Governour stands naked and defenceless and like a foolish Gamester plays away his last Stake And therefore all wise Governours take care not to fall into this desperate Condition The greatest Treasures that History informs us of in any Monarchy heretofore were thâ—â—e of Darius the last King of Persia in whose Exchequer Alexander the Great at the Conquest of his Country is laid to have sound Fourscore Millions of Gold That of Tileriâ—â— amounted to Sixty Seven Millions Trajan had Five and Fifty Millions laid up in Egypt But that of David exceeds all the rest for which is a thing almost incredible in so small and in comparison despicable a Dominion as that of Judâ—â— * What publick Treasure for Civil Uses this Author refers to I do not know for want of his Marginal Quotations in which he is frequently defective but the Summ reserved for building the Temple is yet infinitely more amazing That in the XXII of 1 Chronic. v. 14. is said to be a Hundred Thousand Talents of Gold which at the rate of Four Pound an Ounce would be valued among us at Seventy Five Millions Sterling and a Thousand Thousand Talents in Silver which at five Shillings per Ounce comes to 187 Millions 500000 l. computing Seven Hundred and Fifty Ounces of Metal to each Talent And besides all this 't is said the Brass and Iron were unmeasurably great as also the Stores of Timber and Stone left Solomon to begin with the Holy Scripture it self takes notice that he had amassed together a Hundred and Twenty Millions Now the Method in use heretofore for preserving these great Treasures from being spent and squander'd away profusely or being stoln and secretly broke in upon was to melt them down into large massy Ingots or Balls as the Persians and Romans were wont to do or else to lay them up in the Temples of their Gods as the securest and most sacred Repository as the Grecians frequently did in the Temple of Apollo Though this did not always succeed to their Expectation for Covetousness often broke through the most superstitious Reverence for their Deities and plunder'd their very Gods themselves in despight and defiance of all their imaginary Thunder Thus also the Romans held their Office of Exchequer in the Temple of Saturn But that which of all others seems to be not only the safest but the most gainful Course is what Imentioned before of lending out these Summs to Private Men at a moderate Interest upon good Pawns or sufficient Security Real or Personal Again Another advisable Expedient for preserving the Publick Treasures from Encroachment and Dishonesty is to take good care in disposing of the Offices concerned about them For sure the Management of such a Trust is of too great importance to be set to sale and no Fidelity can be expected where Men are out of Pocket and must reimburse themselves at the Publick Expence Nor should Men of mean Quality vulgar and Mechanick People be admitted to purchase them but they ought in all reason to be put into the Hands of Men of Birth and Fortunes such as may be supposed to act upon Principles of Honour and whose Circumstances set them above any violent Temptations of sordid or foul Dealing And in this particular the old Romans set us a good Pattern who entred the young Gentlemen of their best Families in Rome in this kind of Business They lookt upon it as the noblest Education and from this first setting out their greatest Men were raised by degrees to the highest Honours and most important Offices in the Common-wealth His Army I think may very fitly be placed after the Counsel The Sixth Head Nilitary Force and the Treasury of a Prince for Nature it self hath put that Precedence out of dispute by making it impossible for Forces either to be well raised or well ordered and used successfully and to good purpose or indeed so much as to subsist when they are raised without the Support and Direction of those two former Provisions Now a Military Force is absolutely necessary for a Prince to be a Terrour to his Enemies a Guard and Security to his Person and Government And for any Man in a Throne to think of sitting quiet there any considerable time without some Number of Forces is the fondest Imagination in the World There is never any perfect Security between the Weak and the Strong and no State was never yet so composed as to be quite void of turbulent Spirits and free from Dangers and Disturbances both at Home and Abroad Now this Power is either a constant determinate number such as are always in Pay the Ordinary Standing Force or else it is Additional and Extraordinary levied in time of War and of no longer continuance than the Occasion of raising it The Ordinary standing Forces are confin'd to Persons and Places The Persons are of Two sorts There are the King's Guards such as always attend his Person and are of use not only as they contribute to the Safety and Preservation of his Royal Life but likewise as they add to his Pomp and Grandeur in making all his Appearances more august and venerable and every way becoming so sublime a Character For that so mightily celebrated Saying of Agesilauâ— That a Prince might always be safe without any Guard at all provided he commanded as he ought and used his Subject as an affectionate and wise Father would deal by his Children This Aphorism I say is far from being alays true and He were a Mad-man who at this time of Day would venture to make the Experiment and depend upon the best nd gentlest Treatment for his Security For alas the Wickedness of the World is not so easily won upon and Men are too ill-natur'd to be charmed into Gratitude and Returns of Duty by all the Tenderness and Affection and Desert in the World Besides these Guards it is necessary there should be standing Troops kept in constant Pay and perfectly well-disciplin'd which may be ready upon any sudden Accident that shall require their Use and Assistance For it would be extremely improvident to have no Preparations of this kind and drive off the raising of Men and qualifying them for Service till the very instant that Necessity calls for them As for the Places in which such Forces are disposed they are properly the Forts and Castles upon the Frontiers which ought constantly to be well Mann'd and provided with Arms and Ammunition to prevent Surprize and Incursions from abroad Instead of which the Ancients heretofore and some at this Day choose rather to transplant the Foreigners and former Inhabitants and to people all such Towns with new and populous Colonies of their own as they enlarge their Borders by fresh Conquests The Extraordinary Forces consist of formed Armies which a Prince finds himself obliged to raise and make a plentiful Provision of in time of War Now what Methods he ought to govern himself by in this respect for the undertaking any Military
hath disposed and as it were out out sor Virtue this Man is well born indeed For the Man wants nothing else to make him Noble who hath a Mind so generous that be can rise above and triumph over Fortune let his Condition of Life be what it will But these Two kinds dwell most amieably together and often meet in the same Person Both together as indeed there seems a great Aptitude and Disposition for them to do and when they center thus in one Person then the Nobility is perfect and complete The Natural is an Introduction an Occation a Spur to the Personal for all things have a strong tendency and very easily revere to their first and natural Principle And as the Natural first took its Origine and Existence from the Personal so it inclines and leads the Persons so descended to imitate nay to emulate the Glories of their Noble Progenitors The Seeds of Virtue and Honour are in them already * Fortes creantur Fortibus Bonis c. Horat. Ode 4. Lib. 4. In Sons Their Father's Virtues shine And Souls as well as Faces keep the Line This one Advantage is observable in being Nobly born that it makes Men sensible they are ally'd to Virtue and lays strong Obligations upon them not to degenerate from the Excellencies of their Ancestors And sure there cannot be a more forcible Motive to spur and quicken Men in the pursuit of Glory and the attempting Great and Noble Actions than the being conscious to Themselves that they are come out of the Loins of those very Persons who have behaved themselves gallantly served their King and Country and been eminent and useful in their Generations Is it possible Men can please Themselves with these Reflections to feed their Vanity as it is manifest they do and not think at the same time how vile and reproachful it is in Them to bastardize and bely their Race to serve only as a Foil to their Forefather's Virtues and cast back Darkness and Disgrace upon the Lustre of their Memories Nobility granted by the particular Patent and partial Favour of a Prince without any Merit to give a Title to it and neither personal Accomplishments nor an Antient Family to support and set it off is rather a Blemish and Mark of Shame than of Honour It is a poor pitiful Parchment-Nobility bought to supply a needy King or to feed a hungry Courtier the Price of Silver and Gold or the effect of Countenance and Access not the purchase of Blood and Sweat as such Honours ought to be But if it be granted for any singular Desert and signal good Services then it falls not within the compass of this Notion but is to be reputed personal and acquired and hath a Right to all those Privileges and Commendations which were said to belong to that sort of Nobility before CHAP. LX. Of Honour IT is the Notion of some but a very mistaken Notion sure it is That Honour is the proper Price and Recompense of Virtue Others have a little corrected this Notion by calling it the Acknowledgment of Virtue in the Persons to whom we pay it or the Prerogative of a good Opinion first and then of those outward Respects whereby we testisie that good Opinion for it is most certainly a Privilege that derives its Essence and Nature Principally from Virtue Others call it Virtue 's Shadow which follows or goes before it as the Shadow does the Substance and Body from whence it is reflected But to speak more properly it is the Splendor or Fame of brave and virtuous Actions darted out from the Soul upon the Eyes of the World and then rebounding back again upon our selves by that Demonstration it gives of what others think of us and the mighty Satisfaction of the Mind resulting from this Sense of their Good Esteem Now Honour is so very highly esteemed so very eagerly sought that we generally balk no Difficulty to come at it We endure any thing for its sake despise every thing in Comparison of it even Life it self is not thought a Purchase too Dear to compass it And yet after All This is but a thin airy Business uncertain and sickle foreign and at some distance from the Person receiving it and the things for which it is paid It is not only not Essential to him not any part or Appurtenance of his Person and Substance but it searce ever comes home to him For generally speaking this Deference is given to Persons either Absent or Dead and if Living it is not accounted good Manners to praise them to their Faces so that it waits without and belongs to a Man's Name only which bears all his Commendations and Disgraces his Scandal and his Respects from whence one is said to bear a Good or Wicked Name Now the Name is no part of the Nature of the Thing but only the Image which gives us a Representation of it A Mark of Distinction to know it from other Things by In a Word somewhat that goes between the Essence of the Thing and the Honour or Dishonour belonging to it For it is applied to the Substance and whatever is said of it Good or Fad falls upon This and is born by it Now Honour before it rests upon the Name fetches a kind of Circular Flight and makes some stay upon the Action the Heart and the Tongue Whatever gallant commendable Action is Atchieved is as it were the Root the Source the Parent which gives birth and Being to Honour for iâ— truth Honour is nothing else but the Lustre and Resplendence of 〈◊〉 Gâ—rious or Benesicial or otherwise Noble Explâ—â—t Whatever Perfection a Thing hath in it self with Regard to its own Intrinsick Worth yet if it do not produce some Effect which is Excellent it is not capable of Honour but to all Intents and Purposes of this kind as if it had never been at all The next Advance is made into the Mind where it first begins to live and is form'd into good Opinions and Venerable Esteem Then it comes abroad in the last Place and rides Triumphant upon Men's Tongues and Pens and so reflects and returns back again upon the Name of the Person who did that Celebrated Action from whence it first set out As the Sun returns Daily to the Point from whence his Motion began and when it hath finish'd this Course it from thenceforch carries the Name of Honour Praise Glory Renown or the like But to what Sorts of Performances this Recompence is due hath been a Question much disputed Some Persons have delivered their Opinion that Honour does not only nor properly consist in a Man's behaving himself well where great and difficult Posts are to be filled and managed by him for every Man's Circumstances will not furnish him with Opportunities of weighty Administraions but in the faithful Discharge of the Duties of each Person 's particular Profession be the Capacity of the Man what it will For all Commendation is the Effect and
Frost and Snow made only this Answer That other People cou'd bear their Faces naked and he was Face all over History tells us of several very great Persons who went constantly bare-headed as Masinissa and Caesar and Hannibal and Severas And some Nations there are who being accusiom'd to no Defence for their Bodies at other times never trouble themselves for any when they go into the Wars but engage in the hottest Action whole Armies of naked Men together Plato thinks it adviseable for the Health never to cover either the Head or the Feet at all Varro pretends that when Men were commanded to stand bare in the Temple of the Gods and in the Presence of the Magistrates it was not only the Respectfulness of the Ceremony but the Wholsomness of it that the Law had regard to since Men by this means harden'd their Bodies against the Injuries of Wind and Weather and strengthen'd themselves while they paid a due Reverence to their Superiours In a Word abstracting from what Revelation hath taught us and looking at Nature only I shou'd make no doubt but the Contrivances of Hutts and Houses and other Shelters against the Violence of the Seasons and the Assaults of Men was a much more ancient Institution than that of Cloathing and there seems to have been more of Nature and universal Practice in it for we see that Beasts and Birds do the same thing The Care and Provision of Victuals was unquestionably of far greater Antiquity than either of the former for this seems to have been one of the first Impulses and Dictates of Nature the Necessities and Appetites whereof return so thick upon us that it is not easie to suppose Man cou'd subsist at all without this Care Book III. In the Vertue of Temperance But of these Matters we shall have other Opportunities to treat more fully when we come to give Rules for the Use and Regulation both of Food and Raiment hereafter CHAP. VII Concerning the Soul in general WE are now entring upon a Subject of all others the most difficult and nice One which has been treated of and particularly canvassed by the greatest Philosophers and most penetrating Wits of all Ages and Countries Aegyptian Greek Arabian and Latin Authors but yet so that their Opinions have been infinitely various according to the several Nations from whence they sprung the Religions they embrac'd the Professions in which they had been educated and the Reasons that offer'd themselves to their Thoughts So that how far soever each Man might satisfie his own Mind yet they have never been able to come to any general good Agreement or certain Determination in the Matter Now the main Points in Controversie upon this occasion are those Ten that follow What may be the Definition of the Soul What its real Essence and Nature Its Faculties and Actions Whether there be