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 thâ—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 oâ— 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 voluendâ— seque ipsum inculcat offert Vt bene cognosci possit docâ—áâ—que videndo Qualis ent doceââ—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
not runne on poste and at the houre appointed made the signe agreed vpon betweene vs I came and whispered him in the eare that vnder pretence to putvs all out of his chamber he should rise out of his bed and in jesting manner take my night-gowne which I had on and put it vpon himselfe which he might well doe because wee were much of one stature and keepe it on till he had performed my appointment which was that when we should be gone out of the Chamber he should with-draw himselfe to make water and vsing certaine jestures I had shewed him speake such words thrice over And every time hee spake them he should girt the ribband which I put into his handes and very carefully place the plate thereto fastned just vpon his kidneyes and the whole figure in such a posture All which when he had accordingly done and the last time so fastened the ribband that it might neither be vntide nor stirred from his place he should then boldely and confidently returne to his charge and not forget to spread my night-gowne vpon his bed but so as it might cover them both These fopperies are the chiefe of the effect Our thought being vnable so to free it selfe but some strange meanes will proceed from some abstruse learning Their inanitiâ— gives them weight and credite To conclude it is most certaine my Characters prooved more venerian than solare more in action than in prohibition It was a ready and curious humour drew me to this effect farre from my nature I am an enemie to craftie and fained actions and hate all suttletie in my handes not onely recreative but also profitable If the action be not vicious the course vnto it is faultie Amasis king of Aegypt tooke to wife Laodice a very beauteous yong virgine of Greece and he that before had in every other place found and shewed himselfe a lustie gallant found himselfe so si ort when he came to grapple with her that he threatned to kill her supposing it had beene some charme or sorcerie As in all things that consist in the fantasie she addrest him to devotion And having made his vowes and promises to Venus he found himselfe divinely freed even from the first night of his oblations and sacrifices Now they wrong vs to receive and admit vs with their wanton squeamish quarellous countenances which setting vs a fire extinguish vs. Pythagoras his neece was wont to say That a woman which lies with a man ought together with her petie-coate leave off all bashfulnesse and with her petie-coate take the same againe The minde of the assailant molested with sundry different alarums is easily dismaid And he whom imagination hath once made to suffer this shame and she hath caused the same to be felt but in the first acquaintances because they are then burning and violent and in the first acquaintance and comming together or triall a man gives of himselfe he is much more afraid and quaint to misse the marke he shootes at having begun ill he fals into an ague or spite of this accident which afterward continueth in succeeding occasions Married men because time is at their command and they may go to it when they list ought never to presse or importune their enterprise vnlesse they be readie And it is better vndecently to faile in hanseling the nuptiall bed full of agitation and fits by waiting for some or other fitter occasion and more private opportunitie lest sudden and alarmed then to fall into a perpetuall miserie by apprehending an astonishment and desperation of the first refusall Before possession taken a patient ought by sallies and divers times lightly assay and offer himselfe without vexing or opiniating himselfe definitively to convince himselfe Such as know their members docile and tractable by nature let them onely endevour to countercosin their fantasie Men haue reason to checke the indocile libertie of this member for so importunately insinuating himselfe when we have no neede of him and so importunately or as I may say impertinently failing at what time we have most neede of him and so imperiously contesting by his authority with ouâ— will refusing with such fiercenes and obstinacie our solâ—citations both mentall and manuall Neverthelesse if a man inasmuch as he doth gormandize and devour his rebellion and drawes a triall by his condemnation would pay me for to plead his cause I would peradventure make other of our members to be suspected to have in envy of his importance and sweetnesse of his vse devised this imposture and framed this set quarrell against him and by some malicious complot armed the world against him enviously charging him alone with a fault common to them all For I referre it to your thought whether there be any one particular part of our body that doth not sometimes refuse hir particular operation to our will and wish and that doth not often exercise and practise against our will All of them have their proper passions which without any leave of ours doe either awaken or lull them asleepe How often doe the forced motions and changes of our faces witnesse the secretest and most lurking thoughts we have and bewray them to by-standers The same cause that doth animate this member doth also vnwitting to vs embolden our heart our lungs and our pulses The sight of a pleasing object reflecting imperceptibly on vs the flame of a contagious or aguish emotion Is there nought besides these muscles and veines that rise and fall without the consent not onely of our will but also of our thought We cannot command our haire to stande an end nor our skinne to startle for desire or feare Our hands are often carried where we direct them not Our tongue and voice are sometimes to seeke of their faculties the one looseth her speech the other her nimblenesse Even when we have nothing to feede vpon we would willingly forbid it the appetites to eate or list to drinke doe not leave to moove the parts subject to them even as this other appetite and so though it be out of season forsaketh vs when he thinks good Those instruments that serve to discharge the belly have their proper compressions and dilatations besides our intent against our meaning as these are destined to discharge the kidneis And that which the better to authorize our willes power Saint Augustin alleadgeth to have seene one who could at all times command his posterior to let as many sâ—apes as he would and which Vives endeareth by the example of an other in his daies who could let tunable and organized ones following the tune of any voice propounded vnto his eares inferreth the pure obedience of that member than which none is commonly more indisâ—reâ—t and tumulâ—â—ous Seeing my selfe know one so skittish and mutinous that these fortie yeeres keepes his master in such awe that will he or nill he he will with a continuall breath constant and vnintermitted custome breake winde at his pleasure and so brings him to
