But after that the Barbarous king having gotten all the Avennes was entred upon their confines and Demaratus the Spartan being in right of mutuall hospitalitie friendly affected to Apaginus a chiefe unholder and principall pillar of the Oligarchie or faction of some few usurping principalitie wrought so as that he brought him first acquainted and afterwards into familiar friendship with the Barbarian king whiles all other Greeks were embarked and at sea and none seene upon the land to encounter the enemies By this meanes at the last driven they were to accept conditions of peace and to grow into a composition with the Barbarians finding themselves brought to so heard termes of necessitie for neither had they sea at hand nor a navy at command as the Athenians neither dwelt they farre off from the heart of Greece in a most remote angle thereof as did the Lacedaemonians but were not above one daies journey and an halfe from the Medians roiall campe and had already encountred in the streight passages with the kings power assisted onely with the Spartans and Thespians where they had the worse and were defaited And yet this our historiographer is so just and equall that he saith The Lacedaemonians seeing themselves forsaken and abandoned of all their allies were faine to give eare unto any composition whatsoever to accept at aventure what was offered and so being not able to abolish nor utterly blot out so brave and so glorious an act nor to denie but that it was atchieved he goeth about to discredit and deface it with this vile imputation and suspicion writing thus The allies then and the confederats being sent backe returned into their countreys and obeied the commandement of Leonidas only the Thespians and Thebans remained still with the Lacedaemonians and as for the Thebans it was full against their willes for that Leonidas kept them as hostages but the Thespians were willing thereto for they said they would never forsake Leonidas nor his company Sheweth he not apapparently heerein that he carrieth a spightfull and malicious minde particularly against the Thebans whereby not onely he slandereth the city falsly and unjustly but also careth not so much as to make the imputation seeme probable no nor to conceale at leastwise unto few men that he might not be espied to have beene privie unto himselfe of contradictions for having written a little before that Leonidas seeing his confederates and allies out of heart and altogether discouraged to hazard the fortune of the field commanded them to depart a little after clean contrary he saith that he kept the Thebans perforce with him and against their wils whom by all likelihood he should have driven from him if they had bene willing to stay in case that he had them in jelousie and suspition that they tooke part with the Medians for seeing he would not have those about him who were cowardly affected what boot was it to keepe among his soldiers men suspected For being as he was a king of the Spartans and captaine generall of all the Greeks he had not beene in his right wits nor sound in judgement if he would have staied with him in hostage foure hundred men well armed when his owne company were but three hundred in all especially at such a time when as he saw himselfe hardly bested and beset with enimies who pressed upon him at once both before and behind For how soever before time he had led them about with him as hostages probable it was that in such an extremity they would either have had no regard of Leonidas and so departed from him or else that Leonidas might have feared to be environed by them rather then by the Barbarians Over and besides had not king Leonidas bene ridiculous and worthy to be laughed at to bid other Greeks to depart as if by tarying they should soone after lose their lives and to forbied the Thebans to the end that he might keepe them for the behalfe of other Greekes he I say who was resolved anon to died in the field for if he led the men about with him in trueth as hostages or no better than slaves he never should have kept them still with those who were at the point to perish and be slaine but rather deliverd them unto other Greeks who went from him Now whereas there remaineth one cause yet that a man may alledge why he retained them still with him for that peradventure they should all die with him this good writer hath overthrowen that also in that he wrieth thus of the honorable mind magnanimity of Leonidas word for word in this wise Leonidas quoth he casting and considering all these matters in his minde desiring that this glory might redound unto the Spartans alone sent away his friendly allies every one into their owne countries therefore rather than because they were of different minds opinions for exceeding folly it had bene of his part to keepe his enemies for to be pertakers of that glory frō which he repelled his friends It appeareth then by the effects that Leonidas distrusted not the Thebans nor though amisse of them but reputed them for his good and loiall friends For he marched with his army into the city of Thebes and at his request obtained that which to no other was ever granted namely to be lodged all night and sleepe within the temple of Hercules and the next morning related unto the
the ancient Mages and Philosophers which done he entreth into a discourse of Osiris Isis and Typhon referring and reducing all into Physicks and Metaphysicks with a certaine conference or comparison of Platoes doctrin with that of the Aegyptians which maketh him take in hand a particular treatise of matter forme the Ideae of generation also and corruption Having thus examined and discussed the Aegyptians Theology Philosophy he ariseth to the more hidden secret mysteries of the Isiake priests then descendeth againe to the consideration of naturall causes especially of the state of the Moone and drawing compendeously into one word all his precedent discourse he declareth what we ought to understand by Isis Osiris and Typhon Consequently he adjoineth three observations to make this treatise more pleasant and profitable withdrawing thereby the reader and plucking him backe both from super stition and Atheisme Then having condemned the Greeks for being taint with the same solly that the Aegyptians were addicted to he brocheth many opinions concerning the transformation of the pagans gods into sundry sorts of beasts discovering thereby the dotage and foolery arising from this argument and matter most corruptly under stood and stretching the same yet farther he rendreth areason of that honour which the Aegyptians did to such creatures whereupon he would not have us in any wise to rest but rather to looke into the divinity represented by them And for an end he entreth into an allegoricall discourse of the habilliments perfumes and divers odoriferous confections made every day in the temple of Isis but more especially he treateth of one named Cyphi wherein there be to the number of sixteene ingredients which composition they use in their very drinke observing therein as in all the rest of their superstitions a million of ceremonies whereof he doth particularize especially in the third part of this discourse even to the very end thereof All the premises being reduced to their right use do shew the vanity of men abandoned and given over to their owne senses and prove that all their sufficienct is nothing but blockish folly and their intelligence a darke and mirke