Selected quad for the lemma: cause_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
cause_n	wonder_n	world_n	worthy_a	13	3	6.0931	4	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A68475	Essays vvritten in French by Michael Lord of Montaigne, Knight of the Order of S. Michael, gentleman of the French Kings chamber: done into English, according to the last French edition, by Iohn Florio reader of the Italian tongue vnto the Soueraigne Maiestie of Anna, Queene of England, Scotland, France and Ireland, &c. And one of the gentlemen of hir royall priuie chamber; Essais. English	Montaigne, Michel de, 1533-1592.; Florio, John, 1553?-1625.; Hole, William, d. 1624, engraver.	1613 (1613)	STC 18042; ESTC S111840	1,002,565	644

But yet I doe it vpon condition that to the first that brings mee home againe and enquireth for the bare and simple truth at my hands I sodainely give over my hold and without exaggeration emphasis or amplification I yeeld both my selfe and it vnto him A lively earnest and ready speech as mine is easie transported vnto hyperboles There is nothing whereunto men are ordinarily more prone then to give way to their opinions Where ever vsuall meanes faile vs wee adde commandement force fire and sword It is not without some ill fortune to come to that passe that the multitude of believers in a throng where fooles doe in number so farre exceede the wise should bee the best touch-stone of truth Quasi verò quidquam sit tam valdè quàm nilsapere vulgare Sanitatis patrocinium est insanientium turba As though any thing were so common as to have no wit The multitude of them that are mad is a defence for them that are in their wits It is a hard matter for a man to resolve his judgement against common opinions The first perswasion taken from the very subject seizeth on the simple whence vnder th' authority of the number and antiquity of testimonies it extends it selfe on the wiser sort As for me in a matter which I could not believe being reported by one I should never credite the same though affirmed by a hundred And I judge not opinions by yeares It is not long since one of our Princes in whom the gowt had spoiled a gentle disposition and blithe composition suffered himselfe so farre to bee perswaded or mis-led by the report made vnto him of the wondrous deedes of a Priest who by way of charmes spells and gestures cured all diseases that hee vndertooke a long-tedious jonrny to finde him out and by the vertue of his apprehension did so perswade and for certaine houres so ●ull his legs asleepe that for a while hee brought them to doe him that service which for a long time they had forgotten Had fortune heaped five or six like accidents one in the necke of another they had doubtlesse beene able to bring this miracle into nature Whereas afterward there was so much simplicity and so little skill found in the architect of these workes that he was deemed vnworthy of any punishment As likewise should bee done with most such-like things were they throughly knowen in their nature Miramur ex intervallo fallentia Wee wonder at those things that deceive vs by distance Our sight doth in such sort often represent vs a farre-off with strange images which vanish in approaching neerer Nnnquam ad liquidum fama perducitur Fame is never brought to be cleare It is a wonder to see how from many vaine beginnings and frivolous causes so famous impressions doe ordinarily arise and ensue Even that hindereth the information of them For whilst a man endevoureth to finde out causes forcible and weighty ends and worthy so great a name hee looseth the true and essentiall They are so little that they escape our sight And verily a right wise heedy and subtile inquisitor is required in such questings imparciall and not preoccupated All these miracles and strange events are vntill this day hidden from me I have seene no such monster or more expresse wonder in this world then my selfe With time and custome a man doth acquaint and enure him selfe to all strangenesse But the more I frequent and know my selfe the more my deformity astonieth me and the lesse I vnderstand my selfe The chiefest priviledge to produce and advance such accidents is reserved vnto fortune Travelling yesterday thorough a village within two leagues of my house I found the place yet warme of a miracle that was but newly failed and discovered wherewith all the country thereabout had for many months beene ammused and abused and diverse bordering Provinces began to listen vnto it and severall troupes of all qualities ceased not thicke and threefold to flocke thither A yong man of that towne vndertooke one night in his owne house never dreaming of any knavery to counterfeit the voice of a spirit or ghost but onely for sport to make himselfe merry for that present which succeeding better then he had imagined to make the jest extend further and himselfe the merrier he made a country-maiden acquainted with his devise who because she was both seely and harmelesse consented to beesecret and to second him In the end they got another and were now three all of one age and like sufficiency and from private spirit-talking they beganne with hideous voices to cry and roare aloud and in and about churches hiding themselves vnder the chiefe Altar speaking but by night forbidding any light to bee set vp From speeches tending the worldes subversion and threatning of the day of judgement which are the subjects by whose authority and abusive reverence imposture and illusion is more easily lurked they proceeded to certaine visions and strange gestures so foolish and ridiculous that ther is scarse any thing more grosse and absurd vsed among Children in their childish sports Suppose I pray you that fortune would have seconded this harmelesse devise or jugling tricke Who knoweth how farre it would have extended and to what it would have growen The poore seely three Divels are now in prison and may happily e're long pay deere for their common