One or More Souls in a Man Whence its Original What the Time and Manner of its entring the Body the Manner of its Residence the Seat where it dwels the Sufficiency to exercise the several Functions belonging to it and lastly Its End or Separation from the Body First of all It is exceeding hard to give an accurate Definition of the Soul It s Definâ—tion or be able to say exactly What it is And this in truth is the Case of all Forms in general and we cannot well conceive how it shou'd be otherwise with Things which are Relative and have no proper and independent Subsistence of their own but are only Parts of some Whole Hence without question it hath come to pass that the Definitions of it put abroad have been so many and at the same time so infinitely various too that not any one of them hath been receiv'd without Clashing or Contradiction Aristotle hath rejected no less than Twelve among the Philosophers who had written before him and yet he hath found but little better success with That of his own which he labour'd but in vain to establish in the room of them Nothing can indeed be more easie and obvious than to determine what the Soul is not We dare be confident that it is not Fire Air nor Water nor a Mixture and due Temperament of the Four Elements together the Qualities or the Humours nicely adjusted For This is a thing in perpetual Flux and Uncertainty the Animal subsists and lives without it And besides This is manifestly an Accident whereas the Soul is a Substance To this we may add that Minerals and several inanimate Creatures have a Temperament of the Four Elements and prime Tactile Qualities and still continue Inanimate notwithstanding Nor can the Soul be the Blood for several Instances may be given of Animated and Living Creatures without any Blood at all belonging to them and several Creatures die without losing one Drop of Blood Nor is it the Principle and First Cause of Motion in us for several Inanimate things impart Motion So does the Loadstone to the Iron the Amber to the Straw Medicines and Drugs and Roots of Trees when dry'd and cut to pieces draw and create very strong Motions Nor is it the Act Life Energy or Perfection for Aristotle's Term Eutclechia hath been interpreted in all these dissering Senses For all this cannot be the very Essence of the Soul it self but only the Operation and Effect of it as Living Seeing and Understanding are plain and proper Actions of the Soul Besides admitting this Notion it wou'd follow from thence that the Soul were not a Substance but an Accident only that it could not possibly subsist without that Body whose Act and Perfection it is any more than the Roof of a House can subsist as such without the Building which it covers and is supported by or a Relative without its Correlate In a word When we express our selves after this manner we only declare what the Soul does and what it is with respect to something else but we pronounce nothing of its proper and abstracted Nature or what it is in it self Now though things are thus far clear and easie yet when we go farther the Case alters extremely A Man may say indeed that the Soul is an Essential Life-giving Form which distributes this Gift as the Receiver is capable of it To the Plant it imparts Vegetation to the Brute Sense which includes and contains Vegetation under it and to Man Intellectual Life in which both the former are imply'd as the Greater Numbers comprehend the Less and as in Figures a Pentagone includes a Quadrangle and That again a Triangle I rather choose to term this the Intellectual Life than the Rational which is compriz'd and understood by it as the Less is within the Greater and that particularly in deference to those many renown'd Philosophers who have allow'd Reason in some Sense and some Degree even to the Brutes but not Any of them have ever gone so high as to attribute the Intelligent Faculty to Them and therefore I take Intellectual Life to be a
Subtilty of Foxes and Religion of Divines Planets Mars War Luna Hunting Jupiter Emperours Mercury Oratours Satur. Contemplation Venus Love  Arts and Manufactures Prudence and Knowledge of Good and Evil. Speculative Wisdow and Knowledge of True and False Parts and Offices in the Commonwealth Labourers and Artisans and Soldiers Magistrates discreet and provident Persons Prelates Divines and Philosphers Qualities of different Ages Young Men Aukward and Unapt Grown Men good Managers and Men of Business Old Men Grave Wise and Thoghtful These are the peculiar Excellencies and most remarkable Distinctions which may be attributed to this general Division of North and South The Nations that lie Westward and the People that dwell upon the Mountains approach and have a great Affinity to the Northern Climates because of the Cold to which those Situations are more expos'd which is also the Case of Them who live at a great distance from the Sea They are Warlike and Fierce Lovers of Liberty and have more Honesty and Simplicity in their Tempers And so again the Eastern Countries resemble the Southern as do also Those that dwell in the Champaign and great Valleys and the Borderers upon the Sea They are more Tender and Effeminate by reason of the Fruitfulness of their Soil for Fertility inclines Men to Softness and Pleasure And your Islanders are commonly Subtle and Cunning and Deceitful by reason of that Commerce and Correspondence they hold with Men and Nations of different Tempers abroad From this whole Discourse we may conclude in general that the Privilege of the Northern Climates lies chiefly in the Qualifications of the Body Strength and a Robust Constitution is their peculiar Excellence and Portion The Southern have the Advantage in the Mind Subtilty and Penetration and Quickness of Parts is Their Talent The Middle Regions have somewhat of Both and partake of all These Excellencies but of Each in less Degrees and moderate Proportions From hence likewise we may understand that the Manners and Original Dispositions of Men simply consider'd are not Vices or Virtnes in their own Nature but Necessary and Natural Effects And the absolute renouncing or devesting our selves of These nay the perfect Reformation of them is something more than difficult it is in some Cases out of our Power But the sweetning and moderating and reducing these Natural Extremes to Temper and a due Medium the watching over them carefully and restraining their Motions This is properly our Duty and the Business of Wisdom and Virtue CHAP. XLIII The Second Distinction and nicer Difference which regards the Souls of Men or the Internal Qualifications and Capacities of their Minds THis Second Distinction which concerns the Minds of Men Three Sorts and Degrees of Men in the World and their inward Accomplishments is by no means so manifest as the former It is not obvious to Sense at all nor does it fall within the compass of every one's Notice and Observation The Causes of it are likewise compounded for it depends partly upon Nature and partly upon Industry and Art and so extends to our Acquir'd Excellencies as well as to Those that are born and bred with us According to this Distinction there are as was observ'd before Three sorts of Men which divide them into Three Classes or Degrees of Souls In the First and lowest of these Ranks we may place those weak and mean Souls which are almost of a Level with Body and Matter of slender and narrow Capacities almost perfectly passive and such as Nature seems to have made on purpose to Endure and Obey to live under Subjection and Management and tamely to follow their Leaders In a Word such as are but just Men and no more In the Second and middle Row are Those of a tolerable Judgment and Understanding and such as make some Pretensions to Wit and Learning Management and Address These Men know Something but they are not sufficiently acquainted with Themselves They are content to take up with Opinions commonly receiv'd and stick fast to their first Impressions without troubling Themselves or indeed being judicious enough to enquire into the Truth and Bottom of Things nay were they capable of finding their deep and most abstruse Causes they think this an unlawful Curiosity and so make the Submission of their Judgments a Principle of Duty and Conscience They look no farther than that little Spot of Ground where they stand Themselves and take it for granted that Matters are or ought to be all the World over exactly the same with what they see them at home and all that differ from them in Customs or Opinion they look upon with Pity or Disdain and allow no better Names to than Ignorant and Unciviliz'd Wild and Barbarons They live in perfect Slavery to local Laws and the Vogue of that Village or City where they have dwelt ever since they were hatch'd and this they do not only in a quiet Complyance and orderly Obedience to them which it is the Duty of every Man even the ablest and most judicious to do but they conform their Sense and their Soul to them and are verily persuaded that what is believ'd and practis'd in their own Town is the infallible Standard of Truth the Only or the Best Rule of Virtue and that all Men's Notions of Right and Wrong ought to be measur'd by Theirs These sorts of Men belong to the School and District of Aristotle They are Positive and Peremptory abounding in their own Sense and impatient of Contradiction They look more at Convenience than Truth and consider what will make most for the Benefit of the World and turn to best Account rather than make it their Business to find Things as they really are and recommend what is Best in it self This Class consists of infinite Subdivisions great Variety of Attainments and Degrees the Uppermost and most capable among them are such as sit at Helm and govern the World Those that hold Empires and Kingdoms in their Hand and either give Commands or counsel those that do In the Third and Highest Order are the Men blest with a lively clear and penetrating Wit a sound solid and stable Judgment that do not content Themselves with bare Hearsay nor set up their Rest in general and receiv'd Opinions that suffer not their Minds to be prepossest and won over by the publick Vogue nor are at all kept in Awe or afraid to oppose and diffent from the common Cry as being very well satisfy'd how many Cheats there are abroad in the World and that some Things no better than Falshood and Jest at the bottom have been entertain'd approv'd extoll'd nay even reverenc'd and ador'd For such were the greatest part of the old Philosophy and Physick such the Divinations and Oracles and all the Idolatry and Trumpery of the Pagan Worship which prevail'd even in the most refin'd Countries for many Generations together and kept Mankind in slavery to most wicked and miserable Delusions These Men therefore are for bringing every
of Obstinacy and Affectation and intractable Perverseness and other vile Qualities in which the Sex abounds Hence it was the Saying of one Author That whoever first invented the Marriage-Knot had contrived a very fair and colourable but withal a most effectual Expedient for taking a severe Revenge upon Mankind A Snare or Net to catch Fools and Brutes in and then put them to a long and lingring Death And of another That for a Wise Man to marry a Fool or a Woman of Sense a Coxcomb was like tying the Living to the Dead that so by the Extremity of Cold from the Carkass the Body might chill and languish till at last it expire which is of all Capital Punishments the most barbarous that ever Tyrants have been able to invent The Second Accusation imports That Marriage corrupts and adulterates Generous and Great Minds by softening and abating nay utterly enfeebling and dissolving their Life and Vigour by the little Dalliances and Flatterings and Wheedles of a Person of whom one is fond by Tenderness for one's Children Care and Management of Domestick Affairs and Sollicitude to provide for and raise one's Family in the World What lamentable Instances of this Effeminacy are Samson and Solomon and Mark Anthony whose Falls stand in Story like so many noble Ruines to put us in mind of that Enemy with some Indignation that undermin'd and demolish'd what Nature had made so strong If then there must be Marrying it is fit say they that This should be left to Fellows that have more Body than Soul let Them go on securely being so well qualisy'd and having so little to hazard and the Cares and Burden of the World are indeed properest for Them for such mean and low Considerations are Employments just of a Size with Their Capacities But as for Those whom Nature hath been so liberal to in another kind and given them good Sense and noble Souls capable of greater and better Things Is it not pity to shackle and bind Them down to the World and the Flesh as you do Beasts to the Manger Nay even among Beasts some Distinctions are made too for Those among them that are most esteem'd for Service and Courage as among Dogs and Horses particularly are kept up at a distance and forbidden all Approaches of the other Sex Others of less Value serving to breed upon very well Accordingly among Mankind Those that are Devoted to the most Venerable and Holy Professions the Service of the Altar and a Recluse Life both Men and Women such whose Stations oblige them to be the most excellent part of the World the Flower and Ornament of Christian Religion Clergy and Monasticks are forbidden by the Church of Rome ever to Marry at all And the Reason most certainly is This that Marriage obstructs Wisdom and Virtue calls off the Mind and gives it too strong and too frequent a Diversion clips its Wings and checks its noblest Flights For the Contemplation of High and Heavenly and Divine Objects is by no means consistent with the Clutter and Hurry and sordid Cares of Family-concerns Upon which Account it is that the Apostle who commands Continency even in Marriage hath preferr'd absolute Celibacy before it Marriage perhaps may have the Advantage in Point of Prosit and Convenience but the Honour and the Virtue they tell you is confessedly on the other side Besides It confounds Men's Measures and defeats noble and pious Intentions and Undertakings St. Augustin gives an Account to this purpose That He and some other Friends of his some whereof were married Men having formed a Design of retireing from the Town and all Conversation with the World into some Solitude that so they might have nothing to employ their Thouâ—â—â—s but the study of Wisdom and Virtue the 〈…〉 Scheme was immediately interrupted and 〈…〉 ' d by the Interposition of their Wives And another Wise Man hath given us his Opinion That if Men could prevail with Themselves to give over all Conversation with Women Angels would certainly visit and keep them Company Once more Marriage is a great Hindrance to Men's Improvement particularly it keeps them at home and cuts them off from the Opportunities of Travelling and conversing with Foreign Countries Which is really a great Accomplishment and a mighty Convenience to learn Wisdom one's self and to teach it to others and to communicate what we have seen and known to those who want the same Opportunities In short Marriage does not only cramp up and depress great Parts and great Souls but it deprives the World of many noble Designs Works of Munisicence and Charity and Publick Good it renders a Man incapable of serving his Country and attempting such Things as He can give no entertainment to the Thoughts of in the Embraces of a tender Wife and his Little ones round about him For These need and require the Care and Preservation of Himself and serve for an Excuse at least they cool his Courage to Actions that are Brave if at the same time they seem Desperate or are manifestly Dangerous And is it not a noble Sight now to see a Man that is sit to be at the Helm trissing away his Time at home playing and telling Stories with his Wife and Children in the Chimney-Corner Is it not Ten Thousand Pities that One who is capable of Governing and Directing a World should be entirely bury'd in Secresie lost to the Publick and taken up with the Concerns of a single Family Upon this Consideration it was that a Great Man when his Friends moved a Match to him made answer That he was born to Command Men and not one pretty little Toy of a Woman to Advise and give Rules to Kings and Frinces and not to Boys and Girles To that part of these Objections which carry any serious Argument Answer to them for a great deal of them is Raillery only we may answer as follows That Humane Nature must be consider'd as it really is A State not capable of Absolute Perfection nor was such a Life here ever intended for us as we should have nothing in it to be found fault with nothing that should cross or give us cause to wish it otherwise Our very Remedies must make us a little sick even when they are promoting our Health and Recovery and every Convenience carries its Abatement and is clogg'd and incumbred with some Inconvenience inseparable from it These are Evils allow it but they are Necessary Evils And if the Case be not well in all Points yet this is the best of it for there is no other way possible to be devised for the preserving and propagating Mankind but what would make the Matter infinitely worse and be liable to More and Greater Evils Some indeed as Plato in particular would fain have rooted out these Thorns and resin'd upon the Point by inventing other Methods for the Continuance of the Species but after all their Hammering and Polishing Those Conceits at last prov'd mere Castles in the Air Things