night when the brightnesse and light of Gods word doth faile them For the more apparence they have both of celestiall and also human wisdome the more appeareth their blinde superstition in such sort as in sted of resting upon the creatour they remaine fixed upon the creatures and have a longing and languishing desire after discourses void of true instructions and consolations which ought to incite so much the more all Christians to make great account of the effectuall grace offered unto them in the meditation and practise of true Philosophy as well naturall as divine OF ISIS AND OSIRIS MEn that are wise or have any wit in them ô Clea ought by praier to crave all good things at the hand of the gods but that which we most wish for and desire to obteine by their meanes is the very knowledge of them so farre foorth as it is lawfull for men to have for that there is no gift either greater for men to receive or more magnificall and beseeming the gods to give than the knowledge of the trueth for God bestoweth upon men all things else whereof they stand in need but this he reserveth to himselfe and keepeth for his owne use Neither is the godhead and divine power in this regard counted happie and blessed because it possesseth a great quantity of gold or silver nor puissant in respect of thunder and lightning but for prudence and wisdome And verily of all those things which Homer hath well delivered this simply is the best and most elegant speech when as touching Jupiter and Neptune he saith thus The selfe same parents they both had one native soile them bred But Jupiter the elder was and had the wiser head whereby he affirmeth that the preeminence and rule of Jupiter being the elder was more venerable sacred and fuller of majestie for his knowledge and wisdome And of this opinion I assure you am I that the beatitude and felicitie of eternall life which Jupiter enjoieth consisteth heerein that he is ignorant of nothing that is done as also that immortalitie if it be despoiled of the knowledge and intelligence of all things that be and are done is not life indeed but bare time And therefore we may very well say that the desire of deitie and divinity is all one with the love of trueth and especially of that trueth which concerneth the nature of the gods the study whereof and the searching after such science is as it were a profession and entrance into religion yea and a worke more holy than is the vow or obligation of all the chastity purity in the world or than the cloister or sanctuarie of any temple whatsoever right acceptable also is this goddesse whom you serve considering that she is most wise full of knowledge according as the very derivation of her name doth imply that skill cunning apperteineth unto her more than to any other for Isis is a meere Greeke word like as Typhon also the very adversarie and enemie opposite unto this goddesse as one puffed up and swollen by his ignorance and error dissipating defacing and blotting out the sacred word and doctrine which this goddesse collecteth composeth and delivereth unto those who are initiated and professed in this divine religion by a continuall precise observance of a sober and holy life in absteining from many meats in depriving themselves of all fleshly pleasures for to represse lust and intemperance and in being acquainted long before to abide and endure within temples and churches hard and painfull services performed unto the gods of all which abstinences paines and suffrances the end is the knowledge of that first prince and lord who is apprehended onely by intelligence and understanding whom the goddesse exhorteth to search and seeke after as conversing and companying with her And verily the name of her temple doth manifestly promise an intelligence or knowledge of that which is for Ision it is called which is as much to say as 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for that if we enter into that sacred place and holy religion of this goddesse with reason and devotion as we ought to doe we shall atteine to the understanding of all things whatsoever Moreover many have written that she is the daughter of Mercurie others of Prometheus of which twaine the one is reputed the author of wisdome and providence and the other namely Mercurie the inventor of Grammar and Musicke And heereupon it is that in the city Hermopolis they call the former of the Muses both Isis and also Justice as being wisdome herselfe according as hath elsewhere beene said and shewing divine things to them who are justly surnamed Hierophori and Hierostoli that is to say religious and wearing the habits of holinesse and religion And these be they that cary in their minde and keepe enclosed as within a box
〈◊〉 that is to say of running even so both we and also the Aegyptians have called this goddesse 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and Isis of intelligence and motion together Semblably Plato saith that in old time when they said Isia they meant Osia that is to say sacred like as Noesis also and Phronesis quasi 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is to say the stirring and motion of the understanding being caried and going forward and they imposed this word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to those who have found out and discovered goodnesse and vertue but contrariwise have by reprochfull names noted such things as impeach hinder and stay the course of natural things binding them so as they can not go forward to wit 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 vice 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 indigence 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 cowardise and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 griefe as if they kept them from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is to say free progresse and proceeding forward As for Osiris a word it is composed of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is to say holy and sacred for he is the common reason or Idea of things above in heaven and beneath of which our ancients were woont to call the one sort 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is to say sacred and the other 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is to say holy The reason also which sheweth celestiall things and such as move upward is called Anubis and otherwhiles Hermanubis as if the one name were meet for those above and the other for them beneath whereupon they sacrificed unto the former a white cocke and to the other a yellow or of saffron colour for that they thought those things above pure simple and shining but those beneath mixed of a medley colour Neither are we to marvell that these termes are disguised to the fashion of Greeke words for an infinit number of more there be which have beene transported out of Greece with those men who departed from thence in exile and there remaine untill this day as strangers without their native countrey whereof some there be which cause Poetry to be slandered for calling them into use as if it spake barbarously namely by those who terme such Poeticall and obscure words Glottas But in the books of Herimes or Mercurie so called there is written by report thus much concerning sacred names namely that the power ordeined over the circular motion and revolution of the Sunne the Aegyptians call Horus and the Greeks Apollo that which is over the wind some name Osiris others Sarapis some