that followeth a firme and sure necessitie of euentes Howe auoyde you this blowe Or with what axe will you cut off this chaine For GOD and that eternall spirite may not otherwise be considered of vs then that wee attibute vnto it an eternall knowledge and fore sight We must acknowledge him to be stayed resolute and immutable alwaies one and like himselfe not wauering or varying in those thinges which once he willed and foresawe For The eternall God neuer chaungeth his minde saith Homer Which if thou confesse to bee true as needes thou must if there be in thee any reason or sense this also must be allowed that all Gods decrees are firme and immooueable euen from euerlasting vnto all eternitie of this groweth necessitie and that same DESTINIE which thou deridest The trueth wherof is so cleare and commonly receaued that there was neuer any opinion more currant among all nations And whosoeuer had anie light of God himselfe and his prouidence had the like of Destinie The most auncient and wisest Poet Homer beleeue me traced his diuine muse in none other path than this of Destinie Neither did the other Poets his progenie straye from the steppes of their father See Euripides Sophocles Pindarus and among the Latines Virgill Shall I speake of Historiographers This is the voice of them all That such and such a thing came to passe by Destiny and that by destinie kingdomes are either established or subuerted Would you heare the Philosophers whose chiefe care was to finde out and defend the trueth againâ—t the common people As they iarred in manie things thorough an ambitious desire of disputing so it is a wonder to see how they agreed vniuersallie vpon the entrance into this way which leadeth to Destinie I say in the entraÌ„ce of that way because I deny not but that they followed some by-path-waies which may be reduced into these four kindes of DESTINIE namely MATHEMATICAL NATVRAL VIOLENT and TRVE All which I will expound brieflye onelie touching them a little because that herehence commonly groweth confusion and errour CHAPT XVIII The three first kindes of destinie brieflie expounded The definition or description of them all The Stoickes sleightly and brieflie excused I Call MATHEMATIGAL destinie that vvhich tyeth and knitteth firmelie all actions and euentes to the power of the Planettes and dispositions of the Starres Of vvhich the Chaldeans Astrologians were the first authors And among the Philosophers that lofty Mercurius is principall and Abbettor who subtlelie and wiselie distinguishing PROVIDENCE NECESSITIE and DESTINIE saith Prouidence is an absolute and perfect knowledge of the celestiall God which hath two faculties neerelie allied vnto it Necessitie and Destinie Destinie truelie serueth and assisteth prouidence and also Necessitie But vnto Destinie it selfe the starres doe minister For neither may anie man auoide the force of Fate neither beware of the power and influence of the starres For these be the weapons and armour of Destinie at whose pleasure they doe and performe all things to nature and men In this foolish opinion are not onely the common crue of Astrologers but I shame to speake it some Diuines I call Naturall fate the order of naturall causes which not being hindered by their force and nature doe produce a certaine and the selfe same effect Aristotle is of this sect if wee giue credite to Alexander Aphrodiseus his interpreter Likewise Theophrastus who writeth plainlie That destinie is the nature of each thing By their opinion it is Destinie that a man begetteth a man and so that he dyeth of inward naturall causes not by violence or force it is destinie Contrarilie that a man should ingender a serpent or a monster it is besides Destinie Also to be killed with a sword or by fire This opinion is not verie offensiue for that indeed it ascendeth not so high as the force of Fate or Destinie And doeth not euery one escape falling that keepeth himselfe from climing aloft Such a one is Aristotle almost euerie where writing ought of celestial matters except it be in his book of the world which is a golden treatise sauoring of a more celestiall ayre I reade moreouer in a Greeke writer that Aristotle thought Fate was no cause but that chance was in some sort an alteration or change of the cause of such things as were disposed by necessitie O the heart of a Philosopher that durst account Fortune and Chaunce among the number of causes but not Destiny But let him passe I come to the Stoickes my friendes for I professe to hold that sect in estimation and account who were the authours of VIOLENT FATE which with Seneca I define to be A necessitie of all thinges and actions which no force can withstand or breake And with Crisiopus A spirituall power gouerning orderly the whole world These definitions swarue not farre from the trueth if they be soundly and modestlie expounded Neither happilie their opinion generally if the common people had not condemned the same alreadie by a preiudicate conceite They are charged with two impieties that they make God subiect to the wheele of Destiny and also the actions of our will I cannot boldlie acquit them of both these faults for out of some of their writings fewe being at this day extant wee may gather those sayinges and out of some other wee collect more wholsome sentences Seneca a principall pillar of that sect stumbleth at the first blocke in his book of prouidence where he saith The verie same necessitie bindeth God an irreuocable course carrieth away both humaine and diuine thinges The maker and ruler of all thinges decreed destinies but now followeth them He commaunded once but he obeyeth for euer And that same indissoluble chaine and linking together of causes which bindeth all thinges and persons seemeth plainlie to inferre force or constraint But the true Stoickes neuer professed such doctrine and if by chance