sottishnesse and I wot not whether some cheverell judge or other will bee avenged of them for his It is manifestly seene in this which now is discovered as also in divers other things of like quality exceeding our knowledge I am of opinion that we vphold our judgement as well to reject as to receive Many abuses are engendered in the World or to speake more boldly all the abuses of the World are engendered vpon this that we are taught to feare to make profession of our ignorance and are bound to accept and allow all that wee cannot refute Wee speake of all things by precepts and resolution The Stile of Rome did beare that even the same that a witnes deposed because he had seene it with his owne eyes and that which a Iudge ordained of his most assured knowledge was conceived in this form of speech It seemeth so vnto me I am drawen to hate likely things when men goe about to set them downe as infallible I love these wordes or phrases which mollifie and moderate the temerity of our propositions It may be Peradventure In some sort Some It is saide I thinke and such like And had I beene to instruct children I would so often have put this manner of answering in their mouth enquiring and not resolving What meanes it I vnderstand it not It may well bee Is it true that they should rather have kept the forme of learners vntill three score yeeres of age than present themselves Doctors at ten as many doe Whosoever will be cured of ignorance must confesse the same Iris is the daughter of Thaumantis Admiration is the ground of all

will enforce and ioyne our soules to cur Creator should be a bond taking his doubling and forces not from our considerations reasons and passions but from a divine and supernaturall compulsion having but one forme one countenance and one grace which is the authoritie and grace of God Now our heart being ruled and our soule commaunded by saith reason willeth that she drawes all our other parts to the service of her intent according to their power and facultie Nor is it likely but that this vast worldesframe must beare the impression of some markes therein imprinted by the hand of this great-wondrous Architect and that even in all things therein created there must be some image somewhat resembling and having coherencie with the workeman that wrought and framed them Hee hath left imprinted in these high and misterious workes the characters of his divinitie and onely our imbecilitie is the cause wee can nor discover nor reade them It is that which himselfe telleth vs That by his visible operations hee doeth manifest th●se that are invisible to vs. Sebond hath much travelled about this woorthie studie and sheweth vs That there is no parcell of this world that either beiyeth or shameth his Maker It were a manifest wronging of Gods goodnesse if all this vniverse did not consent and simpathize with our beliefe Heaven earth the elements our bodies our soule yea all things-else conspire and agree vnto-it onely the meanes how to make vse of them must be found out They will instruct vs sufficiently be we but capable to learne and apt to vnderstand For this world is a most holy Temple into which man is brought there to behold Statues and Images not wrought by mortall hand but such as the secret thought of God hath made sensible as the Sunne the Starres the Waters and the Earth thereby to represent the intelligible vnto vs. The invisible things of God saith Saint Paul doe evidently appeare by the creation o● the world iudgeing of his eternall Wisedome and Divinity by his workes Atque adeo faciem coeli non invidet orbi Ipse deus vultusque suos corpúsque recludit Semper voluend● seque ipsum inculcat offert Vt bene cognosci possit doc●á●que videndo Qualis ent doceâ●que suas attendere leges God to the world doth not heav'ns face envie But by still mooving it doth notifie His face and essence doth himselfe applie That he may well be knowen and teach by seeing How he goes how we should marke his decreeing Now our reason and humane discourse is as the lumpish and barren matter and the grace of God is the forme thereof T' is that which giveth both fashion and worth vnto it Even as the vertuous actions of Socrates and Cato are but frivolous and profitable because they had not their end and regarded not the love and obedience of the true creator of all things and namely because they were ignorant of the true knowledge of God So is it of our imaginations and discourse they haue a kind of body but a shapelesse masse without light or fashion vnlesse faith and the grace of God be joyned thereunto Faith giving as it were a tincture and lustre vnto Sebonds arguments make them the more firme and solide They may well serve for a direction and guide to a yong learner to lead and set him in the right way of this knowledge They in some sort fashion and make him capable of the grace of God by meanes whereof our beliefe is afterward atchieved and made perfect I know a man of authority brought vp in letters who confessed vnto me that he was reclaimed from out the errours of mis-beleeving by the Arguments of Sebond And if it happen they be dispoyled of this ornament and of the helpe and approbation of faith and taken but for meere humane fantazies yet to combate those that headlong are fallen into the dreadfull error and horrible darkenesse of irreligion even then shall they be found as firme and forcible as any other of that condition that may be opposed against them So that we shall stand vpon termes to say vnto our parties Si melius quid habes accerse vel imperiumfer If you have any better send for me Or else that I bid you contented be Let them either abide the force of our proofes of shew vs some others vpon some other subject better compact and more full I have in a maner vnawares halfe engaged my selfe in the second objection to which I had purposed to frame an answer for Sebond Some say his Arguments are weake and simple to verifie what he would and vndertake to front him easily