againe in the Aegyptian language Sothi which signifieth as much as conception or to be with childe and thereupon it is that by a little deflexion of the name in the Greeke tongue that Canicular or Dogge starre is called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which is thought appropriate unto Isis. Well I wote that we are not to strive as touching names yet would I rather give place unto the Aegyptians about the name Sarapis than Osiris for this is a meere Greeke word whereas the other is a stranger but as well the one as the other signifieth the same power of Divinity And heereto accordeth the Aegyptian language for many times they terme Isis by the name of Minerva which in their tongue signifieth as much as I am come of my selfe And Typhon as we have already said is named Seth Baebon and Smy which words betoken all a violent stay and impeachment a contrariety and a diversion or turning aside another way Moreover they call the loadstone or Sederitis the bone of Horus like as iron the bone of Typhon as Manethos is mine author for as the iron seemeth otherwhiles to follow the said loadstone and suffereth it selfe to be drawen by it and many times for it againe returneth backe and is repelled to the contrary even so the good and comfortable motion of the world endued with reason by perswasive speeches doeth convert draw into it and mollifie that hardnesse of Typhon but otherwhiles againe the same returneth backe into it selfe and is hidden in the depth of penurie and impossibility Over and besides Eudoxus saith that the Aegyptians devise of Jupiter this fiction that both his legs being so growen together in one that he could not goe at all for very shame he kept in a desert wildernesse but Isis by cutting and dividing the same parts of his body brought him to his sound and upright going againe Which fable giveth us covertly thus to understand that the understanding and reason of God in it selfe going invisibly and after an unseene maner proceedeth to generation by the meanes of motion And verily that brasen Timbrel which they sounded and 〈◊〉 at the sacrifices of Isis named Sistrum sheweth evidently that all things ought 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is to say to bestirre and shake and never cease moving but to be awakened and raised as if otherwise they were drowsie lay asleepe and languished for it is said that they turne backe and repulse Typhon with their Timbrels aforesaid meaning thereby that whereas corruption doth bind and stay nature generation againe unbindeth and seteeth it a worke by the meanes of motion Now the said Sistrum being in the uppert part round the curvature and Absis thereof comprehendeth foure things that are stirred and mooved for that part of the world which is subject to generation and corruption is comprehended under the sphaere of the Moone within which all things move and alter by the meanes of the foure elements Fire Earth Water and Aire upon the Absis or rundle of the Sistrum toward the toppe they engrave the forme of a cat with a mans face but beneath under those things which are shaken one while they engrave the visage of Isis another while of Nephthys signifying by these two faces nativity and death for these be the motions and mutations of the elements By the cat they understand the Moone for the variety of the skin for the operation and worke in the night season and for the fruitfulnesse of this creature for it is said that at first she beareth one kitling at the second time two the third time three then foure afterwards five and so to seven so that in all she brings foorth 28 which are the daies of every Moone And howsoever this may seeme fabulous yet for certeine it is true that the appuls or sights of these cats are full and large when the Moone is at full but contrariwise draw in and become smaller as the Moone is in the wane As for the visage of a man which they attribute unto the cat they represent thereby the witty subtilty and reason about the mutations of the Moone But to knit up all this matter in few words reason would that wee should thinke neither the Sunne nor the water neither earth nor heaven to be Isis or Osiris no more than exceeding drouth extreame heat fire and sea is
as a Sophister to trie what he can say others aske him concerning treasure hidden some againe would be resolved of succession in heritages and of incestuous and unlawfull marriages Insomuch as now Pythagoras is manifestly convinced of errour and lesing who said that men were then best and excelled in goodnesse when they presented themselves before the gods for such things as it would well beseeme to hide and conceale in the presence onely of some ancient personage I meane the foule maladies and passions of the soule the same they discover and lay abroad naked before Apollo And as he would have gone forward still and prosecuted this theame both Heracleon plucked him by the cloke and I also who of all the company was most familiar inward with him Peace quoth I my good friend Planetiades and cease to provoke Apollo against you for a cholericke and testie god he is and not milde and gracious but according as Pindarus said very well Misdeem'd he is and thought amisse To bee Most kinde to men and full of lenitie And were he either the Sunne or the lord and father of the Sunne or a substance beyond all visible natures it is not like and probable that he would disdaine to speake any more unto men at this day living of whose generation nativity nourishment being and understanding he is the cause and author neither is it credible that the divine providence which is a good kinde and tender mother produceth and preserveth all things for our use should shew herselfe to be malicious in this matter onely of divination and prophesie and upon an old grudge and rankor to bereave us of that which at first she gave us as if forsooth even then when Oracles were rise in all parts of the world there was not in so mightie a multitude of men the greater number of wicked And therefore make Pythicke truce as they say for the while with vice and wickednesse which you are ever woont to chastice and rebuke in all your speeches and come and sit downe heere by us againe that together with us you may search out some other cause of this generall eclipse and cessation of Oracles which now is in question but withall remember that you keepe this god Apollo propitious and moove him not to wrath and displeasure But these words of mine wrought so with Planetiades that without any word replying out of the dores he went his waies Now when the company sat still for a prety while in great silence Ammonius at length directing his speech to me I beseech you quoth he Lamprias take better heed unto that which we doe and looke more neerely into the matter of this our disputation to the end that we cleere not the god altogether and make him to be no cause at all that the Oracles doe cease For he who attributeth this cessation unto any other cause than the will and ordinance of God giveth us occasion to suspect him also that he thinketh they never were not be at this present by his disposition but rather by some other meanes for no other cause and puissance there is more noble more mighty or more excellent which might be able to destroy and abolish divination if it were the worke of God And as touching the discourse that Planetiades made it pleaseth me never a whit neither can I approove thereof as well for other causes