any like sentence passed from them in the vehemencie of their writing or disputing it was more in words than in substance and sense Chrysippus who first corrupted that graue sect of Philosophers with crabbed subtilties of questions cleareth it from depriuing man of free libertie And our Seneca doth not make God subiect to fate he was wiser than so but God to God after a certaine kinde of speach For those Stoickes that came neerest the trueth do call Destinie sometimes Prouidence and sometimes God Therefore Zeno when he had called Destinie a Power moouing about the same matter after one and the same manner he addeth which it booteth not whether you call it Prouidence or nature Likewise Chrysippus other where calleth Destinie the eternall purpose or decree of pouidence Panaetius the Stoick said That God himselfe was Fate Seneca being of the same minde saith When you list you may call the authour of nature and all thinges by this or that name You may iustly tearme him
affections which doe greatly disquiet the life of man DESIRE and IOY FEARE and SORROW The two first haue respect to some supposed or imagined good The two latter vnto euill Al of them do hurt and distemper the mind and without timely preuention doe bring it out of al order yet not each of them in like sort For wheras the quietnesse and constancie of the minde resteth as it were in an euen ballance these affections do hinder this vpright poise and euennesse Some of them by puffing vp the minde others by pressing it downe too much But here I will let passe to speake of false goods which lift vp the minde aboue measure because thy disease proceedeth from another humour and will come to false euils which are of two sortes Publike and Priuate Publike are those The sense and feeling whereof toucheth manie persons at one time Priuate doe touch some priuate men Of the first kinde are warre pestilence famine tyrannie slaughters and such like Of the second be Sorrowe pouertie infamie death and whatsoeuer els of like nature that may befall any one man I take it there is good cause for me thus to distinguish them because we sorrow after an other sort at the miserie of our countrie the banishment and destruction of a multitude than of one person alone Besides that the griefes that growe of publike and priuate aduersities are different but yet the first sort are more heauie and take deeper roote in vs. For wee are all subiect to those common calamities either for that they come together in heapes and so with the multitude oppresse such as oppose themselues against them or rather because they beguile vs by subtiltie in that we perceiue not how our mind is diseased by the apprehension of them Behold if a man bee ouercome with any priuate grief he must confesse therin his frailtie and infirmitie especiallie if he reclaim not himselfe then is he without excuse Contrarily we aree so far from confessing a fault in being disquieted at publike calamities that some will boast thereof and account it for a praise for they terme it pietie and compassion So that this common contagion is now reckoned among the catalogue of vertues yea and almost honored as a God Poets and Orators do euerie wher extol to the skies a feruent affection to our countrey neither doe I disallowe it but hold and maintaine that it ought to be tempered with moderation otherwise it is a vice a note of intemperancie a deposing of the mind from his right seat On the other side I confesse it to bee a grieuous maladie and of great force to mooue a man because the sorrow that proceedeth therehence is manifold in respect of thy selfe and of others And to make the matter more plaine by example See how thy country of Belgica is afflicted with sundrie calamities and swinged on euery â—ide with the scortching flame of ciuill warres The fieldes are wasted and spoyled townes are ouerthrowne and burned men taken captiue and murthered women defiled virgins defloured with such other like miseries as follow after warres Art thou not griued herewith Yes I am sure and grieued diuerslie for thy self for thy countrymen and for thy countrey Thy owne losses trouble thee the miserie and slaughter of thy neighbours the calamitie and ouerthrow of thy countrie One while thou maist crie out with the Poet O vnhappie wretch that I am Another while Alasse that so manie of my countrimen should suffer such affliction by the enemies hand Another while O my father O my countrey And who so is not mooued with these matters nor oppessed with the multitude of so manie and manifold miseries must eyther be very stayed and wise or els very hard hearted CHAPT VIII A preuention against publike euils But first of all three affections are restrained And of those three particularly in this chapter is repressed a kind of vaine glorious dissimulation wherby men that lament their owne priuate misfortunes would seeme that they bewaile the common calamities WHat thinke you Lipsius haue I not betrayed CONSTANCIE into your hands in pleading the cause of your sorrow Not so But herein I haue plaide the part of a good Captaine in trayning out al your troups into the field to the end I may fight it out manfully with them But first I wil begin with light skirmishes and afterwards ioyne with you in plaine battel In skirmishing I am to assault foot by foot as the Ancients speake three affections vtter enemies to this our CONSTANCIE DISSIMVLATION PIETY COMMISERATION or PITTY I wil begin with the first of them Thou sayest thou canst not endure to see these publik miseries that it is a grief yea euen a death vnto thee Speak you that from your heart or onelie from the teeth outward herewithal I being som what angry asked whether he iested or gybed with mee Nay quoth Langius I speake in good earnest for that many of your crue doe beguile the physitians making them beleeue that the publike euilles doe grieue them