Such fellowes must somewhat more roughly be handled for they are more dangerous and more malicious then the first Man doth willingly apply other mens sayings to the advantage of the opinions he hath fore-judged in himselfe To an Atheist all writings make for Atheisme He with his owne Venome infecteth the innocent matter These have some preoccupation of judgement that makes their taste wallowish and tastelesse to conceive the reasons of Sebond As for the rest they thinke to have faire play offered them if they have free liberty to combate our religion with meere worldly weapons which they durst not charge did they behold hir in hir Majesty full of authority and commandement The meanes I vse to suppresse this frenzy and which seemeth the fittest for my purpose is to crush and trample this humane pride and fiercenesse vnder-foote-to make them feele the emptinesse vacuitie and no worth of man and violently to pull out of their hands the silly weapons of their reason to make them stoope and bite and snarle at the ground vnder the authority and reverence of Gods Majesty Onely to hir belongeth science and wisedome it is she alone can judge of hir selfe and from hir we steale whatsoever we repute value and count our selves to be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Of greater better wiser minde than he God can abide no mortall man should be Let vs suppresse this over-weening the first foundation of the tyrannie of the wicked spirit Deus superbis resistit humilibus autem dat gratiam God resisteth the proud but giveth grace to the humble Plato saith That intelligence is in all the Gods but little or nothing at all in men Meane-while it is a great comfort vnto a Christian man to see our mortall implements and fading tooles so fitly sorted to our holy and divine faith that when they are employed to the mortal and fading subjects of their Nature they are never more forcibly nor more joyntlie appropriated vnto them Let vs then see whether man hath any other stronger reasons in his power then Sebondes and whether it lie in him by argument or discourse to come to any certainty For Saint Augustine pleading against these kind of men because he would vpbraide them with their injustice in that they hold the partes of our beliefe to be false and that our reason

faileth in establishing them And to shew that many things may be and have beene whereof our discourse can never ground the nature and the causes He proposeth and setteth downe before them certaine knowen and vndoubted experiments wherein man confesseth to see nothing which he doth as all things else with a curious and ingenious serch More must be done and they must be taught that to convince the weakenesse of their reason we neede not goe far to cull out rare examples And that it is so defective and blinde as there is no facility so cleare that is cleare enough vnto hir that easie and vneasie is all one to hir that all subjects equally and Nature in Generall disavoweth hir jurisdiction and inter position What preacheth truth vnto vs when it biddeth vs flie and shun worldly Philosophy when it so often telleth vs that all our wisdome is but folly before God that of all vanities man is the greatest that man who presumeth of his knowledge doth not yet know what knowledge is and that man who is nothing if he but thinke to be something seduceth and deceiveth himselfe These sentences of the Holy Ghost doe so lively and manifestly expresse what I would maintaine as I should neede no other proofe against such as with all submission and obeysance would yeeld to his authority But these will needes be whipt to their owne Cost and cannot abide their reason to be combated but by it selfe Let vs now but consider man alone without other help armed but with his owne weapons and vnprovided of the grace and knowledge of God which is all his honour all his strength and all the ground of his being Let vs see what hold-fast or free-hold he hath in this gorgeous and goodly equipage Let him with the vtmost power of his discourse make me vnderstand vpon what foundation he hath built those great advantages and ods he supposeth to have over other creatures Who hath perswaded him that this admirable mooving of heavens-vaults that the eternal light of these lampes so fiercely rowling over his head that the horror-moving and continuall motion of this infinite vaste Ocean were established and continue so many ages for his commoditie and service Is it possible to imagine any thing so ridiculous as this miserable and wretched creature which is not so much as maister of himselfe exposed and subject to ●ffences of all things and yet dareth call himselfe Maister and Emperour of this Vniverse In whose power it is not to know the least part of it much lesse to command the same And the priviledge which he so fondly challengeth to be the onely absolute creature in this huge worlds-frame perfectly able to know the absolute beautie and severall partes thereof and that he is only of power to yeeld the great Architect thereof due thankes for it and to keepe account both of the receipts and layings out of the world Who hath sealed him this patent Let him shew vs his letters of priviledge for so noble and so great a charge Have they beene granted onely in favour of the wise Then concerne they but a few Are the foolish and wicked worthy of so extraordinary a favour Who being the worst part of the world should they be preferred before the rest Shall we beleeve him Quorum igitur causa quis dixeri● effectum esse mundum Eorum scilicet animantium quaeratione ●tuntur Hisunt dij homines quibus profectò nihil est melius For whose cause then shall a man say that the world was made In sooth for those creatures sake which have the vse of reason Those are Gods and men then whom assuredly nothing is better We shall never sufficiently baffle the impudency of this conjoyning But silly wretch what hath he in him worthy such an advantage To consider the incorruptible