as for that he admitteth a certaine inequality and inconstance in the god For one while he maketh him to detest and abhorre vice and another while to allow and accept thereof much like unto some king or tyrant rather who at one gate driveth out wicked persons and receiving them in at another doth negotiate with them But seeing it is so that the greatest worke which can be sufficient in it selfe nothing superfluous but fully accomplished every way is most beseeming the dignity and majesty of the gods let this principle be supposed and laied for a ground and then a man in mine opinion may very well say that of this generall defect and common scarcity of men which civill seditions and warres before time have brought generally into the world Greece hath felt the greatest part insomuch as at this very day hardly is all Greece able to make three thousand men for the warres which are no more in number than one city in times past to wit Megara set forth and sent to the battell of Plataea and therefore whereas the god Apollo in this our age hath left many oracles which in ancient time were much frequented if one should inferre 〈◊〉 and say that this argueth no other thing but that Greece is now much depopulate dispeopled in comparison of that which it was in old time I would like well of his invention and furnish him sufficiently with matter to discourse upon For what would it boot and what good would come of it if there were now an Oracle at Tegyrae as sometime there was or about Ptoum whereas all the day long a man shall paradventure meet with one and that is all keeping and feeding cattell there And verily it is found written in histories that this very place of the Oracle where now we are which of all others in Greece is for antiquity right antient and for reputation most noble and renowmed was in times past for a great while desert and unfrequented nay unaccessable altogether in regard of a most venimous and dangerous beast even a dragon which haunted it But those who write this doe not collect heereupon the cessation of the Oracle aright but argue cleane contrary for it was the solitude and infrequency of the place that brought the dragon thither rather than the dragon that caused the said desert solitarinesse But afterwards when it pleased God that Greece was fortified againe and replenished with many cities and this place well peopled and frequented they used two Prophetesses who one after the other in their course descended into the cave and there sat yea and a third there was besides chosen as a suffragane or assistant to sit by them and helpe if need were but now there is but one Propehtesse in all and yet we complaine not for she onely is sufficient for all commers that have any occasion to use the Oracle And therefore we are in no wise to blame or accuse the god for that divination and spirit of prophesie which remaineth there at this day is sufficient for all and sendeth all suiters away well contented as having their full dispatch and answere for whatsoever they demand Like as therefore Agamemnon in Homer had nine Heraults or Criers about him and yet hardly with them could he containe and keepe in order the assembly of the Greeks being so frequent as then it was but now within these few daies you shall see heere the voice of one man alone able to resound over the whole Theater and to reach unto all the people their contained even so we must thinke that this divination and
power for to deceive and abuse the world as also by certeine notable sayings as these Know thy selfe Nothing too much and such like he hath kept bound unto him persons of highest spirit and greatest conceit causing them to thinke that in delivering so goodly precepts for the rule and direction of this life it must needs be the true friend of mankinde yea and the very heavenly wisdome that spake by these Oracles But his audacious pride together with most intolerable impudence hath appeared in the inscription of this bareword E I upon the porch of the temple of Apollo in Delphi in that he pretended title and claimed thereby according to the last interpretation thereof in this present discourse to put himselfe in the place of the eternall God who onely Is and giveth Being unto all things And that which worse is the blindnesse was so horrible even of the wisest Sages that this opinion hath beene seated in their heads whiles this tyrant possessed them in such sort as they tooke pleasure to suffer themselves so to be cousened by him But hereby good cause have we to praise our God who hath discovered and laid open to us such impostures and maketh his majestie knowen unto us by his word to be the onely true and eternall deitie in adoring and worshipping whom we may safely and truely say E I that is to say Thou art as contrariwise the deceitfull wiles and illusions of satan and his complices do declare how fearefull and horrible the judgement of God is upon such rebellious spirits Now if some over-busie and curious head will heere dispute and reason against the justice of him who is the disposer of all things and enterprise to controule that eternall wisedome which governeth the world for having mercy upon such as it pleaseth him and suffering to fall from so excellent an estate the Apostatate and disobodient angels and yet permitting them to have such a powerfull hand over the most part of Adams children we answer in one word Man what art thou that thus wilt plead against God shall the thing formed say unto him who formed it Why hast thou made me so Hath not the potter full power to make of the same masse of earth or clay one vessell for honor and another for dishonor The judgements of God are unsearchable they have neither bottom nor brinke the riches of his wisdome and knowledge are inscrutable and beyond all computation his waies are hidden and impossible to be found out If then there be any place in the consideration of the secrets of God where we ought to be retentive warie and discret it is in this where every man hath just occasion to thinke upon this not able lesson and advertisement Not to presume for to know over and above that which he should but to be wise unto sobrietie and that no man ought to be pussed up with pride but rather to feare Moreover as touching the contents of this discourse the author having used an honest and decent Presace saith in generall That by this present inscription Apollo intended to make himselfe knowen and to incite every man to inquire into time But heere in the enemie of mankind sheweth his audacity and boldnesse sufficiently as also how he deludeth and mocketh his slaves in that after he had deprived them of right and sound judgement he stirreth them up to know who he is which is as much as if one should plucke out the eies and cut in twaine the ham-strings of a traveller or watfaring man and then bid him seeke out his way and goe onward on his journey Now he brings in foure divers personages delivering their minds as touching this Mot EI. Lamprias opining in the first place thinketh that the first and principall wise Sages of Greece devised it for that they would be knowen and discerned from others Ammonius secondly referreth and applieth it to the Wishes and Questions of those who resort unto the Oracle Theon the third attributeth this 〈◊〉 unto Logicke and doth all that possibly he can to mainteine his opinion 〈◊〉 the Mathematician speaking in the fourth place and seconded by Plutarch Philosophizeth at large