when their priuate losses are the true cause I demaund therefore againe whether the care which now doth boile and bubble in thy breast be for thy countries sake or for thy own what said I do you make a question of that Surely Langius for my countries sake alone am I thus disquieted See it be so quoth he for I maruel that ther should be in thee such an excellent sincere dutie which few attain vnto I deny not but that most men do coÌ„plaine of common calamities neither is there any kind of sorrow so vsuall as this in the tongues of people But examine the matter to the quick you shall find many times great difference betwixt the tongue and the heart Those wordes My countries calamitie afflicts me carrie with theÌ„ more vain-glory than veritie And as it is recorded in histories of Polus a notable stage-player that playing his part on the stage wherein it behooued him to expresse some great sorrow he brought with him priuily the bones of his dead son so the remeÌ„brance therof caused him to fil the theater with true teares indeed Euen so may I say by the most part of you You play a Comedy vnder the person of your country you bewail with tears your priuate miseries One saith The whol-whol-world is a stage-play Trulie in this case it is so Some crie out These ciuil warres torment vs the blood of innocents sprâ—t the losse of lawes and libertie Is it so I see your sorrow indeed but the cause I must search out more narrowly Is it for the common-wealths sake O player put off thy vizard thy selfe art the cause therof We see oftentimes the country Boores trembling and running together with earnest prayers when any sudden misfortune or insurrection approcheth but as soone as the daunger is past examine theÌ„ wel and you shal perceiue that euerie one
humane affaires I Come nowe from skirmishes to handie-gripes and from light bickerings to the maine battell I vvill leade foorth all my souldiers in order vnder their Ensignes diuiding them into fower troupes â—irst I vvill prooue that these publike euilles are imposed vppon vs by God himselfe Secondlie that they be necessarie and by destinie Thirdly that they are profitable for vs. Finallie that they be neither grieuous nor straunge These troupes if they discharge their partes each one in his place can the whole armie of your SORRROW make anie resistance or once open the mouth against me No trulie I must â—aue the victorie In token wheroâ— sound the Trumpets and strike vp the drummes Whereas Lipsius all affections that doe disturbe mans life proceede from a minde distempered and voyde of reason yet none of them more in my conceit than that sorrowe vvhich is conceiued for the Common-vvealthes sake For all others haue some finall cause and scope vvherto they tende as the Louer to enioy his desire The angry man to bee reuenged The couetous churle to get and so foorth Onelie this hath no ende proposed vnto it And to restraine my talke vnto some certaintie thou Lipsius bevvaylest the state of thy countrey decaying Tell me to vvhat effect Or vvhat hopest thou to obtaine thereby To amend that vvhich is amisse To preserue that vvhich is about to perish Or by vveeping to take avvay the plague or punishment that hangeth ouer thy countrey None of all these but onely that thou maist say with the common sort I AM SORIE In all other respects thy mournining is in vaine and to no purpose For that thing which is past God himselfe vvould not haue to bee vndone againe Neither is this weeping of thine vaine onely but also wicked and vngodlie if it be rightly considered For you knowe well that there is an eternall Spirite whome wee call GOD which ruleth guideth and gouerneth the rolling Spheares of heauen the manifolde courses of the Stars and Planets the success in alterations of the Elements finally al things whatsoeuer in heauen and earth Thinkest thou that CHAVNCE or FORTVNE beareth any sway in this excellent frame of the world Or that the affaires of mortall men are caried headlong by chance-medley I wot well thou thinkest not so nor any man els that hath either wisdome or wit in his head It is the voyce of nature it selfe and which way so euer we turne our eyes or mindes all things both mortall and immortall heauenlie and earthly sensible and insensible do with open mouth crie out and affirme that there is somewhat far aboue vs that created and formed these so many wonderull workes which also continuallie gouerneth preserueth the same This is GOD to whose absolute perfection nothing is more agreeable than to bee both able and willing to take the care and charge of his owne workmanship And why should not he be willing seeing he is the best of all Why should he not be able seeing he is the mightiest of all In so much y t there is no strength aboue him no nor any but that proceedeth from him neither is he letted or troubled with the greatnes or variety of all these things For this eternall light casteth foorth his bright beames euery where and in a moment pearceth euen into the bosome and bottome of the heauens earth and sea It is not only president ouer all things but present in them And no maruel What a great part of the world doth the Sun lighten at once What a masse of matter can our minde comprehend at once O fooles Can not he that made this Sun this mind perceiue and conceiue far more things than they Well and diuinely spake one that had smal skil in Diuinitie As is the Pilot in a ship the Car-man to his waine the Chaunter in a quire the law in a Common-wealth and the Generall in an Armie so is God in the world Herein onelie is the differenâ—e that their charge is to them laboursome grieuous and painfull But God ruleth withouâ— all paine and labour or bodilie striuing Wherefore Lipsius there is in God A watchfull and continuall care yet without cark whereby he beholdeth searcheth and knoweth all thinges And knowing them disposeth and