the centre or to view the thing by some falce lustre He is pleased onely to warrant himselfe from trouble and vnrulines As for weaknes he acknowledgeth and ingeniously auoweth the same He thinkes to give a just interpetation to the apparances which his conception presents vnto him but they are shallow and imperfect Most of Aesopes fables have divers senses and severall interpretations Those which Mythologize them chuse some kinde of color well-suting with the fable but for the most part it is no other then the first and superficiall glosse There are others more quicke more sinnowie more essential and more internal into which they could never penetrate and thus thinke I with them But to follow my course I have ever deemed that in Poesie Virgil Lucretius Catullus and Horace doe doubtles by far hold the first ranke and especially Virgil in his Georgiks which I esteeme to be the most accomplished piece of worke of Poesie In comparison of which one may easily discerne that there are some passages in the Aeneidos to which the Author had he lived would no doubt have given some review or correction The fift booke whereof is in my mind the most absolutely perfect I also love Lucan and willingly read him not so much for his stile as for his owne worth and truth of his opinion and judgement As for good Terence I allow the quaintnes and grace of his Latin tongue and judge him wonderfull conceited and apt lively to represent the motions and pashions of the minde and the condition of our manners our actions make me often remember him I can never reade him so often but still I discover some new grace and beautie in him Those that lived about Virgils time complained that some would compare Lucretius vnto him I am of opinion that verily it is an vnequall comparison yet can I hardly assure my selfe in this opinion whensoever I find my selfe entangled in some notable passage of Lucretius If they were moved at this comparison what would they say now of the fond hardie and barbarous stupiditie of those which now adaies compare Ariosto vnto him Nay what would Artosto say of it himselfe O seclum insipiens infacâ—tum O age that hath no wit And small conceit in it I thinke our ancestors had also more reason to cry out against those that blushed not to equall Plautus vnto Terence who makes more shew to be a Gentleman then Lucretius vnto Virgil. This one thing doth greatly advantage the estimation and preferring of Terence that the father of the Roman eloquence of men of his quality doth so often make mention of him and the censure which the chiefe judge of the Roman Poets giveth of his companion It hath often come vnto my minde how such as in our daies giue themselues to composing of comedes as the Italians who are very happie in them employ three or foure arguments of Terence and Plautus to make vp one of theirs In one onely comedie they will huddle vp five or six of Bocaces tales That which makes them so to charge themselves with matter is the distrust they have of their owne sufficiency and that they are not able to vndergoe so heavie a burthen with their owne strength They are forced to finde a body on which they may rely and leane themselves and wanting matter of their owne wherewith to please vs they will have the story or tale to busie and ammuse vs where as in my Authors it is cleane contrary The elegancies the perfections and ornaments of his manner of speech make vs neglect and loose the longing for his subiect His quaintnesse and grace doe still retaine vs to him He is every where pleasantly conceited Liquidus puroque simillimus amni So clearely-neate so neately-cleare As he a fine-pure Riuer were and doth so replenish our minde with his graces that we forget those of the fable The same consideration drawes me somewhat further I perceive that good and ancient Poets have shunned the affectation and enquest not onely of fantasticall new fangled Spagniolized and Petrarchisticall elevations but also of more sweet and sparing inventions which are the ornament of all the Poeticall workes of succeeding ages Yet is there no competent judge that findeth them wanting in those ancient ones and that doth not much more admire that smoothly equall neatnesse continued sweetnesse and florishing comelinesse of Catullus his Epigrams then all the sharpe quippes and witty girds wherewith Martiall doth whet and embellish the conclusions of his It is the same reason I spake of erewhile as Martiall of himselfe Minus illi ingenio laborandum fuit in cuius locum materia successerat He needed the lesse worke with his wit in place whereof matter came in supply The former without being moved or pricked cause themselves to be heard lowd enough they have matter to laugh at every where and neede not tickle themselves where as these must have forraine helpe according as they have lesse spirit they must have more body They leape on horse-backe because they are not sufficiently strong in their legges to march on foot Even as in our dances those base conditioned men that keepe dancing-schooles because they are vnfit to represent the porte and decency of our nobility endevour to get commendation by dangerous lofty trickes and other strange tumbler-like friskes and motions And some Ladies make a better shew of their countenances in those dances wherein are divers changes cuttings turnings and agitations of the body then in some dances of state and gravity where they neede but simply to tread a natural measure represent an vnaffected cariage and their ordinary grace And as I have also seene some excellent Lourdans or Clownes attired in their ordinary worky-day clothes and with a common homely countenance affoord vs all the pleasure that may be had from their arte Prentises and learners that are not of so high a forme to besmeare their faces to disguise themselves and in motions to counterfeit strange visages and antickes to enduce vs to laughter This my conception is no where better discerned then in the comparison betweene Virgils Aeneidos and Orlando Furiosâ— The first is seene to soare aloft with full-spread wings and with so high and strong a pitch ever following his point the other faintly to hover and flutter from tale to tale and as it were skipping from bough to bough alwaies distrusting his owne wings except it be for some short flight and for feare his strength and breath should faile him to sit downe at every fields-end Excursúsque breves tent at Out-lopes sometimes he doth assay But very short and as he may Loe-here then concerning this kind of subjects what Authors please me best As for my other lesson which somewhat more mixeth profite with pleasure whereby I learne to range my opinions and addresse my conditions the Bookes that serve me thereunto are Plutarke since he spake French and Seneca Both have this excellent commodity for my humour