upon the number of 5. represented by the letter E he discourseth and runneth through all the Mathematikes and divers parts of Philosophy and all to approove and make good his conceit but his 〈◊〉 and end is to shew under the mysticall sense of numbers the perfection of his Apollo which he draweth and fetcheth also from the consideration of his titles epithets and attributes But Ammonius gathering together their voices and closing or stopping up the disputation seemeth to hit the marke prooving by most strong and learned reasons that Apollo would by this word instruct pilgims how they ought to salute and call him to wit in saying thus E 〈◊〉 that is to say Thou art he which is opposite unto that salutation which this false god usurping the name of the true Jehovah or alwaies Existent greeteth men with in setting just before their eies in the entrie and forefront of his temple these two words 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is to say Know thy selfe Having enriched this with two evident proofes the one taken from the uncerteine condition of creatures the other from the firmitude and true estate or being of the Creator he exhorteth his fellowes to list up themselves to the contemplation of the essence of God and to honour the Sunne his expresse image Which done herefuteth certeine contrary opinions and after a new confirmation of his discourse he endeth where he first began to wit that the knowledge of God and our selves are opposite in such sort as yet neverthelesse they must meet and concurre in us But all the application of this discourse unto Apollo whom you must take for the very divell in no wise is fit and agreeable And heerein a man may see better yet what madnesse and folly is the wisdome of man and in how thicke and palpable darknesse they goe groping with their hands before them who are no otherwise guided than by the discourse of their owne reason Which teacheth us once againe to adore the secrets of God to recognize and apprehend his mercies in the matter of our salvation to dread also his justice which sheweth it selfe in the deplorable and piteous blindnesse of so many nations even from the time that sinne first entred into the world unto this present day WHAT SIGNIFIETH THIS word EI engraven over the dore of Apolloes temple in the city of Delphi I Light of late in my reading friend Sarapion upon certeine pretie Iambique verses not unelegantly endited which Dicaearchus supposeth that the Poet Euripides delivered unto king Archelaus to this effect No gifts will I to you present Since poore I am and wealth you have Lest I for folly of you be shent Or by such giving seeme to crave For he who of that little meanes which he hath bestoweth some small present upon them that are rich and possesse much
our selves to confirme and approve those praises and to give testimonie thereof against our owne minde a thing more beseeming vile and base flatterie than true honour namely if we can abide to praise any in presence Howbeit although this be most true and that the case standeth so such occurrences may so fall out that an honourable person who manageth the politike affaires of a common-wealth may hazzard and venture boldly to speake of himselfe and in his owne behalfe for his advantage not in regard of any glory grace or pleasure to gaine thereby but for that the occasion or action that is presented requireth that he should speake and give testimonie of himselfe as he would and might doe of any other matter of trueth especially when the deeds by him atchieved or the parts that be in him be good and honest then he is not to forbeare or spare to speake hardly that he hath done so or els much like for surely such a praise as this bringeth forth good fruit and out of it as from a fruitfull graine or seed there proceed many other praises those farre greater And certes a civill and politike man doeth not desire and love honour as a salarie solace or recompense for his vertuous actions but for that to have the credit and reputation among others of a trustie and faithfull person in whom men may repose their trust and confidence doth affoord him good meanes and occasions to performe many other greater and more goodlier actions for a pleasant and easie matter it is to benefit them who love thee and put their trust in thee whereas on the contrary side exceeding hard it is or rather impossible to make use of vertue and to imploy it to the good of those who have thee in suspition or be ready to raise false calumniations against thee and so to force them who do avoid the meanes of receiving any good and pleasure at thy hands Moreover it would be considered what other occasions there may be for which a man of honour and honestie may praise himselfe to the end that by taking good heed and avoiding of that which in selfe-praise is so vaine and odious we faile not to serve our turnes with the profit and commodity that may come thereby Now of all others most foolish is their praise who commend themselves to this end that they would be praised of others and such praise as this we hold most contemptible for that it seemeth to proceed from ambition and an unseasonable appetite of vaine-glory onely for like as those who have no other food to feed upon be constreined to eat the flesh of their owne bodies against nature which is the very extremity and end of famine even so those that hunger after honour and praise if they can not meet with others to praise them fall to praise themselves wherein their behaviour is unseemly and shamefull for that upon a love of vaine-glory they are desirous to make a supply and sufficiency from their owne selves but yet when as they go not simply to worke nor seeke to be praised by themselves but upon a certaine emulation and jealousie of other mens praises they come to compare and oppose their owne deeds for to dim and darken the actions of others then over and besides their vanity they adde thereto envie and malice for according to the common proverbe He is curious and ridiculous who setteth his foot in another mans daunce but upon envie and jealousie to thrust a mans selfe betweene the praises of others and to interrupt the same with his owne selfe-praise is a thing that wee ought to beware of and not onely so but also to take heed that wee suffer not others at such a time to praise us but gently to yeeld honour unto those who are worthy to be praised and honoured and if peradventure they be unworthy and deserve not the same yet ought not wee to deprive them of the praises which are given unto them by interposing our owne but rather stand up against them convince them openly and prove by evident and pregnant reasons that there is no cause why they should be reputed so great and be so highly honoured As touching this point therefore plaine and evident it is that we ought not so to doe howbeit a man may praise himselfe without blame first and formost if he do it by way of his owne defence in answering to a slander raised or an imputation charged upon him like as Pericles did in Thucydides where he uttereth these words And yet you my masters of Athens are angrie with me who may vaunt of my selfe to be such an one as need not to give place unto any whatsoever either in foresight and knowledge of that which is behovefull to the common-wealth or in eloquence and delivery thereof or in love to the State or in sincere integrity free from all corruption bribery and avarice against which I stand invincible