ordereth the same by an immutable course to vs vnknowne And this is it which here I cal PROVIDENCE whereof some man through infirmitie may grudge or complaine but not doubt except he be benummed of his senses and besotted against nature CHAPT XIIII That nothing is here done but by the becke of this Prouidence That by it desolations come vpon men and citties therefore we doe not the partes of good and godly men to murmure or mourne for them Finally an exhortation to obey God against whome we striue vnaduisedly and in vaine IF you conceiue this rightlie and doe beleeue hartilie that this gouerning facultie insinuateth it selfe and as the Poet speaketh passeth through euery path of sea and eke of shore I see not what further place can bee left for your griefe and grudging For euen the self same fore-seeing intelligence which turneth about the heauen dayly which causeth the sunne to rise and set which bringeth foorth and shutteth vp the fruites of the earth produceth all these calamities and changes which thou so much maruellest and mutterest at Think you that God giueth vs onely pleasing and profitable things No he sendeth likewise noisome and hurtfull Neither is any thing contriued tossed or turned sinne onely excepted in this huge Theater of the worlde the cause and fountaine whereof proceedeth not from that firste cause of causes for as Pindarus saith well The dispensers and doers of all thinges are in heauen And there is let downe from thence a golden chaine as Homer expresseth by a figment wherto all these inferior things are fast linked That the earth hath opened her mouth and swallowed vp some townes came of Gods prouidence That otherwhere the plague hath consumed many thousandes of people proceedeth of the same cause That slaughters war and tyranny rage in the Low-countries therhence also commeth it to passe From heauen Lipsius from heauen are all these miseries sent Therefore Euripides sayd wel and wisely that all calamities came from God The ebbing and flowing of all humaine affaires dependeth vpon that Moone The rising and fall of kingdomes commeth from this Sunne Thou therefore in loosing the raynes thus to thy sorrowe and grudging that thy countrey is so turned and ouer-turned considerest not what thou art and against whome thou complainest What art thou A man a shadowe dust Against whom doest thou fret I feare to speak it euen against GOD. The Auncientes haue fayned that Gyantes aduanced themselues against God to pull him out of his throne Let vs omitte these fables In very trueth you querulous and murmuring men be these Gyantes For if it bee so that God doe not only
the best and great Iupiter and thundering and Stator that is Stable or standing not so called as Historians deliuer because that after a vowe vndertaken he stayed the Roman Armie flying away But because all thinges stand by his free benefite therefore was he named stander or stablisher If you call him also Fate or destinie you shall not belie him For sith that destinie is nothing but a folded order of causes hee is the principall first cause of al wheron the residue do depend Which last words are so godlie spoken that slaunder it selfe cannot slaunder them In this point dissented not from the Stoickes that greate Writer to a greate King I thinke that Necessitie ought not to be called any thing els but God as a stedfast and stable nature And destinie that which knitteth together all thinges and holdeth his course freely without let or impediment Which sayinges if they haue any tast of temeritie in them yet not of impietie and beeing rightlie interpreted differ not much from our true fate or destinie I doe in good earnest giue this commendation to the Stoickes that no other sect of Philosophers auowed more the maiesty and prouidence of God nor drewe men neerer to heauenlie and eternall thinges And if in treading this trace of Destinie they went somewhat astray it was thorough a laudable and good desire they haue to withdrawe blind men from that blind Goddesse I meane FORTVNE The nature whereof they did not onelie mightilie hisse out of their companie but euen the verie name CHAPT XIX The fourth and true kind of Destinie expounded The name brieflie spoken of it is lightly defined and prooued to differ from Prouidence THis much may suffice touching the opinions and dissentions of the Auncients For why shoulde I ouer curiouslie search the secretes of hell as the prouerbe is I shall haue ynough to doe with true Destinie which now I propound and illustrate calling it AN ETERNAL DECREE OF GODS PROVIDENCE which cannot bee taken away no more than prouidence it selfe And let not any man cauill with mee about the name because I say there is not in Latine an other proper word to expresse that thing but FATVM What haue old writers abused it Let vs vse it and so inlarging this word out of the prison of the Stoickes let vs bring it to a better light It is called in Latine FATVM a fando of speaking neither is it any thing els properlie but The saying and commaundement of God And this is it which novve I seeke for I define it eyther vvith that famous PICVS A ranke and order of causes depending vpon Gods counsell or vvith mine owne vvordes more obscurely and subtillie An immooueble decree of Prouidence inherent in things mooueable whiâ—h firmlie effecteth euerie thing in his order place and time I call it A decree of Prouidence because I agree not vvhollie vvith the Diuines of our dayes let them giue me leaue in the free studie of the trueth who in name and nature confound it with prouidence I know it to be a hard matter and full of temeritie to conceiue or restraine vnto certaine wordes that Super-naturall and super-celestiall essence I meane God or ought that belongeth to him yet vnto mans capacitie I defend and maintaine that prouidence is one thing properlie and the same which wee call fate or