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 â—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 dixeriâ— effectum esse mundum Eorum scilicet animantium quaeratione â—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 etâ—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 â—que longé â—â—prendi tacit is dominantia legibus astra Et totum alterna mundum ratione mâ—veri Fatorúmque vices cersis discernâ—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 quà m 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 pontuâ—s tranare potest vertere Troiam Alteriussors est scribendis legibus apta Ecce patrem nati perimunt nat òsâ— parentes Mutuáque armati coeunt in vulner a fratres Non nostrum hoc bellum est coguntur tanta movâ—re Inque suas fâ—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 ferramentâ— 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
of the disease disperst through joints offends Driving the soule as in salt Seas the wave ascends Foming by furious force which the winde raging lends Now concerning this point Philosophie hath indeed armed man for the enduring of all other accidents whether of patience or if it be overcostly to be found of an infallible defeat in convaying her selfe altogether from the sense but they are meanes which serve a soule that is her owne and in her proper force capable of discourse and deliberation not to this inconvenience where with a Philosopher a soule becommeth the soule of a soole troubled vanquished and lost which divers occasions may produce as in an over-violent agitation which by some vehement passion the soule may beget in her selfe or a hurt in some part of the bodie or an exhalation from the stomack casting vs into some astonishment dazleing or giddinesse of the head morbis in corporis avius errat Saepe animus dementit enim deliráque fatur Interdúmque gravi Let hargo fertur in altum Aeternúmque soporem oculus nutúque cadenti The minde in bodies sicknesse often wandring strayes For it enraged rave's and idle talke outbrayes Brought by sharpe Lethargie sometime to more then deepe While eyes and eye-lids fall into eternall sleepe Philosophers have in mine opinion but slightly harp't vpon this string no more then an other of like consequence They have ever this Dilemma in their mouth to comfort our mortall condition The soule is either mortall or immortall if mortall she shall be without paine if immortall she shall mend They never touch the other branch What if she empaire and be worse And leave the menaces of future paines to Poets But thereby they deal themselves a good game They are two omissions which in their discourses doe often offer themselves vnto me I come to the first againe the soule looseth the vse of that Stoicall chiefe felicitie so constant and so firme Our goodly wisedome must necessarilie in this place yeeld her selfe and quit her weapons As for other matters they also considered by the vanitie of mans reason that the mixture and societie of two so different parts as is the mortall and the immortall is inimaginable Quippe etenim mortale aeterno iungere vnà Consentire putare fungi mutua posse Desipere est Quid enim diversius esse putandum est Aut magis inter se disiunctum discrepit ansque Quám mortale quod est immortali atque perenni Iunctum in concilio saevas tolerare procellas For what immortall is mortall to joyne vnto And thinke they can agree and mutuall duties do Is to be foolish For what thinke we stranger is More disagreeable or more disjoyn'd then this That mortall with immortall endlesse joyn'd in vnion Can most outragious stormes endure in their communion Moreover they felt their soule to be engaged in death as well as the bodie simul aevo fessa fatiscit It joyntly faint's in one Wearied as age is gone Which thing according to Zeno the image of sleep doth manifestly shew vnto vs. For he esteemeth that it is a fainting and declination of the soule aswell as of the bodie Contrabi animum quasi labi putat atque decidere He thinks the minde is contracted and doth as it were slide and fall downe And that which is perceived in some it's force and vigor maintaineth it selfe even in the end of life they referred and imputed the same to the diversitie of diseases as men are seen in that extremitie to maintaine some one sense and some another some their hearing and some their smelling without any alteration and there is no weaknesse or decay seen so vniversall but some entire and vigorous parts will remaine Non alio pacto quà m si pes cùm dolet aegri In nullo caput interea sit fortè dolore No otherwise then if when sick-mans foote doth ake Meane time perhaps his head no fellow-feeling take Our judgements sight referreth it selfe vnto truth as doth the Owles eyes vnto the shining of the Sunne as saith Aristotle How should we better convince him then by so grosse blindnesse in so apparant a light For the contrarie opinion of the soules immortalitie which Cicero saith to have first been brought in at least by the testimonie of books by Pherecydes Syrius in the time of King Tullus others ascribe the invention thereof to Thales and other to others it is the part of humane knowledge treated most sparingly and with more doubt The most constant Dogmatists namely in this point are inforced to cast themselves vnder the shelter of the Academikes wings No man knowes what Aristotle hath established vpon this subject no more then all the ancients in Generall who handle the same with a verie wavering beliefe Rem gratissimam promittentium magis quà m probantium Who rather promise then approve a thing most acceptable He hath hidden himselfe vnder the clouds of intricare and ambiguous words and vnintelligible senses and hath left his Sectaries as much cause to dispute vpon his judgement as vpon the matter Two things made this his opinion plausible to them the one that without the immortalitie of soules there should no meanes be left to ground or settle the vaine hopes of glorie a consideration of wonderfull credite in the world the other as Plato saith that it is a most profitable impression that views when they steal away from out the sight and knowledge of humane justice remaine ever as a blancke before divine justice which even after the death of the guiltie will severely pursue them Man is ever possessed with an extreame destre to prolong his being and hath to the vttermost of his skill provided for it Toombs and Monuments are for the preservation of his bodie and glorie for the continuance of his name He hath imployed all his wit to frame him selfe a-new as impacient of his fortune and to vnderprop or vphold himselfe by his inventions The soule by reason of hir trouble and imbecilitie as vnable to subsist of hir selfe is ever and in all places questing and searching comforts hopes foundations and forraine circumstances on which she may take hold and settle hir-selfe And how light and fantasticall soever his invention doth frame them vnto him he notwithstanding relieth more surely vpon them and more willingly than vpon himselfe But it is a wonder to see how the most obstinat in this so just and manifest perswasion of our spirits immortalitie have found themselves short and vnable to establish the same by their humane forces Somnia sunt non docentis sed optantis These are dreames not of one that teacheth but wisheth what he would have said an ancient writer Man may by his owne testimonie know that the trueth he alone discovereth the same he oweth vnto fortune and chance since even when she is falne into his hands he wanteth wherewith to lay hold on hir and keep hir and that this reason hath not the power to