life of the celestial bodies their beauty greatnesse and agitation continued with so just and regular a course cum suspicimus magni coelestia mundi Templa super stellisque micantibus Aethera fixum Et venit in mentem Lune Solisque viarum When we of this great world the heavenly-temples see Above vs and the skies with shine-starres fixt to be And marke in our discourse Of Sunne and Moone the course To consider the power and domination these bodies have not onely vpon our lives and condition of our fortune Facta et●nim vitas hominum suspendit ab astris For on the stars he doth suspend Of men the deedes the lives and end But also over our dispositions and inclinations our discourses and wils which they rule provoke and moove at the pleasure of their influences as our reason findes and teacheth vs. speculat ●que longé ●●prendi tacit is dominantia legibus astra Et totum alterna mundum ratione m●veri Fatorúmque vices cersis discern●re signis By speculation it from far discern's How star's by secret lawes do guide our sterns And this whole world is moov'd by entercourse And by sure signes of fates to know the course Seeing that not a man alone nor a King only But Monarchies and Empires yea and all this world below is mooved at the shaking of one of the least heavenly motions Quantaque quàm par vifaciant discrimina motus Tantum est hoc regnum quod regibus imper at ipsis How little motions make how different affection So great this kingdome is that hath Kings in subjection If our vertue vices sufficiency and knowledge and the same discourse we make of the power of the starres and the comparison betweene them and vs commeth as our reason judgeth by their meane and through their favour furit alter amore Et pontu●s tranare potest vertere Troiam Alteriussors est scribendis legibus apta Ecce patrem nati perimunt nat òs● parentes Mutuáque armati coeunt in vulner a fratres Non nostrum hoc bellum est coguntur tanta mov●re Inque suas f●rri poenas lacer and áque membra Hoc quoque fatale est sic ipsum expendere fatum One with love madded his love to enjoy Can crosse the seas and over-turne all Troy Anothers lot is to set lawes severe Loesonnes kill fathers fathers sonnes destroy Brothers for mutuall wounds their armes doe beare Such war is not our owne forc't are we to it Drawne to our owne paines our owne limbes to teare Fates so t' observe t' is fatall we must doe it If we hold that portion of reason which we have from the distribution of heaven how can she make vs equall vnto it How can she submit his essence and conditions vnto our knowledge Whatsoever we behold in those huge bodies doth affright vs Quae molitio quae ferrament● qui victes quae machinae qui ministri tant i operis fuerunt What workemanship What yron-braces What maine beames what engines What Masons and Carpenters were to so great a worke Why doe we then deprive them of soule of life and of discourse Have we

nihil tale apud Graecos pudori est ea deformaebat He imparts the matter to Ariston a Player of tragedies whose progenie and fortune were both honest nor did his profession disgrace them because no such matter is a disparagement amongst the Graecians And I have ever accused them of impertinencie that condemne and disalow such kindes of recreations and blamed those of injustice that refuse good and honest Comedians or as we call them Players to enter our good townes and grudge the common people such publike sports Politike and wel-ordered commonwealths endevor rather carefully to vnite and assemble their Citizens together as in serious offices of devotion so in honest exercises of recreation Common societie and loving friendship is thereby cherished and increased And besides they cannot have more formall and regular pastimes allowed them then such as are acted and represented in open view of all and in the presence of the magistrates themselves And if I might beare sway I would thinke it reasonable that Princes should sometimes at their proper charges gratifie the common people with them as an argument of a fatherly affection and loving goodnesse towards them and that in populous and frequented cities there should be Theatres places appointed for such spectacles as a diverting of worse inconveniences and secret actions But to come to my intended purpose there is no better way then to allure the affection and to entice the appetite otherwise a man shall breede but asses laden with Bookes With jerkes of roddes they have their satchels full of learning given them to keepe Which to do well one must not onely harbor in him-selfe but wed and mary the same with his minde The six and twentieth Chapter It is follie to referre Truth or Falsehood to our sufficiencie IT is not peradventure without reason that we ascribe the facilitie of beleeving and easines of perswasion vnto simpl● c●tie and ignorance For me semeth to have learn theretofore that beliefe was as it were an impression conceiued in our minde and according as the same was found either more soft or of leue resistance it was easier to imprint any thing therein Venecesse est lancem in libra po●deribus impositis deprimi sic animum perspicuis cedere As it is necessarie a scale must goe downe the balla●●c when weights are put into it so must a minde yeelde to things that are manifest Forasmuch therefore as the minde being most emptie and without counterpoize so much the more easily doth it yeeld vnder the burthen of the first perswasion And that 's the reason why children those of the common sort women and sickefolks are so subject to be n●is-led and so easie to swallow gudgeons Yet on the other side it is a sottish presumption to disdaine and condemn that for false which vnto vs seemeth to beare no shew of likelihood or truth which is an ordinarie fault in those who perswade themselves to be of more sufficienc●e than the vulgar sort So was I sometimes wont to doe and if I heard any body speake either of ghosts walking of foretelling future things of enchantments