Pleasure Call its Fruitions slat and insipid if you please but yet they are solid and substantial agreeable and universal They must needs be so indeed because they are Lawful and Innocent free from the Censure of Others and the Reproaches of one's Own Mind What the World calls Love aims at nothing but Delight it hath perhaps somewhat of Sprightliness and is of a quicker and more poignant Relish but this cannot hold long and we plainly see it cannot by so few Matches succeeding well where Beauty and Amorous Desires were at the bottom of them There must be something more solid to make us happy A Building that is to stand for our whole Lives ought to be set upon sirmer Foundations and these Engagements are serious Matters such as deserve and it is Pity but they should have our utmost Discretion employed upon them That Hot Love bubbles and boils in our Breasts for a While but it is worth Nothing and cannot continue and therefore it very often happens that these Affairs are very fortunately manag'd by a Third Hand This Description is only Summary and in general Terms Another more particular one But that the Case may be more perfectly and particularly understood it is sit we take Notice that there are Two Things Essential and absolutely Necessary to this State of Life which however contrary and inconsistent they may at First Sight appear are yet in reality no such Matter These are Equality and Inequality the Former concerns them as Friends and Companions and upon the Level the Other as a Superiour and an Inferiour The Equality consists in that Entire Freedom and unreserved Communication whereby they ought to have all Things in Common their Souls Inclinations Wills Bodies Goods are mutually from thenceforward made over and neither of them hath any longer a peculiar and distinct Propriety exclusive of the other This in some Places is carried a great deal farther and extends to Life and Death too insomuch that assoon as the Husband is dead the Wife is obliged to follow him without delay There are some Countries where the Publick and National Laws require them to do so and they are oftentimes so Zealous in their Obedience that where Polygamy is indulged if a Man leave several Wives behind him they Try for it Publickly and enter up their Claims which of them shall obtain the Honour and Privilege of sleeping with their Spouse that is the Expression they soften it by and upon this Occasion each urges in her own behalf that she was the best belov'd Wife or had the last Kiss of him or brought him Children or the like so to gain the Preference to themselves Th' Ambitious Rivals eagerly pursue Death as their Crown to Love and Virtue due Prefer their Claims and glory in Success Their Lords first Nuptials are courted less Approach his Pile with Pomp in Triumph burn And mingle Ashes in one Common Urn. In other Places where no Laws enjoyned any such Thing it hath been resolved and practised by mutual Stipulation and voluntary Agreement made privately between the Parties Themselves which was the Case of Mark Antony and Cleopatra But omitting This which in truth is a Wicked Barbarous and Unreasonable Custom The Equality which is and ought to be between Man and Wife extends it self to the Administration of Affairs and Inspection over the Family in common from whence the Wife hath very justly the Title of Lady or Mistress of the House and Servants as well as the Husband that of Master and Lord over them And this joint Authority of Theirs over their own private Family is a Picture in Little of that Form of Publick Government which is termed an Aristocracy That Distinction of Superiour and Inferiour which makes the Inequality consists in This. Inequality That the Husband hath a Power and Authority over his Wife and the Wife is plac'd in Subjection to her Husband The Laws and Governments of all Nations throughout the World agree in this Preeminence Et certamen habent lethi quae viva sequatur Conjugium pudor est non licuisse mori Ardent Victrices flammae pectora praebent Imponuntque suis Ora perusta viris but the Nature and the Degrees of it are not every where the same For These differ in Proportion as the Laws and Customs of the Place differ Thus far the Consent is Universal That the Woman how Noble soever her Birth and Family how great soever her Fortunes or any other personal Advantages is not upon any Consideration exempted from Subjection to her Husband This Superiority and Inferiority may well be general and be the Opinion of All when it is so plainly the Condition of All. For in truth it is the Work of Nature and founded upon that Strength and Sufficiency and Majesty of the One Sex and the Weakness and Softness and Incapacities of the Other which prove it not equally qualified nor ever designed for Government But there are many other Arguments besides which Divines fetch from Scripture upon this Occasion and prove the Point indeed substantially by Them For Revelation here hath backed and enforced the Dictates of Reason by telling us expresly that Man was made first that he was made by God alone and entirely by Him without any Creature of a like Form contributing any thing towards his Being That he was Created on purpose for the Pleasure and Glory of God his Head That he was made after the Divine Image and Likeness a Copy of the Great Original above and Perfect in his Kind For Nature always begins with something in its just Perfection Whereas Woman was created in the Second Place and not so properly Created as Formed made after Man taken out of his Substance * See 1 Corinth xi 7.8 The Man is the Image and Similitude of God but the Woman is the Similitude of the Man So 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ought to be rendred in the Sense of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 similis sum not Glory as we read it which is foreign to the rest of the Words and the whole Scope of that Argument Fashioned according to that Pattern and so His Image and only the Copy of a Copy made Occasionally and for particular Uses to be a Help and a Second to the Man who is himself the Principal and Head and therefore She is upon all these Accounts Imperfect Thus we may argue from the Order of Nature But the thing is confirmed yet more by the Relation given us of the Corruption and Fall of Man For the Woman was first in the Transgression and sinned of her own Head Man came in afterwards and by her Instigation The Woman therefore who was last in Good in order of Nature and Occasional only but foremost in Evil and the occasion of That to Man is most justly put in Subjection to Him who was before Her in the Good and after Her in the Evil. This Conjugal Superiority and Power hath been very differently restrained or enlarged
The Power of the Husband In some Places where the Paternal Authority hath been so This hath likewise Extended to Capital Punishment and made the Husband Judge and Disposer of Life and Death Dionys Halic l. 2. Thus it was with the Romans particularly For the Laws of Romulus gave a Man Power to kill his Wife in Four Cases viz. Adultery Putting False Children upon him False Keys and Drinking of Wine Thus Polybius tells us that the Greeks and Caesar says that the old Gauls gave Husbands a Power of Life and Death In Other Parts and in these already mention'd since those Times their Power hath been brought into a narrower Compass But almost every where it is taken for granted that the Authority of the Husband and the Subjection of the Wife implies thus much A Right to direct and controul the Actions to confirm or disannul the Resolutions and Vows of the Wife to Correct her when she does amiss by Reproofs and Confinement for Blows are below a Man of Honour to give and not sit for a Woman to receive and the Wife is obliged to conform to the Condition to follow the Quality the Countrey the Family the Dwelling and the Degree of her Husband to bear him Company wheresoever he goes in Journeys and Voyages in Banishment and in Prison in Flight and Necessity and if he be reduc'd to that hard Fortune to wander about and to Beg with him Some celebrated Examples of this kind in Story are Sulpitia who attended her Husband Lontulus when he was proscribed and an Exile in Sicily Erithrea who went along with her Husband Fhalaris into Banishment Ipsicrate The Wife of Mithridates King of Pentus who kept her Husband Company when he turn'd Vagabond Tacit. after his Defeat by Pompey Some add that they are bound to follow them into the Wars and Foreign Countries when they are sent abroad upon Expeditions or go under any Publick Character The Wise cannot sue or be sued in Matters of Right and Property all Actions lie against the Husband and are to be commenced in His Name and if any thing of this Kind be any where done it must be with the Leave and Authority of her Husband or by particular Appointment of the Judge if the Husband shall decline or refuse it neither can she without express Permission from the Magistrate Appeal from or be a Party in any Cause against her Husband Marriage is not every where alike nor under the same Limitations Different 〈◊〉 aâ—â—â—â— it the Laws and Rules concerning it are very different In Some Countries there is a greater Latitude and more Liberties Indulged in Others less The Christian Religion which is by much the strictest of any hath made it very close and strait It leaves Nothing at large and in our own Choice but the first Entrance into this Engagement When once That is over a Man's Will is made over too and conveyed away for the Covenant is subject to no Dissolution and we must abide by it whether we are contented with our Terms or not Other Nations and Religions have contrived to make it more Easie and Free and Fruitful Of Polygamy and Divorce by allowing and practising Polygamy and Divorce a Liberty of taking Wives and dismissing them again and they speak hardly of Christianity for abridging Men in these Two particulars as if it did great Prejudice to Affection and Multiplication by these Restraints which are the Two great Ends of Marriage For Friendship they pretend is an Enemy to all manner of Compulsion and Necessity and cannot consist with it but is much more improved and better maintain'd by leaving Men free and at large to dispose of Themselves And Multiplication is promoted by the Female Sex as Nature shews us abundantly in that one Instance of Wolves who are so extremely Fruitful in the Production of their Whelps even to the Number of Twelve or Thirteen at a Time and in this exceed other Animals of Service and common Use very much so many of which are kill'd every Day and so few Wolves And yet there are notwithstanding fewer of the Breed Breeders because fewer She-Wolves than of any other Species For as I said the true Reason is because in all those Numerous Litters there is commonly but one Bitch-Wolf which for the most Part signifies little and bears very rarely the Generation being hindred by the vast Numbers and promiscuous Mixtures of the Males and so the much greater part of them die without ever propagating their Kind at all for want of a sufficient Proportion of Females to do it by successfully It is also manifest what Advantages of this Nature Polygamy produces by the vast Increase of those Countries where it is allowed The Jews Mahometans and other Barbarous Nations as all their Histories inform us very usually bringing Armies into the Field of Three or Four Hundred Thousand fighting Men. Now the Christian Religion on the contrary allows but One to One and obliges the Parties to continue thus together though Either nay sometimes Both of them be Barren which yet perhaps if allowed to change might leave a numerous Posterity behind them But supposing the very best of the Case all their Increase must depend upon the Production of One single Woman And lastly they reflect upon Christianity as the occasion of insinite Excesses Debaucheries and Adulteries by this too severe Constraint But the true and sufficient Answer to all these Objections is That the Christian Religion does not consider Marriage upon such Respects as are purely Humane and tend to the Gratification of Natural Appetites or promote the Temporal Good of Men It takes quite another Prospect of the Thing and hath Reasons peculiar to it self sublime and noble and insinitely greater as hath been hinted already Besides common Experience demonstrates that in much the greatest part of Marry'd Persons what they complain of as Confinement and Constraint does by no means cool and destroy but promote and heighten the Affection and render it more dear and strong by keeping it more entire and unbroken Especially in Men of honest Principles and good Dispositions which easily accommodate their Humours and make it their Care and Study to comply with the Tempers of the Person to whom they are thus inseparably united And as for the Debaucheries and Flyings out alledg'd against us the only Cause of Them is the Dissoluteness of Men's Manners which a greater Liberty though never so great will never be able to correct or put a Stop to And accordingly we find that Adulteries were every whit as rife in the midst of Polygamy and Divorce Witness the whole Nation of the Jews in general and the Example of David in particular who became guilty of this Crime notwithstanding the Multitude he had of Wives and Concubines of his own On the contrary These Vices were not known for a long while together in other Countries where neither Polygamy nor Divorce were ever permitted as in Sparta for Instance and at