provoked by the examples of others But it is a kinde of passion which vrgeth mooveth agitateth and in some sorte ravisheth her from out her selfe for that gust overblowne and storme past we see it will vnawares vnbend and loose it selfe if not to the lowest pitch at least to be no more the same she was so that vpon every slight occasion for a bird lost or for a glasse broken we suffer our selves to be mooved and distempered very neere as one of the vulgar sort Fxcept order moderation and constancie I imagine all things may bee done by an indifferent and defective man Therefore say wisemen that directly to judge of a man his common actions must specially be controuled and he must every day be surprised in his worky-day clothes Pyrrho who framed so pleasant a Science of ignorance assaide as all other true Philosophers to fashion his life answerable to his doctrine And forasmuch as hee maintained the weakenesse of mans judgement to be so extreame as it could take nor resolution nor inclination and would perpetually suspend it ballancing beholding and receiving all things as indifferent It is reported of him that he ever keept himselfe after one fashion looke and countenance If he had begunne a discourse he would end it though the party to whom he spake were gone And if he went any where he would not goe an inche out of his path what let or obstacle somever came in his way being kept from falls from cartes or other accidents by his friends For to feare or shunne any thing had beene to shocke his propositions which remooved all election and certainty from his very senses He sometimes suffered himselfe to be cut and cautherized with such constancie as he was never seene so much as to shrug twitch move or winke with his eyes It is something to bring the minde to these imaginations but more to joine the effects vnto it yet is it not impossible But to joyne them with such preseverance and constancie as to establish it for an ordinary course verily in these enterprises so farre from common vse it is almost incredible to be done The reason is this that he was sometimes found in his house bitterly scolding with his sister for which being reproved as hee that wronged his indifferencie What said hee must this seely woman also serve as a witnesse to my rules Another time being found to defend himselfe from a dog It is replied he very hard altogether to dispoyle and shake off man And man must endevour and enforce himselfe to resist and confront all things first by effects but if the worst befall by reason and by discourse It is now about seaven or eight yeares since that a countrie man yet living not above two leagues from this place having long before beene much vexed and troubled in minde for his wives jealousie one day comming home from his worke and she after her accustomed maner welcomming and entertaining him with brawling and scowlding as one vnable to endure her any longer fell into such a moodie rage that sodainely with a Sickle which he held in his hand he cleane cut off those parts that were the cause of her jealousie and flung them in her fâ—ce And it is reported that a yong gentleman of France amorous and lustie having by his perseverance at last mollified the hart of his faire mistresse desperate because comming to the point of his so long sued-for businesse he found himselfe vnable and vnprepared and that non viriliter Iners senilâ— penis extulerat caput as soone as he came home he deprived himselfe of it and sent it as a cruell and bloudy sacrifice for the expiation of his offence Had he done it by discourse or for religions sake as the priestes of Cybele were wont to do what might we not say of so haughty an enterprise Not long since at Bragerac five leagues-distance from my house vp the river of Dordaigne a woman having the evening before beene grievously tormented and sore beaten by hir husband froward and skittish by complexion determined though it should cost hir the price of hir life by one meane or other to escape his rudenesse and rising the next morning went as she was accustomed to visite hir neighbours to whom in some sort the recommended the state of hir affaires than taking a sister of hirs by the hand ledde hir along vntill shee came vppon the bridge that crosseth the River and having bid hir hartily farwell as in the way of sport without shewing any maner of change or alteration headlong threw hirselfe downe into the River where she perished And which is more to be noted in hir is that this hir determination ripened a whole night in hir head But the Indian Wives may not here be forgotten as worthy the noting Whose custome is that Husbands have many Wives and for hir that is dearest vnto hir Husband to kil hirselfe after him Every one in the whole course of hir life endevoreth to obtaine this priviledge and advantage over al hir fellow-wives And in the good offices and duties they shew their hubands respect no other recompence than to be preferred to accompany them in death Vbi mortifero iacta est fax vltima laecto Vxorum fusis stat pia turba comis Et certamen habent Laethi quae viva sequatur Coniugium pudor est non licuisse mori Ardent victrices flammae pectora praebent Imponúnt que suis or a perust a viris When for his death-bed last flame is appli'de With loose haires many kind wives stand be side And strive for death which alive may be next Hir wedlocke who may not is sham'd and vex't They that orecome are burn'd to flames give way Their bodies burnt on their burnt husbands lay A late Writer affirmeth that himselfe hath seene this custome highly reputed in the new discovered East Indiaes where not only the wives are buried with their husbands but also such slaves as hee hath enjoyed which is done after this manner The husband being deceased the widdow may if she will but fewe doe it request two or three Moneths space to dispose of hir busines The day come adorned as a sumptuous bride she mounteth on horsebacke and with a cheerful countenance tell eth every body she is going to lie with hir bride groome holding in her left hand a looking-glasse and an arrow in the right Thus having a while rid vp and downe in great pompe and magnificence accompanied with her friendes and kins-men and much concourse of people in feast and jolitie she is brought vnto a publike place purposely appointed for such spectacles Which is a large open place in the middest whereof is a pit or grave full of Wood and neere vnto it an vpraised scaffold with foure or five steppes to ascend vpon which she is brought and served with a stately and sumptuous banket Which ended she beginneth to dance and sing and when she thinks good commandeth the fire to be