for in speaking thus magnificently of himselfe in such a case he did not onely avoid the blame and reproch of vanity of arrogancy and presumptuous ambition but also that which more is he shewed withall his wisedome and greatnesse yea and the magnanimitie of vertue which was so farre from being humbled and dejected that it rather conquered and held under hand envie insomuch as others hearing such men speake in this wise proceed not any farther nor be willing to judge and censure them but are caried away and ravished with a certaine joy yea and inspired as it were from heaven to heare such brave vanteries namely if the persons be constant and the reports which they make true according as the effects which follow do testifie The Thebanes verily at what time as their captaines were accused for that when the terme of their government and magistracie called Boeotarchia was expired they returned not incontinently home but made an invasion and entred in armes into Laconia and dealt in the administration of affaires about the citie of Messaene hardly and with much adoo assoiled and quit Pelopidas when he humbled himselfe and became a suppliant unto them for pardon but contrariwise when Epaminondas came and recounted in magnificent words those brave exploits which he had atchieved in that voiage and at the same time protesting in the ende that he was prest and readie to take his death so that they would confesse and acknowledge that mauger their minds and against their wils he had pilled and spoiled Laconia repeopled Messaene and reduced into a league and amitie with them all the cities of Arcadia they had not the heart so much as to give their voices and suffrages in any sentence of condemnation against him but departed out of the assembly admiring the haughtie courage of the man and rejoicing with mirth and laughter to heare him plead him cause with resolution And therefore the speech of Sthenelus in Homer is not simply and altogether to be reprooved when he saith Pronounce I dare and it avow
we better warriours be In these daies than our fathers were by many a degree If we call to minde and remember the precedent words a little before Thou sonne of noble Tydëus a wise and hardy knight How is it that thy heart doth pant for feare when thou shouldst fight Why do'st thou cast thine eie about and looke on everie side How thou maist out of battell scape and dar'st not field abide for it was not Sthenelus himselfe unto whom this sharpe and bitter speech was addressed but he replied thus in the behalfe of his friend whom he had thus reproched and therefore so just a cause and so fit an occasion gave him libertie to speake thus bravely and boldly of himselfe As for the citizens of Rome they were offended displeased much with Cicero praising himselfe so much as he did and namely relating so often the woorthie deeds by him done against Catiline but contrariwise when Scipio said before them all in a publike assembly That it was not meet and seemely for them to sit as judges upon Scipio considering that by his meanes they were growen to that grandence as to judge all the world they put chaplets of flowers upon their heads and in this wise adorned mounted up together with him into the temple of the Capitoll for to sacrifice and render thankes unto Jupiter and good reason both of the one and the other for Cicero rehearsed his owne praise-worthy deeds so many times without any need enforcing him thereto onely to glorifie himselfe but the present perill wherein the other stood freed him from all hatred and envie notwithstanding he spake in his owne praise Moreover this vanterie and glorious boasting of a mans selfe is not befitting those onely who are accused or in trouble and danger of the law but to as many also as be in adversitie rather than in prosperitie for that it seemeth that these reach and catch as it were at glorie and take pleasure and joy therein onely to gratifie and content therein their owne ambitious humor whereas the other by reason of the qualitie of the time being farre from all suspition of vaine glorie and ambition doe plucke up and erect themselves upright against fortune sustaining and upholding what they can the generositie of their minds avoiding as much as lieth in them that base conceit to be thought for to beg commiseration and crave pittie as if they would be moaned for their misadventures and thereby bewray their abject hearts For like as we take them for fooles and vaine-glorious fellowes who as they walke ordinarily lift up themselves and beare their heads and neckes aloft but contrariwise we praise and commend those who erect their bodies and do all they can to put foorth themselves either in fight at sharpe or in buffeting with fists even so a man who being overthrowen by adverse fortune raiseth himselfe up againe upon his feet and addresseth his whole might to make head Like as the champion doth arise Upon his hands to winne a prise and in stead of shewing himselfe humble suppliant and pittifull by glorious words maketh a shew of braverie and haughtie courage seemeth not thereby proude and presumptuous but contrariwise great magnanimous and invincible Thus in one place the poet Homer depainteth Patroclus modest and nothing at all subject to envie when he had done any exploit fortunately and with valour but at his death when he was ready to yeeld the ghost he described him to speake bravely in this wise If twentie such with all their might Had met with me in open fight c. And Phocion who otherwise was alwaies meeke and modest after that he saw himselfe condemned gave all the world to understand his magnanimitie as in many other things so especially in this point that he said unto one of those that were to suffer death with him who made a pitious moane and great lamentation How now man what is that thou saiest doth it not thee good at the heart to thinke that thou shalt die with Phocion And verily no lesse but rather much more it is permitted to a man of State who is injuriously dealt withall for to speake somewhat frankly of himselfe namely unto those who seeme to be oblivious and unthankfull Thus Achilles at other times rendred the glorie of fortunate successe in his affaires to the heavenly power of God and spake modestly in this maner That Jupiter would give us power and strength Troy citie strongly wall'd to winne at length But otherwise when indignities were offred unto him and he unjustly wronged and abused he sang another note and displaied his tongue at large in anger breaking out into these haughtie and brave words With ships of mine well man'd with souldiours brave By force of armes twelve cities wonne I have Also For why approch they dare not neere to me The brightnes of my morion for to see For libertie of franke speech being a part of justification and defence in law is allowed to use great words for plea. And verily Themistocles according to this rule who all the while that hee performed the exploits of noble service in his owne countrey never did or said ought that savoured of odious pride yet when he once saw that the Athenians were full of him and that they made account of him no more forbare not to say unto them thus What meane you my masters of Athens thus to disdaine be wearie of those at whose hands you receive so oftentimes benefits In time of storme and tempest you flie to them for refuge and shroud your selves in their protection as under the harbor and covert of a spreading tree