destinie another For I consider prouidence no otherwise then that it be A Power and facultie in God of seeing knowing gouerning all things A POWER I say vniuersal vndiuided guarded and as Lucretius speaketh vnited together But Destinie seemeth to descend into the things themselues and to be seene in the particulars of them being as it were a disposing and bestowing abroad of that vniuersall prouidence by particulars Therefore Prouidence is in God and attributed to him alone Destinie in the things and to them is ascribed You thinke I trifle and as it is saide bore holes in Millet seede No Lipsius I take this out of the talk of the common people among whome nothing is more vsuall than to say This was my good or euill dâ—stinie and likewise this was the fatall decree of this kingdome or that town But no man so speaketh of prouidence no man applyeth it to the thinges themselues without impietie and dirision Therefore I said well that the one of them was in God thother trulie from God and perceiued in the selfe thinges I say moreouer that though Prouidence be not really diuided from Destiny yet it is more excellent and more ancient Euen as we are taught in the schooles of the wise to say that the Sunne is more worthy than the light Eternity than time Vnderstanding then reason But to drawe into a short summe these curious not common matters Thou seest I haue iust cause both to vse this distinction and also to retaine the name of Destinie against the new Consistory of Diuines For why Those auncient famosed Fathers prohibite mee not but that I may vse in his right and true sense the word DESTINY But now that I may return to make plaine my former definition I sayd it was An inherent decree to shew that Destinie should be marked in the thinges to the which it commeth and not from whence it proceedeth I added In mooueable thinges signifying that although Destinie it selfe bee immooueable yet it taketh not away motion nor any naturall facultie from thinges but worketh easilie and without force euen as the markes and signes imprinted by God in each thing do require In causes secundarie I meane that be necessarie it worketh necessarilie In natural causes naturallie in voluntarie causes voluntarilie In contingent contingentlie Wherefore in respect of the things it doth neither force nor constrain But as euerie thing is made to doe or suffer so it directeth and turneth all thinges But if you recall it to his first originall I meane God and his prouidence I affirme constantly and boldly that all thinges are done necessarily which are done by destiny Lastlie I ioyned of the Order place and time establishing that which I saide before that prouidence was of things in vniuersality Destiny by distribution in particularities By ORDER I vnderstande the course and vniting together of causes which destiny limitteth By PLACE and TIME I meane that woonderful and incomprehenble power whereby all euentes or actions are tyed to their certaine places and moments of time It was destinitie that Tarquinius should be banished his kingdome Be it so but first let the adulterie bee committed You see the order of the causes It was destiny that Caesar should bee killed So But in the Senate by the image of Pompei You see the place That Domitian should bee murthered of his owne people Let him be murthered but yet at the very houre euen the fift which in vaine he sought to preuent Thus you see the time CHAPT XX. It is distinguished by foure Notes from Stoicall
Destinie Here is shewed more exactlie how it doth not enforce our wil And also that God is neither coadiutor nor authour of euil HOw sayest thou yong man perceauest thou this Or must I light a clearer torch to thee I striking my head Yea Langius I must haue more light or I shall neuer come out of this darknesse What slender kind of distinctions be these What captious ginnes of questions are here I feare treason beleeue me and suspect those mysticall and doubtfull words of yours as my very enemies Langius laughing a little be of good courage quoth he here is no Hanniball Thou art come into a sure castle not fallen into any ambushment I will giue thee light ynough Tell mee where and in what point thou art so ignorant yet In that Langius which concerneth force and necessitie For trulie I cannot conceiue how this destiny that you describe differeth from that of the Stoickes which when you had in wordes shut out at the broad gate as I may say in effect you let in aftewards at a posterne or backdore No Lipsius God forbid for my part I doe not so much as dreame of any such Stoicall Destinie nor studie to reuiue againe those olde wiues long agone dead and buried I propose vnto thee such a destinie as may stande with modestie and godlines distinguished from that violent Fate by foure markes They make God himselfe subiect to Destinie And Iupiter in Homer though hee were most willing coulde not enlarge Sarpedon from his bandes But wee doe subiect Destinie vnto God making him a most free authour and actor of thinges able at his will and pleasure far to surmount and cut in sunder those linked troupes and bandes of Destinie They appoynt a successiue order of naturall causes from all eternitie Wee doe not make the causes alwayes naturall for God is often the cause of woonders and miracles besides or contrarie to nature nor eternall For these second causes had their beginning with the world Thirdlie they take away all contingencie from thinges wee admit it affirming that as often as the secondarie causes are such chaunce or hap may bee admitted in the euentes and actions Lastlie they seemed to intrude a violent force vpon our vvill This bee farre from vs who doe both allowe fate or destiny and also ioyne handes with libertie or freedome of will Wee doe so shunne the deceitfull blastes of Fortune and chaunce that wee dash not our shippe against the rockes of