it between conquering and not hazarding our Persons in the Engagement And when Men are in a Capacity of becoming beneficial to Others and may be Instruments of Great and General Good to excuse Themselves from serving the Publick and abandon all Society when they might adorn and be useful in it is to betray their Trust to bury their Talent in a Napkin to hide the Candle which God hath lighted under a Bushel when the setting it on a Candle-Stick might enlighten others and do great Service to all that are in the House It requires then much Deliberation and many uncommon Circumstances to give Men a Right thus to dispose of Themselves And they who presume to do it merely out of private Considerations and make the Publick no part of their Concern are so far from deserving to be applauded for their Virtue and Resignation that they are guilty of a great Fault and liable to very just and severe Censure CHAP. LV. A Life in Common compared with That of distinct Properties SOme Persons have been of Opinion that a Life where all Things are in Common and there is no such Distinction as Mine or Thine hath the greatest Tendency to Perfection and is best accommodated for the cherishing and maintaining of Charity and Concord and Union among Men. But Experience shews us daily that whatever Conveniencies it may really have of this kind yet are they not so great nor so effectual to the Purposes before-mention'd as those Persons have imagined For in the first Place whatever Appearance there may be outwardly of Kindness and good Agreemeent yet there is no such Thing as an entire and hearty Affection nor the same tender Regards for That which is in Common as a Man finds where he alone is concern'd To this purpose it is that we have two Proverbs The College Horse is always ill saddled and Every Body's Business is No Body's Business Men consider that Others are equally concern'd in the Care and in the Damage that the Loss is not immediately their own and that each Member of the Society stands in that respect equally related to them and that begets a Coldness and Indifferency among them But which is a great deal worse this State does naturally produce Quarrels and Discontents Murmuring and mutual Hatred every Community is but too full a Demonstration of it and the very Holiest and Best that ever was the Primitive Church it self could not you see be exempted from the Misfortune For though the Institution design all Things should be equal yet unless you could make the Desires of the Persons so too they will always be full of Complaints and Jealous that some are preferred and others neglected Acts vi like the Grecians and their Widows in the Daily Distributions The Nature of Love is like that of Great Rivers which while they continue united in one Stream are Navigable and carry Vessels of Vast Burden but if you cut them into fresh Channels and divide the Water they are no longer Serviceable in that kind and thus when Men's Affections are divided and parted as it were among a great many Objects not any one of those Persons or Things is of very tender Concern for all the Force and Vigor of the Passion is scattered and broke to Pieces Now in a Life of Community there are several Degrees To live that is to eat and drink together at a common Table is very decent and well Thus we find it practised in some of the best and most ancient Commonwealths as Lacedemon and Crete particularly such publick Meals are very useful for the teaching Men to be Modest and reserved and keeping up Dicipline Society and Good Order and they do also minister occasion for great variety of very useful and improving Discourse But to think of pulling up the Fences and Inclosures and lay all in Common is a wild Imagination Plato was once of this Opinion but he thought better of it afterwards And indeed the Project would be so far from reconciling and uniting All that the certain Consequence of it would be to overturn and confound All. CHAP. LVI A Town and a Country Life compared together THis is a Comparison very easie for any Man who is a true Lover of Wisdom to make for almost all the Advantages lie on one side The Pleasures and Conveniences both of Body and Mind Liberty Contemplation Innocence Health and Delight In the Country a Man's Mind is free and easie discharg'd and at his own Disposal But in the City the Persons of Friends and Acquaintance one 's own and other People's Business foolish Quarrels ceremonious Visits impertinent Discourse and a Thousand other Fopperies and Diversions steal away the greatest part of our Time and leave no Leisure for better and more necessary Employment What infinite Perplexities Avocations Distractions of the Mind and which is worst of all what abominable Debaucheries and Depravation of Manners does such a Life expose Men to Great Towns are but a larger sort of Prisons to the Soul like Cages to Birds or Pounds to Beasts This Celestial Fire within us will not endure to be shut up it requires Air to brighten and make it burn clear which made Columella say that a Country Life is Cousin-German to Wisdom For a Man's Thoughts cannot be idle and when they are set loose from the World they will range and expatiate freely in noble and profitable Meditations But how shall a Man hope to command his Thoughts or pretend to call them his Own in the midst of all the Clutter and Business the Amusements nay the Confusions of the Town A Country Life is infinitely more plain and innocent and disposed to Purity and Virtue In Cities Vice assembles in Troops the very Commonness of it makes it unobserv'd it hardens and reconciles us to the Practice Example and Custom and the meeting with it at every Turn makes the thing familiar and thus the Disease seizes us strongly and presently and we are gone all on the sudden by living in the midst of the Insection Whereas in the Country those things are seen or heard with Abhorrence and Amazement which the Town sees and does every Day without Remorse or Concern As for Pleasure and Health the clear Air the Warmth and Brightness of the Sun not polluted with the Sultry Gleams and loathsome Stenches of the Town the Springs and Waters the Flowers and Groves and in short All Nature is free and easie and gay The Earth unlocks her Treasures refreshes us with her Fruits feasts every Sense and gives us such Entertainment as Cities know nothing of in the stifling press of Houses so that to live there is to shut one's self up and be banish'd from the World Besides all this a Country Retirement is more active and sit for Exercise and this creates an Appetite preserves and restores Health and Vigour hardens the Body and makes it lusty and strong The greatest Commendation of the Town is Convenience for Business and Profit It is
indeed the Seat of Trade and private Gain and therefore fit to be the Darling of Merchants and Artificers And it is the Place accommodated to Publick Administrations but this latter but a very small part of Mankind are call'd to or capable of And History tells us that heretofore excellent Persons were fetch'd out of the Country to undertake Affairs of the greatest Importance and assoon as they had finish'd these they retir'd again with wonderful Delight and made the Town not a Matter of Choice but Necessity and Constraint This was the short Scene of Labour and Business to them but the Country was the Seat of their Pleasure and more constant Residence CHAP. LVII Of a Military Life THE Profession and Employment of a Soldier if we respect the Cause and Original Design of it is very worthy and honourable for it pretends to protect the Safety and promote the Grandeur of one's native Country to preserve it in Peace and guard it from the Insults of Enemies abroad and turbulent Spirits at home than which nothing can be more just nothing more universally beneficial It is also noble and great in the Execution of this Design For Courage which is its proper Quality and Character is the bravest most generous most Heroick of all Virtues And of all Humane Actions and Exploits Those of War are the most celebrated and pompous insomuch that the Titles and Ensigns of Honour borrow their Names from and are assign'd as Rewards to Them It hath also many Pleasures peculiar to it the Conversation of Men of the first Quality in heat of Youth and full of Fire and Activity the being familiarly acquainted with strange Accidents and wonderful entertaining Sights freedom of Behaviour and Converse without Trick or Art a Masculine and hardy way of living above Ceremony or Form Variety of Attempts and Successes The moving Harmony of warlike Musick which entertains the Ears charms all the Senses warms the Soul and inspires it with Valour the Gracefulness of Motion and Discipline that transport and delight us with a pleasing Horrour that Storm of Shouts and Alarms which the louder it grows the more ravishing and animating it is and the roaring Ordinance of so many Thousand Men that fall on with incredible fury and eagerness But when all These and as many more Excellencies as its most zealous Patrons can attribute to this Calling have been allow'd every reasonable Man must acknowledge on the other hand that the Plundering Undoing Murdering one another and especially the making These a Matter of Art and Study a Science and a Commendation seems highly unnatural and the effect of Barbarity and Madness Nothing is a stronger Evidence against Mankind of their Weakness and Imperfection and foul Degeneracy for it sets us below the very Brutes themselves in the most savage of which the Original Impressions of Nature are not defac'd to this scandalous Degree What an infinite Folly what an execrable Rage is it to create all this Disturbance and turn the World upside-down to encounter and run thro' so many Hazards by Sea and Land for a Prize so very doubtful and full of Chance as the event of a Battle Why should we make Campaigns abroad and turn Volunteers to foreign Princes to run with so much eagerness and appetite after Death which may be found nay which of its own accord meets us at home and offers it self every where and that without proposing to our selves so much as decent Burial To fall on and kill Men that we have no Spite no Resentment against nay Men that are absolute Strangers and whom we never saw in all our Lives Why this mighty Heat and Fury to one that hath done thee no hurt given thee no provocation What a Madness is it to venture Loss of Limbs and Blood Wounds and Bruises which when they do not take Life quite away make it subject to Remedies and Pains a Thousand times more grievous and insupportable than Death Had you Obligations of Duty and Conscience it were another Matter but to do this for Breeding and Fame to sacrifice and destroy one's self for a Man that you never saw who hath no manner of Tenderness or Concern for you and only striveâ— to mount upon the dead or maim'd Body that he may stand a little higher and enlarge his own Prospect Nothing but very weighty Reasons and the necessary Defence of all that is dear to us can make such an Undertaking prudent and commendable And in such Cases all personal Considerations ought to be despised as much as otherwise they are fit to be valu'd And I hope too the Reader takes notice all along that I speak of those who choose the Trade for Mercenary Ends or out of false Notions of Gallantry and not with any intention to discourage the Duty of Subjects to their Prince whose just Quarrels they ought always to account their Own The Fifth and Last Difference between Some Men and Others taken from the Advantages and Disadvantages by which Nature or Fortune hath distinguished them PREFACE THis Last Distinction is abundantly notorious and visible to every Eye It hath indeed several Branches and Considerations included under it but all I think may be conveniently enough reduced to Two General Heads which according to the vulgar way of Expression may be termed Happiness and Unhappiness being High or Low in the World To that of Happiness or Greatness belong Health Beauty and other Qualifications and Advantages of Body and Person Liberty Nobility Honour Authority Learning Riches Reputation Friends In Unhappiness or Meanness of Condition are comprehended the Contraries of all These which without naming particularly we easily understand to be the privation or want of the foremention'd Advantages Now these Particulars are the occasion of infinite variety in Men's Circumstances and Conditions of Life for a Man may be happy in the Enjoyment of One or Two or Three of these Qualities and yet not so in the rest and even in Those he hath he may be happy in a greater or less Degree and those Degrees are capable of being so many that it is not easie if at all possible to express or conceive them But upon the whole Matter in the Distribution and Disposal of our Fortunes and Affairs Providence hath so ordered it that Few or None should be either happy or unhappy in every one of these Respects He then that partakes of most and particularly those Three Advantages of Nobility Dignity or Authority and Riches is esteem'd Great and he that hath none of those Three is reckoned among the mean Men. But several Persons have only One or Two of the Three and so they stand in a sort of middle Capacity between the two Extremes and are neither High nor Low We will speak very briefly to each of them As for Health and Beauty Chap. VI Chap. X and other Advantages that relate to the Body and Persons of Men enough hath been said of them already and so likewise of Sickness and Pain
which are Disadvantages contrary to them CHAP. LVIII Of Liberty and Servitude LIberty passes in the Esteem of many for a most eminent Advantage and Servitude for a very grievous Evil so exceeding great that some have rather chosen to Die and that after a very barbarous and painful manner than to be made Slaves or Captives nay rather than come into any danger of seeing their own or their Countrey 's Freedom and Properties infringed or usurp'd upon But as in all Other Cases of the like Nature so in This also there may be a very Criminal Excess of Partiality and a fanciful Fondness of what we deservedly have a high esteem for There is in truth a Twofold Liberty The true and proper sort is That of the Mind for This is in every Man 's own Keeping and Disposal no body can wrest it out of our Hands nothing can impair or encroach upon it not even the Tyranny of Fortune it self On the other side The Bondage of the Mind is the heaviest and most wretched of all others to live a Slave to one's Appetites and Lusts to lie down in our Chains and let our Passions prey upon us to be led by the Nose by Prejudice and Error and Superstition Oh This This is a miserable Captivity indeed The Liberty of one's Person is really valuable but still that lies at the Mercy of Fortune And as valuable as it is yet unless it be attended with some very uncommon Circumstance to enhance its Worth there can never be Justice or Reason in giving it the Preference above Life it self as some of the Ancients have done who chose to suffer nay to inflict Death and make it the Work of their Own Hands upon Themselves rather than not die free And even of this to me seeming Extravagance we find large Commendations as if it were a more exalted Virtue than ordinary so very dreadful Notions had they then of Slavery * Servitus obedientia est fracti abjecti Animi arbitrio carentis suo It is says One of them the Obedience of an enfeebl'd and despicable Soul that hath parted with its own Will And yet as vile as they represent this State very great and very Wise Men have liv'd in it as Regulus Valerian Plato Epictetus and have had the Misfortune too of very wicked unjust and barbarous Masters and yet they have never brought any dishonourable Reflections upon their Virtues or thought Themselves one whit the worse for it because in truth and very deed they still continu'd Free and at their own Disposal much more so than the Masters who pretended to Dominion over them CHAP. LIX Of Nobility NObility is a Quality or Distinction receiv'd and valu'd in all parts of the World It is a Mark and an Attractive of Honour and Respect instituted and brought into Use for very good Reasons and much to the Benefit of the Publick It is not every where the same but differently reputed and taken in divers Senses Description of it according to the different Judgments of Men and the Customs of the Countries where they live From hence we find several Sorts or Species of it pretended to but according to the common and most general Notion of the thing it is the Quality of a Man's Family Aristotle calls it the Antiquity of the Family and the long Continuance of an Estate in it Plutarch terms it the Virtue of the Family meaning by this some certain Character and particular good Quality for which our Ancestors were eminent and which hath been propagated in Succession and is continu'd in the several Descendents of that House Now what this Quality is in particular which should merit such a Distinction hath not been agreed on all hands Some and indeed the greater part will have it to be Atchievements in War others add or equal to this Politick and Civil Prudence whereby Men become necessary to the State by their Counsels as the former do in the Field To These have likewise been added Eminence in Learning and particular Offices in the Courts of Princes as Accomplishments thought fit and sufficient to distinguish a Man's Family and derivâ— Honour down upon