no sooner is the storme overblowne and the weather faire againe but you are ready to give a twitch at them and every one to pull and breake a branch thereof as you passe by Thus you see how these men perceiving themselves otherwise injuried in their discontentment sticke not to rehearse their service and good deeds past and cast them in their teeth who are forgetfull thereof But he that is blamed and suffreth a reproch for things well done is altogether for to be excused and unblameable in case he set in hand to praise his owne deeds forasmuch as he seemeth nor to reproch and upbraid any but to answere onely in his own defence to justifie himselfe Certes this it was that gave unto Demosthenes an honest and laudable libertie to speake for his owne behoofe and he avoided thereby all tedious satietie of his owne praises which he used throughout that whole oration entituled Of the crowne wherein he gloried and vaunted of that which was imputed unto him as reprochable to wit the embassages in which he went and the decrees which he had enacted as touching the warre Moreover not farre from these points above rehearsed the reversing of an objection by way of Antithesis may be placed and carieth with it a good grace to wit when the defendant doth proove and shew that the contrary
where shee may finde any matter that will affoord substance for hony even so a man by nature ingenious stitdious also of arts and elegancie is woont to cherish love and embrace every action and worke where he knoweth there was wit and understanding emploied in the finishing of it if then one come and present unto a yoong childe a little loafe of bread indeed and withall tender unto him a prety puppie or bulkin or heighfer made of paste or dough you shall see that he will run rather to these counterfet devices than to the other and even so it is also in other things for if one offer him a piece of silver in the masse unwrought and another tender unto him a little beast or a cup made of silver he will much sooner make choise of that which he seeth to have some artificiall workmanship joined with it and to savour of wit and cunning and therefore it is that children at this age take more delight both to heare such covert speeches as shew one thing and meane another as also those plaies and pastimes which have some wittie matters contrived or ambiguous difficulties interlaced therein for that which is smoothly polished and curiously wrought draweth and allureth unto it mans nature of the owne accord as being proper unto it and familiar although it be not taught to imbrace it Forasmuch as therefore hee who is angry or grieved in good earnest sheweth nothing else but common and ordinary passions but in representing and counterfeiting of the same there is a certeine dexteritie and subtiltie of wit to be seene especially if it speed well and take effect therefore we delight to behold the one and are displeased to see the other For the proofe heerof marke how we are affected semblaby in other objects shewes and sights presented unto us for with griefe and sorrow of heart we looke upon those who are either dying or lie grievously sick contrariwise with joy we behold yea and admire either Philoctetes painted in a table or queene Jocasta portraied in brasse upon whose visage it is said that the workman tempered a little silver with the brasse to the end that this mixture of mettals together might represent naturally and to the life indeed the face and colour of one ready to faint and yeeld up the ghost And this quoth I my masters to you I speake who are Epicureans is an evident argument on the Cyrenaiques side against you to proove that in pastimes and sports presented to the eie and the eare the pleasure consisteth not in seeing or hearing but in the understanding for an odious and unpleasant thing it is to heare a henne keepe a creaking or cackling and a crow untowardly and untunably crying and yet hee that can well and naturally counterfet either the cackling of an henne or the crying of the crow pleaseth and contenteth us woonderfull well semblably to looke upon those who are in ptisicke or consumption is but a lovelesse sight and yet we joy and take delight to see the pictures or images of such persons for that our understanding is pleased and contented with the imitation resemblance of them as a thing proper and peculiar unto it for otherwise what joy and contentment have men or what outward occasion have they so much to admire and woonder at Parmenons sow insomuch as it is growen to be a common by-word This Parmenon was by report one that counterfeited passing well the grunting of an hogge for which his singular grace and gift therein his concurrents upon an envious humour would needs assay to doe as much in despight of him but men being already forestalled with a prejudicate opinion of him would say thus Well done but nothing to Parmenons hogge and therefore one of them having gotten a little porket indeed under his arme made it for to squeake and crie but the people hearing the noise of a swine indeed All this say they is nothing to Parmenons hog whereupon the partie let the said live hog run among them all for to convince them of their corrupt judgement caried away with an opinion and not grounded upon trueth and reason Whereby it appeareth evidently that one and the same motion of the sense doth not affect the minde alike when there is not an opinion that the action was performed wittily and with artificiall dexterity THE SECOND QUESTION That there was in old time a game of prize for poets AT the solemnitie of the Pythicke games there was some question and talke upon a time about the cutting off and putting downe of certeine plaies and pastimes foisted in to the others that were ancient and of the first institution for whereas at the first there were but three onely that plaied their prizes to wit the Pythian plaier of flute or pipe the harper and the singer to the harpe after they had once admitted the actour of tragedies no sooner was this gate as one would say set open but they were not able to resist and keepe out an infinit number of other plaies and sports that rushed and thrust themselves in after him by occasion whereof there was much varietie and a frequent concourse at this solemnitie which I must needs say was no unpleasant sight to beholde but surely it reteined not the ancient gravity and dignitie beseeming the Muses indeed for by this meanes the judges and umpires were much troubled besides there grew many quarrels and enmities which could not otherwise be for where there are so many contending for the prize there can not chuse but be a number of mal-contents that missed the garland But among all others it was thought good by the judges to remoove and banish from the solemnitie a number of those who penned orations and all the sort of poets that came thither to versifie for the best game which they did not I assure you for any hatred unto learning and good letters but for that they who present themselves to these learned combats be ordinarily the most notable persons of all others the judges before-said reverenced them and in some sort pitied their case esteeming them all worthy men and well deserving of good letters howbeit not able all to gaine the victory We therefore being at this councell labored to dehort those who went about to change and alter setled customes and who blamed in any of these sacred games multiplicity and variety as if they found fault with many strings in an instrument or a consort of voices in vocall musicke Now in supper time when we were in Petraeus his house who was the president and governour of the said solemnitie and courteously had invited us the question was revived and set on foot a fresh and we tooke upon us to defend the cause of the Muses shewing that poetrie was no moderne profession nor entred but lately among the combats of sacred games but that of ancient time it had won the victorie and gained the crowne There were in the company some who thought by these