necessitie Is there FATE Yea. But it is the firste and principall cause which is so farre from taking avvay the middle and secondary causes that ordinarilie and for the most part it worketh not but by them and thy will is among the number of those secondarie causes thinke not that God forceth it or wholly taketh it away herein is all the errour and ignorance in this matter no man considereth how he ought to will that which Destinie willeth And I say freely to will it For God that created all things vseth the same without any corruption of them As the highest spheare with his motion swayeth about the rest yet so as it neyther barreth nor breaketh them of their proper motions So God by the power of destiny draweth al things but taketh not away the peculiar facultie or motion of any thing He would that trees corn should grow So do they without any force of their owne nature Hee would that men should vse deliberation and choyse So do they without force of their free-will And yet whatsoeuer they were in mind to make choyse of God forsaw from all eternitie He fore-sawe it I say not forced it hee knewe it but constrayned not he fore-tolde it but not prescribed it Why do our curious Curioâ—s stagger or stumble hereat O simple creatures I see nothing more cleare than this except it be so that some busie want on mind listeth to rub and exasperate it selfe being infected with a contagious itching of disputation and contention How can it bee say they if God foresawe that I shoulde sinne and his fore-sight cannot be deceiued but that I doe sinne necessarilie Foole Who denieth it Thou sinnest necessarilie and yet of thine owne free will Forsooth thus much did God foresee that thou shouldest sinne in such sort as he foresawe but he saw that thou shouldest sinne freelie therefore thou sinnest freely and necessarilie Is this plaine ynough They vrge further and say Is not God in vs the authour of euery motion He is the authour generally I confesse yet the fauorer of good onely Art thou inclined to vertue Hee knoweth it and helpeth thee Vnto vice Hee knoweth that also and suffereth thee Neyther is there any fault in him I ride a weake and lame horse the ryding is of mee but the weaknesse and lamenes of himselfe I play vpon a harp ill sounding and out of tune In that it is out of tune is the fault of the Instrument not of me The earth with one vniuersall and the same iuyce nourisheth all trees and fruites whereof some growe to be profitable and some poysonable What then shall we say that this proceedeth of the earth and not rather froÌ„ the nature of the trees that do conuert so good nutriment into poyson So in this case it commeth of God that thou art mooued But it is of and in thy selfe that thou art mooued to euill Finallie to conclude of this libertie Destinie is as the first man that leadeth the round in this daunce of the world but so as we daunce our partes to in willing or nilling and no further not in doing for there is left to man onely a free-wil to striue and stuggle against God and not power to perfourme the same As it is lawfull for me to walke vp and downe in a shippe and to runne about the hatches or seates but this stirring of mine cannot hinder the sailing of the ship So in this fatall vessell wherein we all sayle let our willes wrangle and wrest as they list they shal not turne her out of her course nor anie thing hinder the same That highest will of all willes must holde and rule the raynes and with the turne of a hande direct this chariot whither soeuer it pleaseth CHAPT XXI A Conclusion of the treatise of Destinie An admonition that it is doubtfull and full of daunger And must not curiouslie be searched Lastlie an earnest exhortation to imprint courage in our mindes thorough necessitie BVt why doe I sayle on so long in this course I will nowe cast about and auoyd this Charybdis which hath swallowed vp so manie mens wittes Here I behold how Cicero suffered shipwracke who chose rather to denie prouidence than to abate one ace of mans libertie So whiles that he made men free as it is finely saide by one Prelate he made them sacrilegious Damascene also sayleth in this gulfe and extendeth prouidence vnto other
bene through out all Christendome these many yeares with the miserable desolations of this one Iewish nation CHAPT XXII Of the destructions of the Gertians and Romaines by warre The great numbers of them that haue bene slain by certaine Captaines Also the wasting of the new world And the extreame miseries of captiuitie I Rest not heer but hold my way forwards into Greece And if I should recount in order all the wars that those people haue had among themselues at home or abroad with others it would be tedious to tell and without any profit Thus much onely I say that this region hath continually bene so wasted and hacked with the sword of calamities as Plutarke recordeth which I neuer reade without anger and admiration that the whole nation in his time was not able to make three thousand souldiers And yet saith he in times past euen in the Persian warre one little towne by Athens called Megara sufficed to raise that nomber Alas how art thou decayed O thou garden of the whole earth The glory and bewtie of Nations There is scarce now a Towne of any name in this distressed countrey of Belgica that cannot match that number of warrelike people Now shall we take a view of the Romans and of Italie Augustine and Orosius haue already eased me of this busines in rehearsing See their writings and in them huge seas of euils One Carthaginian war euen the second within the countrey of Italy Spaine and Sicilie and within the space of 17. yeares consumed fourteene hundred thousand men and aboue For I haue searched the number very narrowly The ciuil war between Cesar and Pompei 300000. And the weapons of Brutus Cassius and Sextus Pompeius more then that What speak I of