of witchcrafts or any other thing reported which I could not well conceive or that was beyond my reach Somnia terrores magicos miracula sagas Nocturnos lemures portentáque Thessali Dreames magike terrors witches vncouth-wonders Night-walking sprites Thessalian conjur'd thunders I could not but feele a kinde of compassion to see the poore and seely people abused with such follies And now I perceive that I was as much to be moaned my-selfe Not that experience hath since made me to discerne any thing beyond my former opinions yet was not my curiositie the cause of it but reason hath taught me that so resolutely to condemne a thing for false and impossible is to assume vnto himselfe the advantage to have the bounds and limits of Gods will and of the power of our common mother Nature tied to his sleeue And that there is no greater folly in the world then to reduce them to the measure of our capacitie and bounds of our sufficiencie If we terme those things monsters or miracles to which our reason cannot attaine how many such doe daily present themselves vnto our sight Let vs consider through what clowdes and how blinde-folde we are led to the knowledge of most things that passe our hands verily we shall finde it is rather custome than science that remooveth the strangenesse of them from-vs iam nemo fessus saturúsque viden●i Suspicere in caeli dignatur lucida templa Now no man tir'd with glut of contemplation Deignes to have heav'ns bright Church in admiration And that those things were they newly presented vnto vs wee should doubtlesse deeme them as much or more vnlikely and incredible then any other si nunc primùm mortalibus adsint Ex improviso ceu sint obiecta repentè Nil magis his rebus poterat mirabile dici Aut minus antè quod auderent fore credere gentes If now first on a sudden they were here Mongst mortal men object to eie or care Nothing than these things would more wondrous bee Or that men durst lesse thinke ever to see He who had never seene a river before the first he saw he thought it to be the Ocean and things that are the greatest in our knowledge we judge them to be the extreamest that nature worketh in that kinde Scilicet fluvius qui non est maximus ei est Qui non antè aliquem maior em vidit ingens Arbor homóque videtur omnia de genere omni Maxima quae vidit quisque haec ingentia fingit A streame none of the greatest may so seeme To him that never saw a greater streame Trees men seeme huge and all things of all sorts The greatest one hath seene he huge reports Consuetudine oculorum assuescunt animi neque admirantur neque requirunt rationes carum rerum quas semper vident Mindes are acquainted by cust●me of their eies nor doe they admire or enquire the reason of those things which they continually behold The noveltie of things doth more incite vs to search-out the causes than their greatnesse we must judge of this infinit power of nature with more reverence and with more acknowledgement of our owne ignorance and weakenesse How many things of small likelihood are there witnessed by men woorthie of credit whereof if we cannot be perswaded we should at least leave them insuspence For to deeme them impossible is by rash presumption to presume and know how farre possibilitie reacheth If a man did well vnderstand what difference there is betweene impossibilitie and that which is vnwonted and betweene that which is against the course of nature and the common opinion of men in not beleeving rashly and in not disbeleeving easily the rule of Nothing too-much commanded by Chilon should be observed When we finde in Froysard that the Earle of Foix being in Bearn had knowledge of the

he will presently devise what he thinketh good whereby they often invent that such a one seemeth to aske him forgivenesse that wrongeth him by his Letter To conclude he never lookes into his owne businesse but by a disposed designed and as much as may be pleasing image so contrived by such as are about him because they will not stirre vp his choler moove his impatience and exasperate his frowardnesse I have seene vnder different formes many long and constant and of like effect oeconomies It is ever proper vnto women to be read●ly bent to contradict and crosse their husbands They will with might and maine hand-over head take hold of any colour to thwart and withstand them the first excuse they meete with serves them as a plenary justification I have seene some that would in grosse steale from their husbands to the end as they tolde their Confessors they might give the greater almes Trust you to such religious dispensations They thinke no liberty to have or managing to possesse sufficient authority if it come from their husbands consent They must necessarily vsurpe it either by wily craft or maine force and ever injuriously thereby to give it more grace and authority As in my Discourse when it is against a poore old man and for children then take they hold of this Title and therewith gloriously serve their turne and passion and as in a common servitude easily vsurpe and monopolize against his government and domination If they be men-children tall of good spirit and forward then they presently suborne either by threats force or favour both Steward Bail●ffe Clarke Receiver and all the Fathers Officers and Servants Such as have neither wife nor children doe more hardly fall into this mischiefe but yet more cruelly and vnworthily Old Cato was wont to say So many servants so many enemies Note whether according to the distance that was betweene the purity of his age and the corruption of our times he did not fore-warne vs that Wives Children and Servants are to vs so many enemies Well fittes it decrepitude to store vs with the sweet benefite of ignorance and vnperceiving facility wherewith we are deceived If we did yeeld vnto it what would become of vs Doe we not see that even then if we have any suites in law or matters to be decided before judges both Lawyers and Iudges will commonly take