furthest from my state There is nothing impossible for mee and me thinkes I can doe all things vppon a sodaine fitte so it continue not long Oh why have not I the gift of that dreamer mentioned by Cicero who dreaming that hee was closely embracing a yong wench found himselfe ridde of the stone in his sheets Mine doe strangely dis-wench me In the intermission or respites of this outragious pairre when as my Vreters through which the vrine passeth from the reines to the bladder languish without gnawing mee I sodainely returne into my ordinarie forme forsomuch as my mind taketh no other allarume but the sensible and corporall All which I certeinely owe vnto the care I have had to prepare my selfe by reason and discourse of such accidents laborum Nulla mihi nova nuncfacies inopináque surgit Omnia praecept at que animo mecum antè peregi No new or vnexpected forme is cast Of travels in my brest all I forecast In my minde with selfe I all forepast I am handled somewhat roughly for a Prentise and with a violent and rude change being at one instant falne from a very pleasing calme and most happy condition of life vnto the most doâ—orous yrkesome and painefull that can possibly be imaginad For besides that in it selfe it is a disease greatly to be feared it's beginnings or approaches are in mee sharper or more difficult than it is wont to trouble others withall The pangs and fittes thereof doe so often assaile mee that in a manner I have no more feeling of perfect health Notwithstanding I hitherto keepe my spirite so seated as if I can but joyne constancy vnto it I finde my selfe to be in a much better state of life than a thousand others who have neither ague nor other infirmitie but such as for want of discourse they give themselves There is a certaine fashion of subtile humilitie which proceedeth of presumption As this That in many things wee acknowledge our ignorance and are so curteous to avowe that in Natures workes there are some qualities and conditions which to vs are imperceptible and whereof our sufficiencie cannot discover the meanes nor finde out the causes By this honest and conscientious declaration wee hope to gaine that wee shall also be beleeved in those we shall say to vnderstand Wee neede not goe to cull out myracles and chuse strange difficulties mee seemeth that amongst those things wee ordinarily see there are such incomprehensible rarities as they exceede all difficulty of myracles What monster is it that this teare or drop of seed wherof we are ingendred brings with it and in it the impressions not only of the corporall forme but even of the very thoughts and inclinations of our fathers Where dooth this droppe of water containe or lodge this infinite number of formes And how beare they these resemblances of so rash and vnruly a progresse that the childes childe shall be answerable to his grandfather and the nephew to his vnckle In the family of Lepidus the Roman there have beene three not successively but some between that were borne with one same eye covered with a cartilage or gristle There was a race in Thebes which from their mothers wombe bare the forme of a burre or yron of a launce and such as had it not were judged as mis-begotten and deemed vnlawfull Aristotle reporteth of a certaine Nation with whome all women were common where children were alloted their fathers only by their resemblances It may bee supposed that I am indebted to my father for this stonie qualitie for he died exeeedingly tormented with a great stone in his bladder He never felt himselfe troubled with the disease but at the age of sixtie seaven yeares before which time hee had never felt any likelihoode or motion of it nor in his reines nor in his sides nor elsewhere and vntill then had lived in very prosperous health and little subject to infirmities and continued seven yeares and more with that disease training a very dolorous lives-end I was borne five and twenty yeares before his sickenesse and during the course of his healthy state his third child Where was al this while the propension or inclination to this defect hatched And when he was so farre from such a disease that light part of his substance wherewith he composed me how could it for hir part beare so great an impression of it And how so closely covered that fortie five yeares after I have begunne to have a feeling of it And hitherto alone among so many brethren and sisters and all of one mother He that shall resolve me of this progresse I will believe him as many other miracles as he shall please to tell mee alwayes provided as commonly they doe hee goe not about to pay me with a doctrine much more difficult and fantasticall then is the thing it selfe let Physitians somewhat excuse my libertie for by the same infusion and fatall infinuation I have received the hate and contempt of their doctrine The Antipathie which is betweene me and their arte is to me hereditarie My father lived three score and foureteene yeares My grandfather three score and nine my great grandfather very neere foure score and never fasted or tooke any kinde of Physicke And whatsoever was not in ordinary vse amongst them was deemed a drug Phisicke is grounded vpon experience and examples So is mine opinion Is not this a manifest kinde of experience and very advantageous I know not whether in all their registers they are able to finde me three more borne bred brought vp and diceased vnder one roofe in one same chimnie that by their owne direction and regiment have lived so long Wherein they must needes grant me that if it be not reason at least it is Fortune that is on my side Whereas among Phisitions fortune is of more consequence then reason Low-brought and weake as I am now let them not take me at an advantage nor let them not threaten me for that were insulting aâ—rogance And to say truth I have by my familiar examples gained enough vpon them although they would take hold and stay there Humane things have not so much constancie It is now two hundred yeares wanting but eighteene that this Essay continueth with vs For the first was borne in the yeare of our Lord one thousand foure hundred and two Some reason there is why this experience should now beginne to faile vs. Let them not vpbraide me with those infirmities which now have seazed vpon me Is it not sufficient to have lived seaven and fortie yeares in good and perfect health for my part Suppose it be the end of my carriere yet it is of the longest Mine ancestors by some seâ—ret instinct and naturall inclination have ever lâ—athed all maner of Phisicke for the very sight of drugs bred a kinde of horror in my father The Lord of Gaviac mine vnckle by the fathers side a man of the church sickish even from his birth and who notwithstanding made