wars managed vnder the conduct of diuers persons Behold Only C. Cesar O the plague and pestilence of mankind confesseth and that with boasting That hee slue in battels eleuen hundred ninety and two thousand men And yet the butchery of his ciuil wars runneth not in this reckoning These slaughters were committed vpon forreners in those few yeares wherein he ruled ouer Spaine and France And yet notwithstanding in this respect he which was surnamed THE GREAT surpassed him who caused it to be written in the temple of Minerua That he had ouercome put to flight slaine vpon yeelding receiued to mercy twenty hundred fower score foure thousand men And to make vp the account adde vnto these if thou wilt Q. Fabius who slue 110000. Frenchmen C. Marius 200000. Cimbrians And in a later age Aetius who in a famous battell killed an hundred three score two thousand HuÌ„gariaÌ„s Neyther doo thou imagine that men onely were destroyed in these great wars But likewise goodly townes were ruinated by them Cato surnamed Censorius boasteth that he tooke more townes in Spaine then he had bin daies in that countrey Sempronius Gracchus if we giue credit to Polybius vtterly ouerthrew thirtie in the same region I thinke that no age since the worlde began is able to match these but only ours yet in another world A few Spaniardes sailing within these fourescore years into that maruellous wide new world O good god what exceeding great slaughters haue they wrought what wonderful desolations I speake not of the causes and equitie of the war but onely of the euents I behold that huge scope of ground a great matter to haue seen I say not to haue subdued it how it was walked through by twenty or thirty souldiors And these naked heards of people cut downe by them euen as corne with a sieth Where art thou the most mighty Iland of Cuba Thou Haytie You Ilands Iucaiae which heretofore being replenished with fiue or six hundred thousand men in some of you scant fifteene are left aliue to preserue your seede Shew thy selfe a whiles thou Peru and Mexico O maruellous and miserable spectacle That mighty large countrey and in truth another world appeareth desolate and wasted no otherwise than if it had beene consumed with fire from heauen My mind and toong both do faile me Lipsius in recounting these matters And I see al our stirs in comparison of those to bee nothing else but small fragments of straw or as the Comicke Poet saith Little mites And yet haue I not spoken at al of the condition of captiue slaues then the which nothing was more miserable in the auncient wars Free borne men noble men children women al whatsoeuer they were did the conquerour cary away And who knoweth whether they were led into perpetual seruitude or not And truely the same such a miserable kind of slauery as I haue good cause to reioice that not so much as the resemblance of any such hath heretofore byn neither at this time is in Christendome The Turkes indeed doo practise it And there is no other thinge that maketh that Scythian souereigntie more odious and terrible vnto vs. CHAPT XXIII Most memorable examples of pestilence and famine in oulde times past Also the intollerable tributes that haue bene then And the rauenous pillings and powlings YEt thou proceedest on in thy whining complaint adioining moreouer plague and famine tributes rapines Let vs thereâ—ore make comparison of all these but in fewe wordes Tell me how many thousands haue died of the pestilence in all the low-contries within these fiue or six yeares I thinke fiâ—tie or at the most one hundred thousand But one plague in Iudaea in the time of King Dauid swypped awaie threescore and ten thousand in lesse space then one whole daie Vnder Gallus and Volusianus the Emperours a plague beginning in Ethiopia went thorough all the Romaine prouinces and continued wasting and deuouring fifteene yeares together I neuer reade of a pestilence greater then that for continuaunce of time or scope of places where it raged Notwithstanding for fiercenes and extreme violence that pestilence was more notorious which raigned in Bizance and the places confining vnder the Emperour Iustinian The extremity of which plague was so outragious that it made euerie day 5000. coarses and some daies 10000. I would be afraide for suspition of falshood to write this except I had very credible witnesses therof that liued in the same age No lesse wonderful was the â—â—ague of Afrike which began about the subuertion of Carthage In the region of Numidia onely now called Barbary it consumed eight hundred thousand men In the maritine coastes of Affricke 200000. And at Vtica 30000. soldiers which were left there for defence of that coast Again in Greece vnder the raigne of Michael duca the plague was so hot That the liuing sufficed not to burie the dead Those bee the wordes of Zonara Finally in Petrarches time as he recordeth the pestilence waxed so feruent in Italie that of euery thousand persons scant ten were left aliue And now touching famine our age hath seene none in comparison of old time