part with and favour our childrens causes against vs as men interessed in the same And if I chance not to spie or plainely perceive how I am cheated cozoned and beguiled I must of necessitie discover in the end how I am subject and may be cheated beguiled and cozoned And shall the tongue of man ever bee able to expresse the vnvaluable worth of a frend in comparison of these civill bondes The lively image and Idea whereof I perceive to be amongst beasts so vnspotted Oh with what religion doe I respect and observe the same If others deceive me yet do I not deceive my selfe to esteeme my selfe capable and of power to looke vnto my selfe nor to trouble my braines to yeeld my selfe vnto it I doe beware and keepe my selfe from such treasons and cunny-catching in mine owne bosome not by an vnquiet and tumultuary curiosity but rather by a diversion and resolution When I heare the state of any one reported or discoursed of I ammuse not my selfe on him but presently cast mine eyes on my selfe and all my wits together to see in what state I am and how it goeth with me Whatsoever concerneth him the same hath relation to me His fortunes forewarne me and summon vp my spirites that way There is no day nor houre but we speake that of others we might properly speake of our selves could we as well enfold as we can vnfould our consideration And many Authours doe in this maner wound the protection of their cause by over-rasnly running against that which they take hold-of thirling such darts at their enemies that might with much more advantage be cast at them The Lord of Monluc late one of the Lord Marshals of France having lost his sonne who died in the Iland of Madera a worthy forward and gallant yoong gentleman and truely of good hope amongst other his griefes and regrets did greatly moove me to condole the infinite displeasure and heartes-sorrow that he felt in asmuch as he had never communicated and opened himselfe vnto him for with his austere humour and continuall endevoring to hold a grimme-sternfatherly gravity over him he had lost the meanes perfectly to finde and throughly to know his sonne and so to manifest vnto him the extreame affection he bare him and the worthy judgement he made of his vertue Alas was he wont to say the poore lad saw never any thing in me but a severe-surly-countenance full of disdaine and happily was possessed with this conceit that I could neither love nor esteeme him according to his merits Ay-me to whom did I reserve to discover that singular and loving affection which in my soule I bare vnto him Was it not he that should have had all the pleasure and acknowledgement thereof I have forced and tormented my selfe to maintaine this vaine maske and have vtterly lost the pleasure of his conversation and therwithal his good will which surely was but faintly cold towards me forsomuch as he never received but rude entertainement of mee and never felt but a tyrannicall proceeding in me towards him I am of opinion his complaint was reasonable and well grounded For as I know by certaine experience there is no comfort so sweete in the losse of friends as that our owne knowledge or conscience tels vs we never omitted to tell them every thing and expostulate all matters vnto them and to have had a perfect and free communication with them Tell me my good friend am I the better or the worse by having a taste of it Surely I am much the better His griefe doth both comfort and honour mee Is it not a religious and pleasing office of my life for ever to make the obsequies thereof Can there be any pleasure worth this privation I doe vnfold and open my selfe as much as I can to mine owne people and willigly declare the state of my will and judgment toward them as commonly I doe towards all men I make haste to produce and present my selfe for I would have no man mistake me in what part soever Amongst other particular customes which our ancient Gaules had as Caesar affirmeth this was one that children never came before their fathers nor were in any publicke assembly seene in their company but when they began to beare armes as if they would infer that then was the time fathers should admit them to their acquaintance and familiarity I have also observed another kinde of indiscretion in some fathers of our times who during their owne life would never be induced to acquaint or impart vnto their children that share or portion which by the Law of Nature they were to

constant authors of the contempt of glory And amongst all sensualities they said there was none so dangerous nor so much to be avoided as that which commeth vnto vs by the approbation of others Verily experience makes vs thereby feele and vndergoe many domageable treasons Nothing so much empoisoneth Princes as flattery Nor nothing whereby the wicked-minded gaine so easie credite about them nor any enticement so fit nor pandership so ordinary to corrupt the chastitie of women then to feede and entertaine them with their praises The first enchantment the Syrens employed to deceive V●●sses is of this nature Deca vers nous deca o treslevable Vlisse Et le plus grand honneur dont sa Grece fleurisse Turne to vs to vs turne Vlisses thrice-renowned The principall renowne wherewith all Greece is crowned Philosophers said that all the worlds glory deserved not that a man of wisedome should so much as stretch forth his finger to acquire it Gloria quantalibet quid erit si gloria tantùm est Never so glorious name What i st be it but fame I say for it alone for it drawes many commodities after it by which it may yeeld it selfe desirable It purchaseth vs good will It makes vs lesse exposed to others injuries and offences and such like things It was also one of the principall decrees of Epicurus for that precept of his Sect HIDE THY LIFE which forbiddeth men to meddle with publike charges and negotiations doth also necessarily presuppose that a man should despise glory which is an approbation the world makes of those actions we