effects hee then attends the event with quietnesse Verily I have seene in him at one instant a great carelesnesse and liberty both in his actions and countenance Even in important and difficult affaires I finde him more magnanimous and capable in bad then in good fortune His losses are to him more glorious than his victories and his mourning than his triumphs Consider how in meere vaine and frivolous actions as at chesse tennis and such like sports this earnest and violent engaging with an ambicious desire to winne doth presently cast both minde and limmes into disorder and indiscretion Wherein a man doth both dazle his sight and distemper his whole body Hee who demeaneth himselfe with most moderation both in winning and loosing is ever necrest vnto himselfe and hath his wits best about him The lesse hee is mooved or passionate in play the more safely doth he governe the same and to his greater advantage We hindet the mindes seazure and holdfast by giving her so many things to seize vpon Some wee should onely present vnto her others fasten vpon hir and others incorporate into hir Shee may see and feele all things but must onely feede on hir selfe And bee instructed in that which properly concerneth hir and which meerely belongeth to her essence and substance The lawes of nature teach vs what is iust and fit for vs. After the wise-men have told vs that according to nature no man is indigent or wanteth and that each-one is poore but in his owne opinion they also distinguish subtilly the desires proceeding from Nature from such as grow from the disorders of our fantasie Those whose end may be discerned are meerely hers and such as flie before vs and whose end we cannot attaine are properly ours Want of goods may easily be cured but the poverty of the minde is incurable Nam si quod satis est homini id satis esse potesset Hoc sat erat nunc quum hoc non est qui credimus porro Divitias vllas animum mi explere potesse If it might be enough that is enough for man This were enough since it is not how thinke we can Now any riches fill My minde and greedy will Socrates seeing great store of riches jewells and pretious stuffe carried in pompe through his Citty Oh how many things quoth he doe not I desire Metrodorus lived daily with the weight of twelve ounces of foode Epicurus with lesse Metrocles in winter lay with sheepe and in summer in the Cloisters of Churches Sufficit ad id natura quod poscit Nature is sufficient for that which it requires Cleanthes lived by his handes and boasted that if Cleanthes would he could nourish another Cleanthes If that which Nature doth exactly and originally require at our handes for the preservation of our being is over little as in truth what it is and how good cheape our life may be maintained cannot better bee knowne or expressed than by this consideration That it is so little and for the smalnesse thereof it is out of Fortunes reach and she can take no hold of it let vs dispense something els vnto ourselves and call the custome and condition of every one of vs by the name of Nature Let vs taxe and stint and feede our selves according to that measure let vs extend both our appurtenances and reckonings therevnto For so farre me seemes we have some excuse Custome is a second Nature and no lesse powerfull What is wanting to custome I hold it a defect And I had well nigh as leefe one should deprive mee of my life as refraine or much abridge me of the state wherein I have lived so long I am no more vpon termes of any great alteration nor to thrust my selfe into a new and vn-vsuall course no not toward augmentation it is no longer time to become other or bee transformed And as I should complaine if any great adventure should now befall me and grieve it came not in time that I might have enjoyed the same Quo mihi fortuna si non concedit ur vti Whereto should I have much If I to vse it grutch I should likewise bee grieved at any inward purchase I were better in a manner never than so late to become an honest man and well practised to live when one hath no longer life I who am ready to depart this World could easily be induced to resigne the share of wisedome I have learn't concerning the Worlds commerce to any other man new-come into the world It is even as good as Mustard after dinner What neede have I of that good which I cannot enioy Whereto serveth knowledge if one have no head It is an injury and disgrace of Fortune to offer vs those presents which forsomuch as they faile vs when we should most neede them fill vs with a just spite Guide me no more I can go no longer Of so many dismembrings that Sufficiency hath patience sufficeth vs. Give the capacity of an excellent treble to a Singer that hath his lungs rotten of eloquence to an Hermit confined into the Deserts of Arabia There needes no Arte to further a fall The end findes it selfe in the finishing of every worke My world is at an end my forme is expired I am wholly of the time past And am bound to authorize the same and thereto conforme my issue I will say this by way of example that the eclipsing or abridging of tenne dayes which the Pope hath lately caused hath taken me so low that I can hardly recover my selfe I follow the yeares wherein we were wont to compt otherwise So long and antient a custome doth challenge and recall me to it againe I am thereby enforced to be somewhat an hereticke Incapable of innovation though corrective My imagination maâ—gre my teeth runnes still tenne dayes before or tenne behinde and whispers in mine â—ares This rule toucheth those which are to come If health it selfe so sweetely-pleasing comes to me but by fittes it is rather to give me cause of griefe then possession of it selfe I have no where left mee to retire it Time forsakes mee without which nothing is enjoyed How small accompt should I make of these great elective dignities I see in the world and which are onely given to men ready to leave the world wherein they regard not so much how duely they shall discharge them as how little they shall exercise them from the beginning they looke to the end To conclude I am ready to finish this man not to make another By long custome this forme is changed into substance and Fortune into Nature I say therefore that amongst vs feeble creatures each one is excusable to compt that his owne which is comprehended vnder measure And yet all beyond these limites is nothing but confusion It is the largest extension we can grant our rights The more wee amplifie our neede and possession the more we engage our selves to the crosses of fortune and adversities The cariere of our