a certain fatal necessity is prooued By an indissoluble knitting together of causes Some knowledge of destiny imprinted naturally in al men Homer a right wise poet accounted of all the wife He is a ring-leader to destiny Whom other writers followed Almost al the philosophers agâ—ee vpon destinie But yet there be 4 seuerall opinions touching the nature thereof What Mathematical destinie is â—lato likeâ—ise in Tiâ—aeo incliâ—eth hereto What physical or natural destinie is (a) So do Virgil and Cicero vvrite that a thing may die by destinie or beâ—ides destinie (b) For he doth not fully and plainly allovve prouidâ—nce but only hath a glance at it in his Ethickes The Stoicke wisest of all the ancient Sages What Stoical fate is Wherein the Stoicks do erre They seem to make God subiect to destinie And to depriue man of his libertie But in truth they be not wholly of that opinion (a) In Agelius For they vse the name of destiny otherwise meaning thereby sometimes prouidence and sometimes God (a) li. 4 de ben ca. 7. vvhere this is read somevvhat othervvise and corruptible (b) Stator stabilitor Aristotle to Alexander in his book de mundo The sect of the Stoickes noble and renowned a) As also did Augustine lib. 1 retract ca. 1. (a) Which I english Fate or destinie wher we may vse the name of Fate or Destinie and how far sorth Two definious of true fate the first plaine the other obscurer but more to the nature of the thing 〈◊〉 semeth not â—o be all one â—ith prouiâ—ence The diuersiâ—ie of them â—oth Prouidence is considered vniuersally Destiny particularly That is in God This in the things themselues (a) Milium terebrare a prouerbe Prouidence better than Destinie (a) August lib. â— de ciuit dei ca. 1. 9. Iteâ— Isiodorus Orig 8. ca. vl Quin. Tho. Aquinus vvho vvrot a booke of destinie The definition of Destiny explaned and made manifest Destiny doth not force things The last parte of the definition explaned True destiny seemeth to be mixed with Stoicall (a) The Ladâ—es of destiny called generally ParcÄ™ But they differ in 4. pointes 1 1. We accouÌ„â— God to be aboue Fate 2 2 We make nor the ordeâ— of second causes eternal 3 3. We take not away contingeÌ„t thingâ— (a) Whatsoeuer I speak here let the vvise be iuâ—ges of it I vvill amend any thing vpon admonition And albeit happily I may be conuinced of folly yet vvil I not of frovvardnes 4 4. We graunâ— to man a certain libertie or freedome (b) Augustine saith sharply and subtilly The vvill cannot be constrained to vvil that vvhich it wold not For vve should not vvil it if vve vvere not vvilling of it â—â—aecognoâ—uit omnia â—d non prae â—niuit Daâ—ascenus â—e sin necesâ—â—rily yet of â—ur own free-â—il (a) In some sense willeth it for that nothing is done against his vvil Plutarch wittily denieth that sins are wrought by destiny yet be contained vnder destiny As al thinges are not done by law that be compehended in the law A fit simililitude (a) A gulfe by Sicilie (b) In his books of diuination Coles do lie hid vnder embers So is it of destiny we must not stiâ—â—hem to much â—or thrust this â—ire with the sword of our sharp wit But apply it to our profit (a) This is spoken in respect of Archimides that famous Geometrician of Syracusis vvho in the sacke of the cittie vvas slaine dravving of geometrical figures in the ground The same is a most strong armour of proof against sorrow Epictetus in his Enchitidion Euripides An obiection for the slothfull against Destinie â—t is answeâ—ed and shewed that mean causes do proceed and go before fatal euents Good and euill destinie commeth without miracle by ordinary accustomed meanes Consider the state of Belgica (a) Velleius paterculus lib. 11. de Caesare Varo We must not despaire at the first as if Fate frowned vnappeasably vpon vs. All thinges are first to bâ— assayed but with that mean which wisdom only prescribeth The conclusion with a general exhortatioÌ„ vnto Constancie The cause of breaking of the confereÌ„ce â—nd putting â—t ouer til an other time Langius his care of gardens A Verse of Ennius Our going to the garden The beauty brauerie of it The praise of gardens and that the study of that facultie seemeth to be naturally bred in many For the best sort of men are and euer haue bene giuen therto Their antiquitie Famous and worthy men addicted to that delight (a) An office of highest authority among the Romanes An inward secret kind of delight in gardens Which beguileth the mind and senses The pleasure in the diuersitie of the increase and growth of flowers Also in so great varietie of Collours And fragrant smelles My wish (a) The nevve vvorld as it is commonly called The new sect of Garden-masters scorned (a) Hortensius vvho it is said vvare mourning apparell for the losse of a Lamprey The true vse of Gardens Which consisteth not in the price and estimation of flowers But in honesâ— delight and recreation oâ— the mind For they be places most fit whither men may withdrawe themselues And take thâ— fresh aire In old time they were the howses of wise men They are most meet for learned meditations and writings And chieflie for the exercise of wisedome (a) The Turke (b) Quid sub Arcto Rex gelidae meditetur Orae The way to Constancie lyeth open vnto all men Which way is wisedome (a) The Muses (b) Augustinis 〈◊〉 and iudgment in 〈…〉 order â—herfore we â—ondemne â—hisologie which is loue of talk or eâ—oquence Except wee ioine therewithal philosophie which is loue of wisedome The dishonestie and vaine folly of some learned men (a) Nummis ad numerandum What is the true end and vse of learning An exhortation therunto Wisdome is not had with wishing A returning to the first communication that was interrupted The loue and earnest desire of learning is a token of a good nature disposition (a) See the later end of the last chapter of the first book A brief repeâ—ition of somwhat before â—poken The third argument taken from Profite The force thereof That the publike evils as we call them are indeed good because they come of God Who is bountiful and helping (a) Iupiter quasi iuuans pater that is a â—elping father Those euils are not sent as punishments But as medicines Plato Seneca Publike calamities are good Because the end of them is euer good Ther be two sorts of them â—â—me immeâ—iatlye from â—od others â—y the means â—nd ministry of men In the last sort there is some fault ad mixt Which God wipeth away in respect of vs. For he draweth all purposes to his own purpose Neither is it any iniury that God inflicteth his chastisements by others Nor yet that the sinne of men is mixt therewith The cause thereof (a) In his â—â—chiridion The wicked â—o vnwitting â—ie and vnwillingly serue God (a) The vvords