Those that descend from him But I think it must be acknowledg'd by all considering Persons that the Military Honours have the Advantage and deserve a Preference above all the rest both because the Qualities of this kind are most serviceable to the State in its greatest Exigencies and Distresses and because it is the most painful and laborious and exposes Men's Persons to the greatest and most apparent Dangers From whence it is that a particular Veneration and Respect a louder Applause and Commendation is allowed universally to Them and that These by way of Eminence and Privilege have attain'd to that distinguishing Character of Valour or Worth Now according to this Opinion Two things are necessary and must both contribute as Ingredients to the Composition of that which is the True and Perfect Nobility First There must be the Profession and Appearance of this Virtue or good Quality serviceable to the Publick and this is as it were the Form and then there must be the Family in which as in the Matter or proper Subject this Quality is inherent that is there is requir'd a long uninterrupted Continuation of it thro' several Descents and Time out of mind Hence according to the vulgar Jargon they are stiled Gentlemen that is Persons who are Branches and Descendents of the same Blood and House Bearing the same Name and the same Profession of this distinguishing Quality for several Generations That Person then is truly properly and entirely Noble who makes singular Profession of some Publick Virtue that renders himself useful and remarkable in the Service of his Prince and his Country and is sprung from Relations and Ancestors who have done the same before him in the respective Ages when they liv'd Some it is true have separated these two Qualifications and consider'd them apart 〈◊〉 guished as being of Opinion that One of these singly that is Personal Virtue and Worth without any Advantages of Birth is sufficient to entitle a Man to this Honour They think it hard that Men should be excluded merely upon consideration of their Ancestors wanting the Excellencies which they have rendred Themselves conspiâ—uous for Now This is a Personal and Acquir'd Nobility and very valuable it is but yet the Vogue and Custom of the World hath so far obtain'd that They think it very hard too for the Son of a Cobler a Butcher or a Plough Man to start up Noble and be rank'd among the most Ancient Honours let his Service to the Publick have been never so great and valuable But yet this Opinion hath got good booting in several Nations and particularly among the â—urks For they have no regard at all to a Man's â—lood the Nobility of his Ancestors or the Antiquity of his Descent They look upon These Considerations to be full of unreasonable Partiality Châ—cks
his Aim and End ought in the first place to be throughly well acquainted with Himself and with Mankind The true Knowledge whereof is a very important and beneficial Study of wonderful Efficacy and Advantage For Man is the Subject proper for the Philosophers Consideration none but the Wise understand it and every man that does really understand it is Wise But at the same time it is a matter of great Intricacy and Difficulty for Man is extremely addicted to fallacy and disguise so full of it as to impose very often not only upon other People but upon Himself too Every one takes a pleasure in cheating himself is industrious to flatter his own Conscience solicitous to hide and extenuate his own Failings and diligent to magnify his few commendable Actions and Qualities shutting his Eyes and fearful to see the worst of himself and therefore since Sincerity even at home is so very little regarded we cannot reasonably think it strange that Wisdom is so very rarely to be met with For how can we expect it should be otherwise when so very few are perfect so few indeed give any attention to the very first Lesson in this Science and Men are so far from undertaking to Instruct others that they are wretchedly Ignorant and take no care of informing themselves How many profess'd Masters how many zealous Learners do we see in other matters which are foreign and of little or no moment while every body neglects the business which most nearly concerns him and while he is taken up with other matters abroad is absolutely in the dark at home What an Unhappiness What an exquisite Folly is this How great a Reproach to the Generality of Mankind Now in order to the being competently skill'd in this point we should get acquainted with all sorts of Men Those of the most distant Countries and Climats the most differing Tempers and Ages Conditions and Professions in which History and Travelling are very considerable Helps we should observe their Motions their Inclinations and their several Dealings and Behaviour not only in publick for these are full of Artifice and consequently less improving but their most secret and reserved Actions the most natural and freest from Constraint such as may let us into the dark and mysterious part of Human Nature and discover some of the hidden Springs by which Men are moved And particularly great regard should be had to those Passages wherein Mens Interests or particular Humours come to be nearly touch'd because there the Man will be sure to shew himself in his own true Colours When these Remarks are made a man must draw them together and form some general Notions and judicious Reflections from them But particularly one must be very careful to descend into Himself to try and found his own Breast to the bottom that no lurking Deceit escape him there but every Thought and Word and Action be justly and nicely weighed The Result of such Observations would certainly be a sad but serious Sense how miserable and weak how defective and poor a Creature Man is on the one hand and yet how vain and arrogant how proud and presumptuous how bloated and big with Air and Wind what a mere Tumour a Bladder a Bubble he is on the other The former of these Representations will move our Compassion the latter will raise our Horrour and Indignation Now the former Book hath done him right in all these respects by taking him to pieces and examining every part and feature by it self viewing him in all the different Lights and taking every Prospect the Picture was capable of being drawn in So that I shall trouble my Reader no further with any account of this nature at present But hope he make a good Proficiency in the business of this Second Book by the Assistances given him in the First And in order to it we will proceed to warn him of the chief Obstructions in his way to Wisdom as They who build must first clear the Ground and remove the Rubbish out of the way The Man who desires to become Wise must at the very first entrance into this design seriously set about and stedfastly resolve upon delivering preserving and guarding himself effectually from two Evils which are directly opposite and irreconcilable Enemies to Wisdom and such absolute impediments to our progress in the studies of it that till They be got over or taken out of the way no Advances can possibly be made One of these is External consisting of the Vices and the Opinions in common Vogue which by the advantage of being Popular spread and propagate Folly like a contagious Disease the other Internal and consists of a man 's own Passions so that in short the Two great Adversaries we have to fear and are most concerned to defend our selves against are the World and our Selves And after such an Advertisement there needs no more be said to shew how hard this undertaking is What course shall we take to get quit of these two or how shall we run away from them Wisdom indeed is difficult and rare but it is upon this account chiefly that it is so This is the troublesome part of it This in a manner the sole Conflict we have to fear when once This Combat is won all the rest is easy and the Day our own For the first thing that can fit or put us into any Capacity for Wisdom must be to get clear of that Evil which obstructs our whole Design and will not admit Wisdom to dwell with or grow near it Now this is the Benefit my Reader is expected to reap from the First Book which as I said may furnish him with sufficient Instructions for the getting throughly acquainted with the World and Himself and this Knowledge will possess him with so just a Character of Both as cannot but assist and lead him on to Consideration and Care and teach him to stand upon his guard and diligently beware of both Thus there is a strict and natural Connection between the two parts of this Treatise for the Beginning and First Step of the Second Book is the End and Fruit of the Former Let us first then say somewhat to that Hindrance which is External Popular Error Now we have heretofore given a large and lively Description of the Temper of the Common People the strange unaccountable Humours of That Book I. Ch LII which is by much the most numerous part of Mankind and it can be no hard matter to make a Judgment from thence what monstrous effects those humours must in all reason be expected to produce For since the Vulgar are so bewitched with the love of Vanity since they abound with Envy and Malice since they are so totally void of Justice and Judgment and Discretion since they are perfectly strangers to Moderation and good Temper and what sort of Deliberations and Opinions and Judgments and Resolutions can we suppose them taken up with How indeed is it possible that they
among Unbelievers or Preserving a due Reverence of it where it is already received Divinity and especially that part of it which is Mysterious and Revealed tells us plainly that the Mind must be cleansed and purified in order to receive those Heavenly Truths and the Impressions of the Holy Spirit That God will not inhabit our Souls till all Corrupt Opinions as well as Affections are cast out for with regard to both we shall do well to understand those Commands of Purging away the old Leaven and putting off the Old Man From whence we may collect that the most compendious and successful method of planting the Christian Religion among Infidels would be first to establish them in the Belief of these following Propositions That all the Knowledge of this World hath a large embasement of Vanity and Falshood attending it That the Generality of Mankind are deluded with fantastical Notions the Forgeries of their own Brain That God created Man to the End he might acquaint himself with the Divine Nature and Dispensations and employ his Soul and sind his Happiness in these noble Contemplations But that in this decayed and declining State Man is not capable of discovering Truth by his own Strength That there is consequently a Necessity of God who is Truth manifesting it to him That God hath in much Mercy vouchsafed to do this by particular Revelations That it is He who inspires Men with a Desire of Truth as well as he provides for the Gratifying that Desire That in order to dispose and qualify our selves for being instructed in the Divine Revelations we must abandon all worldly and carnal Opinions and as it were bring our Minds a pure blank for God to write his Will in When these Points are gained and Men are in such preparation to resign themselves to Truth then it will be time to lay the foundations and instil some of the first and plainest Principles of Christianity To shew them That these Doctrines came down from Heaven That the Person who vouchsafed to bring them was a faithful Ambassador and entire Confident of God One who knew his whole Will exactly That his Authority was abundantly confirmed by infinite Testimonies such as were miraculous supernatural and so authentick proofs because capable of coming from no other Hand but God's only Thus this Innocent and candid Suspense and Unresolvedness of Mind would prove a happy Instrument toward the creating and first begetting a Knowledge and Belief of the Truth where it is not Nor would the Essicacy of it be less in preserving it where it is planted and hath taken root already For such a Modest Caution and Deference would undoubtedly prevent all manner of Singularity and Daring Extravagance in Opinions but to be sure it would absolutely put a Stop to Heresies and Publick Divisions You will answer me perhaps that the Temper I am describing As it is too full of Indifference to make any Hereticks So is it too to make any good Catholicks and that the Danger of it is At last degenerating into Scepticism and want of Zeal for all Religions Were the Condition of Religion the same in all points with That of other Notions and Philosophy in general I allow there would be force in this Objection But as it is this is not to argue from my Rules but to pervert them I have already said That Religion stands upon a firm undoubted bottom of its own That God in this differs from all his Creatures that whatever He says is exempted from the Common Rules of Enquiry and there can but one Question lye before us which is Whether he hath said it or no When once this appears to us there is no room for suspending our Judgments any longer no pretence for Neutrality or Liberty of Thought nor a questioning How these things can be God cannot lye and we cannot err in believing Him but for all things else the more cautious and curious and the more loose and disengaged we keep our Mind with regard to Them the Safer and Easier we shall be I have made a sort of Digression here in Honour of the Rule I am recommending that those who profess themselves Enemies to it may find their great Objection obviated In which if I have trespassed upon my Reader 's Patience I ask his pardon And now to our Business again After these two Qualities of Judging all things and fixing our Minds obstinately upon Nothing follows the Third Qualification which is a Largeness or Universality of Soul By Virtue of This the Wise Man casts his Eyes expands and stretches out his Thoughts over all this vast Universe with Socrates becomes a Citizen of the World and takes in all Mankind for his Neighbours and Countrey-men Looks down like the Sun with an equal steady and indifferent Eye upon the Changes and Vicissitudes here below as things that cannot reach nor have the power to change Him This is the Security the Privilege of a Wise Man That which resembles him to the Powers above and renders him a sort of God upon Earth * Magna generosa res animus humanus nullos Tibi poni nisi communes cum Deo terminos patitur Non idem sapientem qui caeteros terminus includit omnia ilâ—i saecula ut Deo serviunt Nulium Saeculum magnis ingeniis Clâ—usum nullum non cogitationi pervium tempus Quam natutale in immensum mentem suam extendere hoc à Naturâ formatus homo ut paria Diis velit ac se in spatium suum extendâ—t The Mind of Man says Seneca is a great and generous Being and is bounded no otherwise than the Divinity it self The Wise Man is not confined to the same narrow compass with the rest of the World No Age no Time no Place limit his thoughts but he penetrates and passes beyond them all How agreeable is it to Nature for a Man to stretch his Mind infinitely For Nature hath formed him to this very purpose that he should emulate the Gods and like Them fill his own Infinite Space This I confess is a sort of Stoical Rant But thus much is strictly true That the Bravest and most capacious Souls are always most of this Universal Temper as on the Contrary the meanest and most incapable are most cramped have the narrowest Notions and are always particular in their Judgments of Men and Things aptest to be positive themselves and to condemn all that dissent from them It is in Truth great Folly and Weakness to imagine that all Nations are bound to think and act just as we do and that none live as they ought who do not comply and agree in every point with what obtains in our own little Village or our Native Countrey to think that the Accidents which happen to Us are general and in common and must needs affect and extend to the whole World equally This Sensless Wretch when you tell him of Opinions and Customs and Laws directly opposite to those he hath been