it selfe or penetrates more deepely then doth licentiousnesse Our Armies have no other bond to tie them or other ciment to fasten them then what commeth from strangers It is now a hard matter to frame a body of a compleate constant well-ordred and coherent Army of Frenchmen Oh what shame is it We have no other discipline then what borrowed or auxiliar Souldiers shew vs. As for vs wee are ledâ—on by our owne discretion and not by the commaunders each man followeth his owne humour and hath more to doe within then without It is the commaundement should follow court and yeeld vnto hee onely ought to obey all the rest is free and loose I am pleased to see what remisnesse and pusilanimitie is in ambition and by what steps of abjection and servitude it must arrive vnto it's end But I am displeased to see some debonaire and well-meaning mindes yea such as are capable of iustice dayly corrupted about the managing and commanding of this many-headed confusion Long suffrance begets custome custâ—me consent and imitation We had too-too many infected and ill-borne mindes without corrupting the good the sound and the generous So that if we continue any time it will prove a difficult matter to finde out a man vnto whose skill and sufficiencie the health or recovery of this state may bee committed in trust if fortune shall happily be pleased to restore it vs againe Hunc saltem everso invenâ—m succurrere scclo Ne prohibete Forbid not yet this youth at least To aide this age more then opprest What is become of that antient precept That Souldiers ought more to feare their Generall than their enemie And of that wonderfull examplelesse example That the Romane army having vpon occasion enclosed within her trenches and round-beset an apple-orchard so obedient was shee to her Captaines that the next morning it rose and marched away without entring the same or touching one apple although they were full-ripe and very delicious So that when the owner came he found the full number of his apples I should bee glad that our Youths in steade of the time they employ about lesse profitable peregrinations and lesse honourable apprentishippes would bestow one moyty in seeing and observing the warres that happen on the sea vnder some good Captaine or excellent Commaunder of Malta the other moyty in learning and surveying the discipline of the Turkish armies For it hath many differences and advantages over ours This ensueth that heere our Souldiers become more licentious in expeditions there they proove more circumspect and fearefully wary For small offences and petty larcenies which in times of peace are in the common people punished with whipping or bastonadoes in times of warre are capitall crimes For an egge taken by a Turke without paying hee is by their law to have the full number of fifty stripes with a cudgell For every other thing how sleight soever not necessary for mans feeding even for very trifles they are either thrust through with a sharpe stake which they call Empaling or presently beheaded I have beene amazed reading the story of Selim the cruellest Conqueror that ever was to see at what time hee subdued the Country of Aegypt the beauteous-goodly gardines round about the Citty of Damasco all open and in a conquered Country his maine armie lying encamped round about those gardines were left vntouched and vnspoyled by the handes of his Souldiers onely because they were commaunded to spoyle nothing and â—ad not the watch-word of pillage But is there any malady in a Common-weale that deserveth to bee combated by so mortall drugge No saide Favonius not so much as the vsurpation of the tyrannicall possession of a Common-wealth Plato likewise is not willing one should offer violence to the quiet repose of his-Countrys no not to reforme or cure the same and alloweth not that reformation which disturbeth or hazardeth the whole estate and which is purchased with the blood and ruine of the Cittizens Establishing the office of an honest man in these causes to leaue all there But onely to pray God to lend his extraordinary assisting hand vnto it And seemeth to be offended with Dyon his great friend to have therein proceeded somewhat otherwise I was a Platonist on that side before ever I knew there had beene a Plato in the world And if such a man ought absolutely be banished our commerce and refused our societie hee who for the sincerity of his conscience deserved by meane of divine favour athwart the publique darkenesse and through the generall ignorance of the world wherein hee lived so farre to enter and so deepely to penetrate into chaistian light I doe not thinke that it befitteth vs to be instructed by a Pagan Oh what impiety is it to expect from God no succour simply his and without our co-operation I often doubt whether amongst so many men that meddle with such a matter any hath beene found of so weake an vnderstanding that hath earnestly beene perswaded he proceeded toward reformation by the vtmost of deformations that hee drew toward his salvation by the most expresse causes that wee have of vndoubted damnation that ouerthrowing policy disgracing magistrates abusing lawes vnder whose tuition God hath placed him filling brotherly mindes and loving hearts with malice hatred and murther calling the Divels and furies to his helpe he may bring assistance to the most sacred mildnesse and justice of divine Law Ambition avarice cruelty and revenge have not sufficient proppes and natural impetuousity let vs allure and stirre them vppe by the glorious title of justice and devotion There can no worse estate of things bee imagined than where wickednesse commeth to bee lawfull And with the Magistrates leave to take the cloake of vertue Nihil in speciem fallacius quà m prava religio vbi deorum numen praetenditur sceleribus There is nothing more deceiptfull to shew than corrupt religion when the power of Heaven is made a pretence and cloake for wickednesse The extreame kinde of injustice according to Plato is that that which is vnjust should be held for just The common people suffered therein greatly then not only present losses vndique totis Vsque adeo turbatur agris Such revell and tumultuous rout In all the country round about But also succeeding dommages The living were faine to suffer so did such as then were scarse borne They were robbed and pilled and by consequence so was I even of hope spoiling and depriving them of al they had to provide their living for many yeares to come Quae nequeunt secum ferre aut abducere perdunt Et cremat insontes turba scelesta casas Muris nulla fides squallent popularibus agri They wretch-lesse spoyle and spill what draw or drive they may not Guilty rogues to set fire on guilt-lesse houses stay not In wals no trust the field By spoile growes waste and wilde Besides these mischiefes I endured some others I incurred the inconveniences that moderation bringeth in such diseases I was shaven