words of mine that I meant to alledge old testimonies and to cite stale and triviall examples for proofe of the cause to wit the funerals of Oeolycus the Thessalian and of Amphidamas the Chalcidian at which Homer and Hesiodus made verses one against another for the victorie as stories make mention but casting by and rejecting all these evidences so much tossed and divnlged already by Grammarians and namely the funerall obsequies and honours done to Patroclus in Homer where they read not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is to say launcers of darts but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is to say makers of orations and eloquent oratours as if Achilles had proposed rewards and prizes for orations leaving I say these matters I affirmed That when Acastus celebrated the funerals for his father Pelias he exhibited a combat of poets for the best game wherein Sibylla went away with the victory Hereat many stood up and opposed themselves against me demanding a reall caution at my hands for to make good that which I had averred for that it seemed unto them a very strange narration and incredible but as good hap was I called to remembrance that I had read so much in the Chronicle of Lybia cōpiled by Acesander where the story is put downe And this booke quoth I is not in every mans hand to reade howbeit I thinke verily that the most of you have beene carefull to peruse those records which Polemon the Athenian a diligent writer and a learned antiquarie who hath not beene idle and sleepie in seeking out the antiquities and singularities of Greece hath set downe in writing as concerning the treasures of the city Delphos for there you shal find written that in the treasurie of the Sicyonians there was a golden booke given and dedicated by Aristomache the poetresse of Erythraea after she had obteined the victorie gotten the garland at the solemnitie of the Isthmicke games Neither have you any reason quoth I to esteeme Olympia and the games thereof with such admiration above the rest as if it were another fatall desteny immutable and which can not be changed nor admit alteration in the plaies there exhibited as for the Pythian solemnitie three or foure extraordinarie games it had respective unto good letters and the Muses adjoined and admitted to the rest the Gymnicke exercises and combats performed by men naked as they were at first ordeined so they continued for the most part still and hold on at this day but at the Olympian games all save onely running in the race were taken up afterwards and counted as accessories likewise there have bene many of them which at first were instituted since put downe and abolished namely 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is to say an exercise and feat of activitie when the concurrent mounted on horsebacke in the mids of his course leapeth downe to the ground taketh his horse by the bridle and runneth on foot with him a full gallop as also another called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which was a course with a chariot drawen by two mules moreover there is taken away now the coronet ordeined for children that atchieved the victorie in Pentathlus that is to say five severall feats to be short much innovation change and altering there hath beene in this festivall solemnitie from the first institution but I feare me that you will call upon me againe for new pledges and cautions to proove and justifie my words if I should say that in olde time at Pisae there were combats of sword-fencers fighting at the sharpe to the uttrance man to man where they that were vanquished or yeelded themselves died for it and if my memorie failed mee that I could not bring out mine author and name him unto you I doubt you would laugh and make a game of mee as if I had overdrunke my selfe and taken one cup to many THE THIRD QUESTION What is the cause that the pitch-tree is held consecrated unto Neptune and Bacchus And that in the beginning the victours at the Isthmian games were crowned with a garland of pine-tree branches but afterwards with a chaplet of smallage or parsley and now of late with the foresaid pitch-tree THere was a question propounded upon a time Why the manner was to crowne those with pine or pitch-tree branches who gained the prize at the Isthmick games For so it was that during the said festivall solemnity Lucanius the high priest made a supper at Corinth at his owne house and feasted us where Praxiteles the geometrician a great discourser told us a poeticall tale and namely that the body of Melicerta was found cast up driven upon the body of a pine-tree by the sea at a full tide for that there was a place not farre from Megara named Cales Dromos that is to say the race of the faire lady whereas the Megarians doe report that dame Ino carrying her yoong babe within her armes ranne and cast her-selfe headlong into the sea But it is a common received opinion quoth he that the pine is apropriat for the making of coronets in the honour of Neptune whereupon when as Lucanius the high-priest added moreover and said That the said tree being consecrated unto Bacchus it was no marvell nor absurditie if it were dedicared also to the honour of Melicerta Occasion was taken to search into the cause wherefore the auncients in old time held the said tree sacred unto Bacchus and Neptune both For mine owne part I saw no incongruitie therein for that these two gods be the lords and rulers over one genetall principle or element to wit humidity or moisture considering also that they generally in manner all sacrifice unto Neptune under the surname 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as one would say protectour of plants and unto Bacchus likewise by the name or addition 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is to say the president over trees and yet it may be said that the pine more particularly apperteineth not to Neptune not as Apollodorus is of opinion because it is a tree that loveth to grow by the sea-side or for that it delighteth in the windes as the sea doth for some there be of this minde but especially in this regard that it affoordeth good timber and other stuffe for building of ships for both it and also other trees which for their affinitie may goe for her sisters to wit pitch-trees larike-trees and cone-trees furnish us with their wood most proper to flote upon the sea and with their rosin also and pitch to calke and calfret without which composition be the joints never so good and close they are to no purpose in the sea as for Bacchus they consecrated the pitch-tree unto him for that pitch doth give a pleasant seasoning unto wine for looke where these trees doe naturally grow the vine there by report yeeldeth pleasant wine which Theophrastus imputeth to the heat of the soile for commonly the pitch tree groweth in places of marle or white clay which by nature