pleases for upon a Supposition of the Contrary we must affirm his Power to be but finite because this World is so And That were a Notion contradictory to the absolute Perfection of his Nature Let it also be considered how much we have learnt toward the Rectifying our Notions of this kind by the Improvement of Navigation and the Discoveries lately made of a New World in the East and West-Indies For by this we are plainly convinced that all the Ancients were in a gross Error when they imagined that they knew the utmost Extremities of the Habitable World and had comprehended and delineated the whole Extent of the Earth in their Maps and Books of Cosmography except only some few scattered remote Islands And that they were perfectly in the dark about the Antipodes For here all on a sudden starts up a New World just like our own Old one placed upon a large Continent inhabited peopled governed by Laws and Civil Constitutions canton'd out into Provinces and Kingdoms and Empires adorned and beautified with noble Cities and Towns larger more magnificent more delightful more wealthy than any that Asia Africa or Europe can shew and such they have been some thousands of Years And have we not reason from hence to presume that Time will hereafter make fresh discoveries of other Lands yet unknown If Pâ—olomy and the Ancient Writers were mistaken in their accounts heretofore I would be very glad to know what better Security any Man can have of being in the right who pretends that all is found out and fully discovered now If any man shall take the Confidence to be positive in this point I shall take my liberty in believing him Secondly We find the Zones which were look'd on as uninhabitable are very plentifully peopled Thirdly We find by experience that the things which we profess to value our selves most upon and pretend to have had the earliest Intelligence of have been received and practised in these lately-discovered Countries for a long time and perhaps as soon and as long as we our selves have observed or had notice of them I do not pretend to determine whence they had it And that whether we regard Religious Matters and such as come to us by Revelation from Heaven as for Instance the Belief of One Single Man at first the Universal Progenitor of all Mankind the Universal Deluge of a God that lived in human flesh and took the Substance of a pure and holy Virgin of a Day of General Judgment of the Resurrection of the Dead the Observation of Solemn Fasts the Ornaments of those that minister in Holy things the Surplice and the Mitre particularly the Respect paid to the Cross Circumcision like that of the Jews and Mahometans and Counter-Circumcision which makes it a point of Religion to prevent all appearance of any such thing upon their Bodies Or whether we regard Civil Constitutions as That of the Eldest Son inheriting his Father's Estate Patent Honours taking new Names and Titles and laying down that of their Families Subsidies to Princes Armories and Fortifications Diversions of Players and Mountebanks Musical Instruments and all kinds of Diversion in use in these parts of the World Artillery and Printing From all which it is very natural to deduce these following Inferences That this huge Body which we call the World is very different from the common Apprehensions of Men concerning it That it is not at all times and in all places the same but hath its Tides its Ebbings and Flowings in perpetual Succession That there is nothing so confidently asserted and believed in one place but is as generally received as peremptorily maintained nay as fiercely contradicted and condemned in another And that the Original of all this whether Agreement or Difference is to be resolve at last into the Nature of Man's Mind which is susceptible of Ideas of all sorts And that the World being in perpetual Motion is sometimes at greater and sometimes in less Agreement with it self in the several parts of it That all things are comprehended within the general Course of Nature and subject to the Great Director of Universal Nature and that they spring up are alter'd decay and are abolished according as He in his Wisdom thinks fit to vary them by the Change put upon Seasons and Ages Countries and Places the Air the Climate the Soil in which Men are born and bred and dwell And lastly That as our Predecessors were but Men so We are no more and since the Errors in Their Judgment of Things are manifest this should teach Us to distrust and suspect our own And when These Inferences are justly made the Result of them must needs be to be inseparably wedded to no Opinion to espouse none of our Arguments and Speculations too eagerly to be astonished at nothing though never so unusual not to lose our Temper upon any Accident But whatever happens or how violent soever the Storm may be to six upon this Resolution and satisfy our selves in it That it is but according to the Course of Nature and that He who governs the World works as he pleases and proceeds by the Rules of his own Wisdom and therefore all we have to do is to take a prudent Care that nothing may hurt us through our own Weakness or Inconsideration or Dejection of Spirit Thus much I thought sufficient and indeed necessary to be said upon this perfect Liberty of Judgment consisting of the Three Particulars so largely insisted on And indeed so largely by reason I am sensible it is not suited to the Palate of the World but denounces War against Pedants and positive Pretenders which are all of them Enemies to true Wisdom as well as to this Principle of Mine The Advantages whereof have been sufficiently represented already the Mischiefs it prevents and the Tranquillity it brings This was the particular Character of Socrates that Father and Chief of the Philosophers and universally acknowledged as such By This as Plutarch says though he had no Off-spring of his own yet he managed others so as to make Them fruitful and Midwif'd their Productions into the World This Temper is in some sense like that Ataraxie which Pyrrho's Sceptical Followers called the Supreme Happiness of Man But if that resemblance be a little over-strained yet it may very well bear being compared to the Neutrality and Indifference which the Sect of the Academicks professed And the Natural Effect of such a Temper is to be discomposed or astonished at nothing which Pythagoras thought the Sovereign Good and Aristotle called the True Greatness of Soul So Horace * Nil admirari prope res est una Numici Solaque quae possit facere servare beatum Horat. Epist 6. L. 1. Not to Admire as most are wont to do It is the only Method that I know To make Men happy and to keep them so Creech And is it not a most amazing perverseness that Men cannot be prevailed with to make the Experiment nay that
Occasion practised upon foreign and distant Considerations acting by sudden starts and short spurts with Clamour and Noise with Hurry and Clutter with Ostentation and Vainglory And from hence we are led to the true meaning of all those Glorious things which Philosophers and Wise Men in all Ages have said of Nature For what Doctrines are more common in the mouths of every one of them than these * Naturam si sequaris Ducem nusquam aberrabis Bonum est quod secundùm Naturam Omnia Vitia contra Naturam sunt That the way for a Man to live well is to live agreeably to Nature That a perfect Conformity with Nature is the Supreme Good the most exquisite Happiness Mankind are capable of That if we make Nature our Mistress and Guide and constantly follow the Directions she gives we shall never go amiss By all which it is plain that Nature is set to signify that Universal Reason and Equity which is given for a Light to our Minds and is both of that vast comprehension as to contain under it the Seeds of all kind of Virtue Probity and Justice The Common Parent that gives Birth to all wholsome and good Laws all just and Equitable Judgments that ever were or will be given and also of that Clearness and Perspicuity too that Men of the meanest Capacity and Attainments might determine themselves and be conducted by it Whatever scandalous or disparaging Reflections some may asperse Nature with or how great a part of them soever this Corrupted State of it may deserve yet there is no doubt to be made if we look back to their Original and primitive Constitution but all things were created and disposed in the best Order and Condition they were capable of and had their first Motions toward Good infused and interwoven with their Being and strong Tendencies to the End they ought to aspire after This was the Work and Wisdom of Nature and from hence it is that no Man who follows and obeys her Dictates can ever fail of obtaining and enjoying the End and true Happiness proper to his Species For after all Men are naturally and originally Good and when they follow Evil they forsake Nature and are seduced by the false Allurements of Profit or of Pleasure And because These are the two governing Motives and such as will be sure to bear a powerful Sway in the World therefore the Makers of Laws have always found it necessary to propose two contrary Objects that is Reward and Punishment to the Persons whose Obedience they would engage And the Design of These is by no means to put a Violence upon their Wills and so constrain them to act against natural Inclination as some weakly imagine but it is in truth to * Sapientia est in Naturam converti ea restitui unde publicus Error expulerit Ab illâ non deerrare ad illius Legem Exemplumque formari sapientia est reduce them to better sense and bring them back to that which is not only the best but was the first and most natural Inclination of their Minds till perverted by wicked and deceitful Appearances of Counterfeit Good Nature without all Controversy is a sufficient Guide a gentle Mistress capable of instructing every one of us in all the Branches of our Duty provided we would but be as careful to hearken to its Admonitions to exert and keep it awake and active There is no need for Us to beg or to borrow from Art and Learning those Means and Remedies and Rules which are necessary for the good Government of our selves for each of us can subsist and live by himself his own proper Stock is sufficient to maintain him A Happy and a Contented Life is indeed what every one does and should aim at but these are Blessings by no means entailed upon Learning or Parts or Greatness or Honour a Man may attain them and never see the face of a Court or a City There is a Proportion common and natural to all which is enough for this purpose and All beyond that however valuable as additional Advantages are yet by no means necessary we can do very well without them and which is worse we are so far from doing very well upon their account that they do but increase our Troubles and our Difficulties and do us more Hurt than Good How many plain and ignorant and mean Men do we see that live with more sensible Pleasure and Satisfaction more sedate and undisturbed both in their Minds and Fortunes and upon occasion can meet and encounter Poverty or Pain Danger or Death with a better Grace and greater Composure than the most Learned and celebrated Philosophers And if one take the pains to observe it nicely you will find more frequent Instances more eminent Patterns of Patience and Constancy and Evenness of Temper among plain Countrey People and those of mean Condition than all the Schools can boast of These are simple and unaffected they go on where Nature leads are influenced by the Reasons she suggests and the Impressions she makes without creating new and imaginary Troubles They feel no more than is to be felt and use no Art and Industry to torment themselves Their Passions are low and quiet and smooth in comparison of Theirs who take pains to rufflle them and esteem it a piece of Bravery to indulge and blow them up and so they go on in all their Affairs more calmly and considerately without Heat or Disorder whereas others look big and bluster do every thing with Pomp and Hurry are in perpetual Agitation and Alarm and keep themselves and all Mankind awake One of the greatest Masters and most exquisite Improvers of Nature was Socrates as Aristotle was proportionably Eminent for Art and Learning Each of these in their respective Province was wonderful but it is observable that Socrates took a plain and natural way insinuated himself by vulgar Arguments familiar Similitudes an easy Style and by talking as a downright Countrey Fellow or a good discreet Woman would have done did not only suit himself better to the Capacities of Men but laid down such useful Precepts and Rules of a Virtuous Life such powerful Antidotes against all manner of Sufferings and Accidents that the Strength and Vigor of them was never yet improved nor the Success exceeded shall I say No not so much as matched or any thing like it invented by all the Study and Acquired Learning in the World But alas we are so far from trusting to the Guidance of Nature that we never so much as give it the Hearing The Violence put upon it and the intractable Temper of Vice and Extravagance of unruly Appetites perverse Dispositions and depraved Wills which are eternally striving to choak and suppress nay quite to deface and utterly to extinguish as much as in them lies the Light within that mortify and kill the very seeds of Virtue these are too gross to come within the present Account My Complaint is
truckle and submit not only to the Fickleness and Variety of infinite several Judgments but to the Changeable and Humoursome Sentiments of one and the same Person That which binds the Law upon Men's Consciences is the Authority of the Legislative Power and the Sanction it receives from thence the Reasonableness of the Duty contained in it is only an additional and collateral Obligation How many Laws have there been in the World so far from any appearance of Piety or Justice that they have really been exceeding trifling extravagant and sensless such as no Man's Reason knew what to make of And yet Mankind have submitted nay and enjoyed as much Peace and good Order and been as regularly governed as highly contented as if they had been the Justest and most reasonable that ever Human Wisdom and Policy enacted Now he that should have gone about to create a Dissatisfaction and Dislike to such Laws or attempted to repeal or to amend them would have deserved to be suspected as an Enemy to the Publick and not to be endured or harken'd to in a wise Government There are very few things but Human Nature may in process of Time reconcile it self to and when once the Difficulty is overcome and things sit easy upon People it is no better in effect than an Act of Hostility to offer at the dissetling them again We should always be content to let the World jog on in its own beaten Path for it is but too often seen that your Removers of Ancient Land-marks and busy Politicians under their plausible Pretences of Reforming spoil and ruin All. There is seldom or never any considerable Alteration made in established Laws received Opinions acknowledged Customs and ancient Ordinances and Discipline but it is of very pernicious Consequence The Attempt is always extremely hazardous there is commonly more Hurt than Good done by it at least this deserves to be duly weighed That the Mischief if less in it self is yet sooner felt for the Disorders every Change creates are certain and present but the Advantages it produces are distant and doubtful so that we exchange a Good in Possession for one in Expectation only and where we submit to That there ought to be very great Odds in value to justify the Prudence of our Proceeding This is certain that Men are but too fond of Novelties before they have tried them and Innovators never want some very fair and plausible Pretences to catch and feed their Fancies with but the more of this kind they pretend the more ought we to suspect and be aware of them For how indeed can we forbear detesting the vain and ambitious Presumption of Persons who undertake to see farther and be wiser than all Mankind besides What an intolerable Arrogance is it in such Turbulent and Factious Spirits to persuade Men into Compliance with their Humours at the Expence of the Publick Peace and to think