give evidence of He that bids vs to hide our life and care but for our selves and would not have vs know of others would also have vs not to be honoured and glorified thereby So doth he counsell Idomeneus by no meanes to order his actions by the vulgar opinion and publike reputation vnlesse it be to avoide other accidentall incommodities which the contempt of men might bring vnto him Those discourses are in mine advise very true and resonable But I wot not how wee are double in our selves which is the cause that what wee beleeve wee beleeve it not and cannot rid our selves of that which we condemne Let vs consider the last words of Epicurus and which hee speaketh as hee is dying they are notable and woorthy such a Philosopher but yet they have some badge of his names commendations and of the humour which by his precepts he had disauowed Behold heere a letter which hee endited a little before hee yeelded vp his ghost Epicurus to Hermachus health and greeting Whilst I passed the happy and even the last day of my life I writ this accompanied neverthelesse with such paine in my bladder and anguish in my entrails that nothing can be added to the greatnesse of it yet was it recompenced with the pleasure which the remembrance of my inuentions and discourses brought vnto my soule Now as requireth the affection which even from the infancie thou hast borne me and Philosophy embrace the protection of Metrodorus his children Loe here his letter And which makes me interpret that the pleasure which in his soule he saith to feele of his inventions doth in some sort respect the reputation which after his death he thereby hoped to attaine is the ordinance of his last will and testament by which he willeth that Aminomachus and Timocretes his heires should for the celebration of his birth-day every month of Ianuary supply all such charges as Hermachus should appoint And also for the expence hee might bee at vpon the twentieth of every Moone for the feasting and entertainment of the Philosophers his familiar friendes who in the honour of his memorie and of Metrodorus should meete together Carneades hath beene chiefe of the contrary opinion and hath maintained that glory was in it selfe to be desired even as we embrace our posthumes for themselves having neither knowledge nor jovissance of them This opinion hath not missed to be more commonly followed as are ordinarily those that fit most and come neerest our inclinations Aristotle amongst externall goods yeeldeth the first ranke vnto it And avoideth as two extreame vices the immoderation either in seeking or avoiding it I believe that had we the bookes which Cicero writ vpon this subject wee should heare strange matters of him for he was so fond in this passion as had he dared he would as I thinke have easily falne into the excesse that others fell in which is that even vertue was not to be desired but for the honour which ever waited on it Paulum sepultae distat inertiae Celata virtus There is but little difference betweene Vertue conceald vnskilfulnesse vnseene Which is so false an opinion as I am vexed it could ever enter a mans vndestanding that had the honour to beare the name of a Philosopher If that were true a man needed not to be vertuous but in publike and we should never neede to keepe the soules-operations in order and rule which is the true feate of vertue but onely so much as they might come to the knowledge of others Doth then nothing else belong vnto it but craftily to faile and subtilly to cozen If thou knowest a Serpent to be hidden in any place saith Carneades to which he by whose death thou hopest to reape commodity goeth vnawares to sit vpon thou committest a wicked act if thou warne him not of it and so much the more because thy action should be known but to thy self If we take not the law of wel-doing from our selves If impunity be justice in vs to how many kindes of trecheries are we daily to abandon our selves That which Sp. Peduceus did faithfully to restore the riches which C. Plotius had committed to his only trust and secrecie and as my selfe have done often I thinke not so commendable as I would deeme it execrable if we had not done it And I think it beneficial we should in our dayes be mindefull of Publius Sextilius Rufus his example whom Cicero accuseth that he had received a great inheritance against his conscience Not only repugnant but agreeing with the lawes And M. Crassus and Q. Hortensius who by reason of their authority and might having for certaine Quidities beene called by a stranger to the succession of a forged will that so he might make his share good they were pleased not to be partakers of his forgery yet refused not to take some profite of it Very closely had they kept themselves vnder the countenance of the accusations witnesses and lawes Meminerint Deum se habere testem id est vt Ego arbitror mentem suam Let them remember they have God to witnsse that is as I construe it their owne minde Vertue is a vaine and frivolous thing if it draw hir commendation from glorie In vaine should we attempt to make hir keepe hir rancke apart and so should we disjoyne it from fortune for What is more casuall than reputation Profecto