would that Muâ—â—tition say that should love but some one of them He ought to know how to vse them severally and how to entermingle them So should we both of goods and evils which are consubstantiall to our life Our being cannot subsist without this commixture whereto one side is no lesse necessarie than the other To goe about to kicke against naturall necessity were to represent the folly of Câ—esiphon who vndertooke to strike or wince with his â—ule I consult but little about the alterations which I feele For these kinde of men are advantagious when they hold you at their mercy They glut your eares with their Prognostications and surprising mee heretofore when by my sickenesse I was brought very lowe and weake they have injuriously handled me with their Doctrines positions prescriptions magistrall fopperies and prosopopeyall gravity sometimes threatning me with great paine and smart and othertimes menacing me with neere and vnavoydable death All which did indeede move stirre and touch me neere but could not dismay or remoove mee from my place or resolution If my judgement be thereby neither changed nor troubled it was at least hindred It is ever in agitation and combating Now I entreate my imagination as gently as I can and were it in my power I would cleane discharge it of all paine and contestation A man must further help flatter and if he can cozen and deceive it My spirit is fit for that office There is no want of apparances every where Did he perswade as he preacheth he should successefully ayde me Shall I give you an example He tels me it is for my good that I am troubled with the gravell That the compositions of my age must naturally suffer some leake or flaw It is time they beginne to relent and gaine-say themselves It is a common necessity And it had beene no new wonder for mee That way I pay the reward due vnto age and I could have no better reckoning of it That such company ought to comfort me being fallen into the most ordinary accident incident to men of my dayes I every where see some afflicted with the same kinde of evill whosesociety is honourable vnto mee forsomuch as it commonly possesseth the better sort of men and whose essence hath a certaine nobility and dignity connexed vnto it That of men tormented therewith fewe are better cheape quit of it and yet it costs them the paine of a troublesome dyet tedious regiment and daily loath some taking of medicinall drugges and phisicall potions Whereas I meerly owe it to my good fortune For some ordinary broths made of Eringos or Sea-Holme and Burstwort which twice or thrice I have swallowed downe at the request of some Ladies who more kindely then my disease is vnkind offred me the moity of theirs have equally seemed vnto mee as easie to take as vnprofitable in operation They must pay a thousand vowes vnto Aesculapius and as many crownes to their Physition for an easie profluvion or aboundant running of gravell which I often receive by the benefite of Nature Let mee bee in any company the decency of my countenance is thereby nothing troubled and I can hold my water full tenne houres and if neede bee as long as any man that is in perfect health The feare of this evill saith hee did heeretofore affright thee when yet it was vnknowen to thee The cries and despaire of those who through their impatience exasperate the same bred a horror of it in thee It is an evill that comes and falles into those limmes by and with which thou hast most offended Thou art a man of conscience Quae venit indignè paena dolenda venit The paine that comes without desart Comes to vs with more griefe and smart Consider but how milde the punishment is in respect of others and how favourable Consider his slowenesse in comming hee onely incommodeth that state and encombreth that season of thy life which all things considered is now become barren and lost having as it were by way of composition given place vnto the sensuall licenciousnesse and want on pleasures of thy youth The feare and pitty men have of this evil may serve thee as a cause of glory A quality whereof if thy judgement be purified and thy discourse perfectly sound thy friends doe notwithstanding discover some sparkes in thy complexion It is some pleaâ—ure for a man to heare others say of him Loe there a patterne of true fortitude loe there a mirrour of matchlesse patience Thou art seene to sweate with labour to grow pale and wanne to wax red to quake and tremble to cast and vomite blood to endure strange contractions to brooke convulsions to trill downe brackish and great teares to make thicke muddie blacke bloody and fearefull vrine or to have it stopt by some sharpe or rugged stone which pricketh and cruelly wringeth the necke of the yarde entertaining in the meane while the by-standers with an ordinary and vndanted countenance by pawses jesting and by entermissions dallying with thy servants keeping a parte in a continued discourse with wordes now and then excusing thy griefe and abating thy painefull sufferance Dost thou remember those men of former ages who to keep their vertue in breath and exercise did with such greedinesse seeke after evills Suppose Nature driveth and brings thee vnto that glorious Schoole into which thou hadst never come of thine owne accord and freewill If thou tel me it is a dangerous and mortall evill what others are not so For it is a kinde of physicall cousenage to except any and so they goe directly vnto death what matter is it whether they goe by accident vnto it and easily slide on either hand toward the way that leadeth vs therevnto But thou diest not because thou art sicke thou diest because thou art living Death is able to kill thee without the helpe of any sickenesse Sickenesses have to some prolonged their death who have lived the longer inasmuch as they imagined they were still dying Seeing it is of woundes as of diseases that some are medicinall and wholesome The chollike is often no lesse long-lived than you Many are seene in whom it hath continued even from their infancy vnto their extreamest age who had they not forsaken hir company she was like to have assisted them further You oftner kill her than she doth you And if she did present thee with the image of neer-imminent death were it not a kinde office for a man of that age to reduce it vnto the cogitations of his end And which is woorse thou hast no longer cause to be cured Thus and howsoever common necessity calles for thee against the first day Consider but how artificially and how mildely she brings thee in distaste with life and out of liking with the world not forcing thee with a tyrannicall subjection as infinite other diseases doe wherwith thou seest olde men possessed which continually holde them fettered and ensnared and without release of weakenesse nor intemission