it worth while that the Government should run the Risque of its own Ruin merely for the sake of establishing a fresh Scheme and passing a private Opinion into an Universal Law I have already hinted and do repeat it here again That we are not by any means obliged to obey all Laws and Constitutions whatsoever which our Superiors shall think fit to impose without any Distinction or Reserve For where we find them evidently to contradict the Laws of God and Nature in such case we must neither comply on the one hand nor disturb the Publick Peace by our refusing to do so on the other How Men ought to behave themselves in such Critical Junctures will fall more properly under Consideration when we come in the next Book to treat of our Duty to Princes And indeed this Inconvenience is much more frequent upon Subjects with regard to Their Arbitrary Commands than the Established Laws Nor is it sufficient that we submit to Laws and Governors upon the account of their Justice and particular Worth but this must not be done servilely and cowardly upon Motives of Fear and Force This is a Principle sit only for the Meanest and most Ignorant it is part of a Wise Man's Character to do nothing unwillingly and upon Compulsion but to delight in his Duty and find a sensible Pleasure in a reasonable Obedience He keeps the Laws for his own sake because he is jealous and tender of doing any thing he ought not and a rigid Master over himself He needs no Laws to constrain him in what is decent and good This distinguishes Him from the Common Populace who have no other Sense or Direction of their Duty but what Positive Laws can give In strictness according to the old Stoical Notions the Wise Man is above the Laws and a Law to himself But however he pays all outward Deference to them and a free voluntary Obedience This is due from him as a Member of Society as the inward Freedom of his Mind is owing to the Prerogative of a Philosopher In the Third Place I affirm it to be the Effect of extreme Levity a Presumption vain in it self and injurious to others nay a Mark of great Weakness and Insufficiency of Judgment to Condemn all those Laws and Customs abroad which are not conformable to those of our own Native Countrey This indeed is owing either to want of Leisure and Opportunity or to want of Ability and Largeness of Mind for the considering the Reasons and Grounds impartially upon which Foreign Establishments are founded It is a great Wrong done to our own Judgment to pronounce a Rash Sentence which when we come to a more perfect understanding of the Cause we shall in many Instances find our selves obliged to retract and be ashamed of And it is an Argument that we forget the Extent and Condition of Human Nature how many and how different things it is susceptible of It is a shutting the Eyes of our Mind and suffering them to be laid asleep and deluded with the often repeated Impressions of the same thing the daily Dream of Long Use and to submit so far to Precedent and Prescription that These should overbear the plainest Reason and give Example the Ascendent over Judgment Lastly It is the Business and the Character of a generous Mind and such a Wise Man as I am here drawing the Idea of to examine all things First To take each apart and consider it by it self Then to lay them one over against another and compare them together that so the several Laws and Customs of the whole World so far as they shall come to his Knowledge may have a full and a fair Trial and that not for the directing his Obedience but to assert his Right and execute his Office When This is done he ought to pass an honest and impartial Judgment upon them as he shall find them upon this enquiry to be agreeable or otherwise with Truth and Reason and Universal Justice For This is the Rule This the Standard which all of them are to be Tried and Measured
and Perseverance All the Free and Bold Determinations by which Virtue hath expressed her self the Noble and Admired Sentences uttered by Celebrated Persons when reduced to extremity of Danger and Distress Such as shine in Story give lasting Characters to their Authors and transport the Reader with Wonder and Delight a very few of which because they now occur to my Mind I take the Liberty to insert here Helvidius Priscus having received a Message from the Emperor Vespasian not to appear in the Senate or if he came strictly prohibiting him to interpose his Opinion in a Debate which was to be moved there sent back word That his Character of a Senator required his Attendance and he should not refuse his Summons neither should he when There balk any thing that became him but if called upon to give his Judgment would discharge his Conscience and deliver his Sense of the Case freely and without Fear or Reserve The Emperor provoked with what he thought Insolence in this Reply sent a Second Message threatning to put him to Death if he opened his Mouth To which he returned thus Sir said he Did I ever tell the Emperor that I was Immortal His Majesty I suppose will do his Pleasure and I will take care to do my Duty It is in His Power to put me to Death Unjustly but it is in my Own to Dye Virtuously and Gallantly The Lacedemonians when Philip of Macedon Father of Alexander the Great had entred their Country with his Army received a terrible Message from him Threatning what Severity he would use them with if they did not court his Friendship and send to make Terms with him To which one Brisk Fellow Answered in behalf of the whole Republick What Harm can those Men suffer who are not afraid of Death And upon another Dispatch from Philip telling them That he would break all their Measures and prevent the Designs they had formed in their own Defence The Answer was How Sir what break all our Measures No Sure you will not pretend to hinder us from Dying This is a Project which you cannot Defeat Another when his Opinion was asked What course a Man could take to live Free and Easy resolved the Doubt thus That all other Methods were ineffectual except that One of Despising Death We read of a Young Boy who was taken Captive and Sold for a Slave and in Discourse with his Patron who had Bought him Sir says he You shall now see what a purchase you have I should certainly be much to blame and guilty of great Folly should I submit to Live in Slavery when my Liberty is in my own Disposal and I can retrieve it when I please And with that he threw Himself down from the House top and was dashed to pieces While a Person was deliberating with himself in deep perplexity of Thought whether he should quit this Life or not accept that Deliverance but be content to tug on still under the weight of a very heavy Calamity which then oppressed him A Wise Man told him That in His Judgment the Matter under Debate was very small and inconsiderable For What is it says he to Live Thy Slaves nay thy Beasts and Cattel Live but to Dye like a Man of Honour and Integrity and Wisdom to leave the World with remarkable Constancy and Courage This indeed is a thing of moment and worth Studying for To conclude this Argument and to crown it with the most complete and substantial Consideration that can possibly belong to it Our most Holy Religion owes more of its Success in the World and more of its Effect upon Men's Hearts and Lives to this single Principle of getting above the Fear of Death than to any other Human Foundation whatsoever No Man can be an excellently Good Christian who is not Resolute and Brave and upon this Account we find that our Great Master who best understood the Temper of his own Gospel does insist upon taking up the Cross Hating and Despising Life for his sake not Fearing Men who can only destroy the Body and the like which are but other Expressions for the Contempt of Death These he insists upon I say as frequently as earnestly as upon any other Duty or Article of Religion whatsoever Now we must understand That there are many Counterfeits and False Pretences to Bravery upon this Occasion a great many People who look big upon the matter and would fain persuade the World nay perhaps are persuaded Themselves That they Despise Death and yet are in truth afraid of it Thus several People will tell you They do not value Life They would be content nay glad to leave the World but the Ceremony and Process of Dying is what They cannot away with Others again while in perfect soundness of Health and Judgment can think of Death without any Impressions of Horror nay have as They imagine settled their Minds so as to bear the Shock of it Firm and Unmoved and Some have gone farther yet and resolved to make it their Choice their own Act and Deed. This is a Farce very often played insomuch that the Soft the Luxurious Heliogabalus himself had a Part in it and made Sumptuous Preparations that his Death might be as Pompous and Expensive as his Life had been But when These Mighty Men of Valour have come to the Push their Hearts have failed and either Courage was wanting to give the Blow or they have repented of such Hardiness for Rash Heat and Folly as Lucius Domitius particularly who after he had Poysoned himself was sorry for what he had done and would fain have Lived when it was too late Others turn away their Heads draw their Cap over their Eyes and dare not look Death in the Face They think of it as little as they can steal upon it and plunge in all on the sudden They swallow it down like unpalatable Physick and hasten to get to the End of that bitter Potion which goes against their Stomach To this purpose is that saying of Caesar That the Shortest Death is the Best and that of Pliny That a Sudden and Speedy Dispatch is the greatest good Fortune that can happen to Man in this Stateof Mortality Now no Man can truly be said to have Resolution and Courage such as is above the Fear of Death who is afraid of facing and coming up to it who dares not meet and undergo it with his Eyes open and his Thoughts and Senses about him Thus we know several have done and therefore this is no Romantick Excellence above the Power or Capacity of Human Nature Thus did Socrates particularly who had Thirty days time to chew the Cud and digest the Sentence pronounced against him and yet after all this Foresight and Consideration Dyed without the least Disorder or Passion without any Change in Countenance or Temper without any struggle or sign of Reluctancy in the most Calm Composed Chearful manner that you at any other time can suppose a Man in Thus
Belief and stedfast Hope of them is very hardly consistent with the Fear and Loathness to dye For sure if this Principle were pursued through all its Consequences the Effect must needs be to make us dissatisfied with Life and weary of being confined here so long and at so great a distance from our Happiness Life upon these Terms should be barely supportable but Death our Choice and the Object of our Love and Desire To such Men Living must needs be a Toil and a Burden and Death an Ease and Refreshment after much Suffering and hard Labour St. Paul's Declarations and Wishes would then be in the Hearts and Mouths of all Good Men. I desire to be dissolved and to be with Christ Phil. i. Rom. vii which is far better To me to dye is Gain And Oh wretched Man who shall deliver me from the Body of this Death Of such Efficacy I say in all Reason must these Expectatons be when duly cherished and enforc'd And I cannot but acknowledge those Reproaches upon some Philosophers and Christians both Ancient and Modern to have a great deal of Justice in them whom Men called Hypocrites and Publick Impostors For what better Notions can be entertained of Persons profuse in the Proofs of an Immortal State and in the Glorious Commendations of a Bliss inexpressible in the Life to come and yet at the same time Pale and Shivering for Fear declining Death by all possible Means and trembling at the very Mention of its Approach though this very Thing to which they are so exceeding averse is confess'd to be the Passage into their so much admired Eternity the only Method of putting them into actual Possession of those Joys the very Hope and Reversion whereof they pretend to value above this whole World The Fifth and last particular mention'd upon This Occasion Killing ones self is only a Putting in execution that which was mention'd before For what is Dying by one's Own hand but the Gratification and Accomplishment of a Man's Desire of Death This indeed hath at first blush a good fair Appearance and seems to proceed from Virtue and Greatness of Spirit And certain it is that the Allowance and the Practice of it hath been both Frequent and Antient Many Instances of this kind live in Story Persons eminently Great and Good of almost every Countrey and every Religion Greeks and Romans Egyptians Persians Medes Gauls Indians Philosophers of all Sects nay Jews too as is evident from the Fact of old Razias who hath the Honourable Character of The Father of his Countrey given him 2 Mac. xiv and is constantly mentioned with Commendation of his Virtue Another Instance the same History gives us likewise in those Women under the Tyranny of Antiochus 2 Mac. vi who after they had Circumcised their Children cast Themselves down headlong from the Wall with them Nay not only Jews but Christians too witness those Two Holy Women Pelagia and Sophronia Canonized for their Piety and Courage the former of which with her Mother and Sisters cast her self into a River that by drowning they might escape the Rudeness and Violence of the Soldiers and the latter stabb'd her self to prevent the outragious Lust of the Emperor Maxentius And as if single Persons were not sufficient to justify this Practice we have whole Cities and Nations giving Authority to it by their Example Thus did the Citizens of Capua to avoid being taken by the Romans thus did Astapa and Numantia in Spain upon the same account Thus the Abidaeans when hard pressed by Philip and a City of the Indians when Alexander had encamped against it This hath likewise had the yet more Authentick Approbations of Laws and Publick Sanctions and several Commonwealths have not only permitted but recommended and in some Cases brought it into a Custom as Marseilles heretofore the Isle of Cea in the Negropont and some Northern Nations in particular where the Publick Justice regulated the Times and the Methods of doing this Nor is it only upon Precedents that the Favourers of this Opinion do rely but they think it abundantly supported by Reason and particularly that several Arguments of Weight may be deduced from the former Article to justify it For say They if a Desire and Willingness to dye be not Allowable only but Commendable too if we may Wish and Pray for a Release if we may put our selves in the way of it and be glad when it is offered why may we not Give this Relief to our Selves Is the Desire it self a Virtue and the Execution of that Desire a Sin What is permitted in the Will why do you call forbidden in the Act That which I may be pleased with from Another hand why should I be condemned for from my Own Indeed why should I wait the tedious Approach of that from other means which I can at any time give to my self For is it not better to Act in this Case than to be purely Passive Is it not more Manly and Generous to Meet Death than lazily to sit still and attend its Motions The more Voluntary our Death is the more like a Man of Honour Again What Law does this offend against There are Penalties indeed ordained for Robbers and Pick-pockets but is any Man liable to them for taking his Own Goods By the same Reason the Laws against Murder do not concern Me. They provide for every man's Security against the Insults of Others See the Animadversions at the End of this Chapter they tye my Neighbour's hands from taking My Life and Mine up from taking His because this is supposed to be an Act of Violence and want of Consent in the Sufferer makes it an Injury but what is all This to the purpose or how does it render a Man guilty who voluntarily and deliberately takes away his own Life These are the Principal I think indeed the Whole of those Arguments commonly alledg'd in Defence of this Practice but then there are Others a great deal more Substantial and more Obligatory that use to be produced for the Contrary Side of the Question First then As to Authorities This Practice however countenanced by some but very few States in comparison hath yet been absolutely disallow'd and condemned by the Generality of Mankind and not only by Christians but Jews too See Joseph de Bell. Judaie L 3. C 14. as Josephus shews at large in the Oration he made to his Officers in the Cave at the Taking of Jotapata By the Generality of Philosophers and Great Men as Plato and Scipio and Others who all impute this manner of proceeding to a Defect rather than any Sufficiency of Courage and reproach it not only as an Act of Cowardice misbecoming a Brave Man but of Heat and Impatience unworthy of a Good Man For what can we say better of it than that This is skulking and running out of the way to hide one's self from the Insults of Fortune Now a Virtue that is vigorous and stanch