I considered by how flight causes and friuolous obiects imagination nourished in mee the griefe to loose my life with what Atomes the consequence and difficulty of my dislodging was contriued in my minde to what idle conceits and friuolous cogitations we giue place in so waighty a case or important affaire A Dogge a Horse a Hare a Glasse and what not were corrupted in my losse To others their ambitious hopes their purse their learning In my minde as sottishly I view death carelessely when I behould it vniuersally as the end of life I ouerwhelme and contemne it thus in great by retayle it spoyles and proules me The teares of a Lacquey the distributing of my cast sutes the touch of a knowne hand an ordinary consolation doth disconsolate and ●ntende● me So doe the plaints and of fables trouble and vex our mindes and the wailing laments of Dydo and Ariadne passionare euen those that beleeue them not in Virgill nor in Catullus It is an argument of an obstinate nature and indurate hart not to be mooued therewith as for a wonder they report of Polemon who was not so much as appaled as the biting of a Dog who tooke away the braune or calfe of his leg And no wisedome goeth so far as by the due iudgement to conceiue aright the euident cause of a Sorrow and griefe so liuely and wholly that it suffer or admit noe accession by presence when eyes and eares haue their share therein parts that cannot be agitated but by vaine accidents Is it reason that euen arts should serue their purposes and make their profit of our imbecility and naturall blockishnes An Orator saith Rethorick in the play of his pleading shall bee mooued at the sound of his owne voice and by his fained agitations and suffer himselfe to be cozoned by the passion he representeth imprinting a liuely and essentiall sorrow by the iugling he acteth to transferre it into the iudges whome of the two it concerneth lesse As the persons hyred at our funerals who to ayde the ceremony of mourning make sale of their teares by measure of their sorrow by waight For although they striue to act it in a borrowed forme yet by habituating and ordering their countenance it is certaine they are often wholly transported into it and entertaine the impression of a true and vnfained melancholly I assisted amongst diuers others of his friends to conuay the dead corpes of the Lord of Grammont from the siege of Laferre where hee was vntimely slaine to Soissous I noted that euery where as we passed a long we filled wth lamentation and teares all the people we met by the onely shewe of our conuoyes mourning attire for the deceased mans name was not so much as knowne or hard of about those quarters Quintilian reporteth to haue seene Comediants so farre ingaged in a sorrowfull part that they wept after being come to their lodgings and of himselfe that hauing vndertaken to mooue a certaine passion in another hee had found himselfe surprised not onely with shedding of teares but with a palenesse of countenance and behauiour of a man truely deiected with griefe In a country neare our Mountaynes the women say and vnsay weepe and laugh with one breath as Martin the Priest for as for their lest husbands they encrease their way mentings by repetition of the good and gracefull parts they were endowed with therewithall vnder one they make publike relation of those imperfections to worke as it were some recompence vnto themselues and transchange their pitty vnto disdaine with a much better grace then we who when we loose a late acquaintance striue to loade him with new and forged prayses and to make him farre other now that we are depriued of his sight then hee seemed to bee when wee enioyed and beheld him As if mourning were an instructing party or teares cleared our vnderstanding by washing the same I renounce from this time forward all the fauourable testimonies any man shall affoorde mee not because I shall deserue them but because I shall bee dead If one demand that fellow what interest hee hath in such a siege The interest of example will bee say and common obedience of the Prince I nor looke nor pretend any benefit thereby and of glory I know how small a portion commeth to the share of a priuate man such as I am I haue neyther passion nor quarrell in the matter yet the next day shall you see him all changed and chafing boyling and blushing with rage in his ranke of battaile ready for the assault It is the glaring reflecting of so much steele the flashing thundering of the Cannon the clang of trumpers and the ratling of Drummes that haue infused this new furie and rankor in his swelling vaines A friuolous cause will you say How a cause There needeth none to excite our minde A doating humour without body without substance ouerswayeth and tosseth it vp and downe Let mee thinke of building Castles in Spayne my imagination will forge mee commodities and afforde mee meanes and delights wherewith my mynde is really tickled and essentially gladded How often doe wee pester our spirits with anger or sadnesse by such shaddowes and entangle our selues into fantasticall passions which alter both our mynde and bodye what astonished flearing and confused mumpes and mowes doth this dotage stirre vp in our visages what skippings and agitations of members and voyce seemes it not by this man alone that hee hath false visions of a multitude of other men with whome hee dooth negotiate or some inwarde Goblin that torments him Enquire of your selfe where is the object of this alteration Is there any thing but vs in nature except subsisting nullitye ouer whome it hath any power Because Cambyses dreamed that his brother should bee King of Persia hee put him to death a brother whom he loued and euer trusted Aristodemus King of the Messenians killed himselfe vpon a conceite he tooke of some ill presage by I know not what howling of his Dogs And King Midas did asmuch beeing troubled and vexed by a certaine vnpleasing dreame of his owne It is the right way to prize ones life at the right worth of it to forgo it for a dreame Heare notwithstanding our mindes triumph ouer the bodies weakenesses and misery in that it is the prey and marke of all wrongs and alterations to seede on and aime at It hath surely much reason to speake of it O prima infoelix fingenti terra Prometheo Ille parum cauti pectoris egit opus Corpora disponens ment em non vidit in arte Recta animi primum debuit esse via Vnhappy earth first by Prometheus formed Who of small providence a worke performed He framing bodies saw in arte no minde The mindes way first should rightly be assign'd The fifth Chapter Vpon some verses of Virgill PRofitable thoughts the more full and solide they are the more combersome and heauy are they vice death poverty and diseases are subjects that