to the mighty Surprize as well as Advantage of all that were concerned in them †Multa Dies variusque labor mutabilis aevi Rettulit in melius Virg. Aenerd H. Good unexpected Evils unforeseen Appear by Turns as Fortune shifts the Scene Some rais'd aloft come tumbling down amain Then fall so hard they bound and rise again Mr. Dryden In this Case a Man of Honour and Virtue ought to act toward Himself as he should in sighting toward his Adversary To be always upon his Guard to parry and ward off the Blows with all the Art and Skill one hath to weary him out and make good one 's own Party but never to Kill except the necessary Defence of one's self require it and till Matters are brought to the very last Push Secondly There is no Question to be made but it is infinitely more Virtuous and more Commendable to endure patiently and support our selves with firm and immoveable Constancy to the very End than to sink under the Load and tamely flee before the Calamity For such a Yielding betrays Weakness and Cowardice But because Perseverance like Continence is a Grace not given equally to All nor is every Man alike able to receive it the Question before us at present will be Whether upon Supposition of some Great Evil Insupportable for the Quality and past all Hopes of Remedy or Recovery such as is likely enough to subvert and beat down all our Resolution and Irritate our Minds to some very wicked Passion such as Discontent Despair Murmuring against our Great Lord Whether I say in such a Case it might not be more expedient or at least more excusable to deliver one's self by One Resolute Act from such Dreadful such Vicious Consequences while our Understanding is perfect and undisturb'd than by a Cowardly Delay to expose our selves to the Danger of being vanquished by the Temptation and so ruined to all Eternity Is it not better to quit the Field than to Sacrifice one's self by obstinately standing one's ground This perhaps is a Course which in some very Nice and Difficult Exigencies Reason and merely Human Prudence might advise and accordingly some who pretended to be great â—â—â—osophers have practised it in different Countries so that the Opinion seems to have been pretty favourably received The Stoicks do not stand upon so much Ceremony but give Men leave to dislodge and pack off whenever they are disposed to it as we may collect from Seneca and others The other Philosophers are somewhat more reserved but They allow it too provided a Man can give a good reason for his proceeding thus These are the Notions and Determinations of the Schools of Philosophy and Human Reason but That of Christ teaches us much otherwise For the Christian Religion admits no reason to be sufficient in this Case nor ever dispenses with any Circumstances whatsoever The Truth and Wisdom of God absolutely condemns all such Officious and Voluntary abandoning of our Post and never suffers us to stir from our Duty till we are regularly dismiss'd by the same Authority which placed us in it No Man's own Inclinations are sufficient nor can the doing it of his own head bear him out in this matter So that whatever hath been said in this Chapter which may seem in any degree to advise Men to Patience and Perseverance and to propose This as the better and more eligible though in the Philosophical Sense it be only recommended as Good Counsel yet in a Religious one it hath the force of an absolute and indispensable Command Besides we may add That it is an Argument of very great Wisdom for a Man to know and distinguish rightly which is the proper season for Dying and to lay hold on that Opportunity when put into his hands For every Man hath a Critical juncture of this kind in which Virtue and Honour call which Some by being over-hasty Antedate and Others as much too slow let slip through their Hands Both these Defects though so contrary in the Operation yet proceed from the same Principles which are a mixture of Weakness and of Courage But the Misfortune is That even Magnanimity it self without Discretion to Temper and Direct it will not secure a Man's Character How many Persons of just Renown and once unblemished Honour have yet had the Unhappiness of surviving their Reputation and from an Intemperate Fondness of Life for the sake of some poor little addition to their Days have absolutely Sullied and Eclipsed their former Glories followed all their Credit to the Grave a good Name Murthered and Buried by their Own Hands The wretched remainder of their time hath retained not the least Tincture or Resemblance of what went before but the Scandal of Their Age compared with the Honours of their earlier Years looks like some wretched old Clout tack'd to some very Rich and Beautiful Garment And who would patch up Life at this Odious Deformed rate It is with This as with Fruit there is a Critical Season of gathering it from the Tree If you let it hang too long it putrifies and grows Insipid and the longer you spare it the worse it is and if you pluck it too soon the loss is as great in the other Extreme for then it is Green and Sowr and good for nothing for want of kindly Ripening Many Eminent Saints have with great Industry declined Dying upon consideration of their great Usefulness and the mighty Advantage the Publick would receive from their Surviving and this too notwithstanding the certain Prospect of their own Private Gain in leaving the World And when a Man can exchange so much for the better it argues great Charity to be content to Live This St. Paul describes to be his own Case Phil. I. And there is more than Men commonly think of Resignation in that Old Saying If my longer Continuance be for the Benefit of thy People I refuse not the toil of Living Si Populo tuo sum necessarius non recuso Laborem Death appears to us under divers Shapes and the manner of Men's undergoing it is vastly different some of the ways of Dying are more easy and accordingly the Figures and Idea's of it much less dismal and frightful than Others But when all is done the Difference of these Forms is like that of Faces and the Preference given to them depends chiefly upon Humour and Fancy So far as I am capable of Judging Of all Deaths which are usually termed Natural That is the Gentlest and most Supportable which proceeds from a gradual Weakness and Stupefaction of the Parts And of All that are Violent That sure is most eligible which is quickest in Execution and Dispatch and is least thought of before-hand Some indeed are fond of making their last Act Exemplary a Pattern to Others and a Commendation to Themselves by the Proofs they give the World of Courage and Wisdom and Steadiness of Mind at their last Hour But This is rather to have a regard for Other
wre there not so there could be no scruple That which is altogether unjust and manifestly so all Men agree 〈◊〉 condemning even the vilest Wretches alive have not yet put off all Distinctions of Right and Wrong all Sense of Guilt and Shame But what they allow themselves in the practice of even that they disallow in Profession and Pretence But the Case is otherwise in mixt Actions there are Arguments and Appearances of Reason at least Examples and Authorities on both sides and a Man that enters into the Disquisition does not find it easie what Resolutions to take At least he finds somewhat to give Countenance to what his Convenience persuades and that which hath divided Men's Judgments and made it a moot Point he thinks will be sufficient for his Vindication Abundance of Cases of this nature might be specify'd but at present I shall content my self with a few that now occur to me and leave it to the Reader to put others like or parallel to these as he sees fit What shall we say first to the ridding ones Hands of a troublesome pestilent Fellow that propagates Faction and Disorder and is eternally breaking the publick Peace by getting him taken off secretly without any legal Process This Man take notice is supposed to deserve Death but the Circumstances of the Offender and of the Prince are such that without manifest Danger to the State he cannot be brought to Justice nor made an Example in the common way Here is they tell you no material Injustice in all This the Offender hath but his Due and as Matters stand the Publick is better served by his having it in this way than it could be by punishing him after the manner of other Offenders of the like Nature So that the most you can make of this is a Breach of the Forms and Methods prescribed by Law and surely they tell you the Sovereign Prince is above Forms The next is Clipping the Wings and giving a Check to the Wealth and Power of some Great Man who is growing Popular and strengthening his Interest and both from his Ability and Inclination to do Mischief becomes formidable to his Prince The Question here is whether a Prince may not lower and cut such a potent Subject short in time without staying so long for a fair Provocation that he stall be grown too big to be dealt with and if any Attempts be made either against the publick Peace in general or the Life of the Prince in particular it will not then be possible to prevent or to punish them though we would never so fain Another is In an extreme Exigence and when no other Supplies are to be had seizing upon private Stocks and so compelling soe of the wealthiest Subjects to furnish the Publick Necessities when the Nation is not able by all its Publick Funds to support it self A Fourth is Infringing and Vacating some of the Rights and Privileges which some of the Subjects enjoy when the Authority of the Prince is prejudiced and diminished and his Grandeur eclipsed by the Continuance of them The Last is a Point of Prevention when a Fort or a Town or a Province very commodious to the Government is seiz'd and got into a Prince's Hands by interposing first and to keep it out of the Possession of some other powerful and very formidable Neighbour who by making himself Master of this Pass would have been in a Condition of doing great Injury and giving perpetual Disturbance to this Prince and his Country who are now the first Occupiers All these things I know sound harsh and are hardly if at all to be reconciled with the common Notions of Justice Matters of State are neither fit nor safe for me to give a Judgment in thus much only I think may not misbecome this place to say That as on the one hand the indulging and having frequent recourse to such Actions is very dangerous gives just matter of Jealousie to the Subject and will be apt to degenerate into Tyranny and Exorbitant use of Power so on the other it is plain Subjects ought to be modest and very spring in censuring the Actions of their Prince and the Steps he makes for the publick Safety however bold they may seem and beyond the Lengths which are commonly gone And this suspending at least of our Judgments in matters of another and very distant Sphere will appear the more reasonable when I have shewed you that very eminent Men Persons of acknowledged Virtue as well as vast Learning and Wisdom have approved all those Practises already mention'd and think them not amiss provided the Success be good and answer their Intentions And to this purpose I will quote you here some of those Sentences and Remarks which they have left us upon such Occasions In order to preserve Justice in greater and more important Matters there is sometimes a necessity says Plutarch of deviating from it in those of less Moment And in order to doing Right to the generality and in the gross it is allowable to put some Hardships and be guilty of some Wrong to particular Persons * Omne magnum Exemplum habet aliquid ex iniquo quod adversus singulos utilitate publicâ rependitur Commonly speaking says Tacitus the bravest Exploits and most celebrated Examples carry somewhat of Injustice in them But in this Case what Private Men suffer is abundantly compensated by the Benefit which the Publick receives from it †〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. in fine Flamin A Prudent Prince says Plutarch again must not only know how to govern according to Law But if a necessary occasion require it he must learn to govern even the Laws themselves When they fall short of their End and cannot do what they would he must stretch and correct and give a new Power to the Laws where they happen to be defective that is if they are not willing he should do what is fitting in that Juncture he must make them willing ₠Non speciosa dictu sed usu necessaria in rebus adversis sequenda esse Q. Curt. Lib. 5. When the State is in Confusion and things brought to a Plunge the Prince says Curtius must not think himself obliged to follow that which will look or sound best to the World but that which the present Extremity calls for And again * Necessitas magnum imbecillitatis humanae patrocinium omnem Legem frangit non est nocens quicunque non sponte est nocens Senec. Necessity says Seneca That great Refuge and Excuse for Humane Frailty breaks thro' all Laws and he is not to be accounted in fault whose Crime is not the Effect of Choice but Force Aristotle's Rule is If a Prince cannot be good in every part of his Government 't is enough that he be so in the greater or at least an equal part but let him be sure not to be bad in every part And Democritus That it is impossible for the best Princes
for the Officers Officers which come now to be next considered by These I mean such as serve the Prince and the Government in some publick Trust And They ought to be made Choice of with great Discretion Persons of Honour and Virtue well-descended and whose Families are of Quality and Reputation in the World It is reasonable to believe that Men of this Character will approve themselves best in their respective Stations and That of Birth particularly is so considerable a Qualification that it is by no Means for the Honour of a Prince or the Decency of his Court that People of mean Extract should be admitted near his Person and commissioned to preside over others except some very great and remarkable Merit give them a just and visible preference and make amends for the want of Quality and Descent But Men of Infamous Lives False and Base Men of no Principles or of such as are Dangerous and Worse than none in short Men under Circumstances which either fix an odious Character such as the World have reason to hate or to despise to be asham'd of or to suspect should not upon any Terms be admitted to any Office or Trust After these Conditions as to their Morals we must not forget that as great a Regard is due to their Understandings And that not only to see that they be Men of Parts and Judgment in general but that each Person be dispos'd of to such an Employment as best agrees with his own Genius and Attainments in Particular For some are Naturally fittest for Military and others for Civil Trusts Some have thought it a general good Rule for Officers of all sorts to choose Men of a mild and gentle Disposition and moderate Character for your violent and topping Spirits that are full of themselves and cannot be prevail'd upon to yield to any or quit the least Punctilio commonly speaking are not at all fit for Business * Ut pares negotiis neque suprà sint recti non erecti Let the Persons you employ be therefore a Match for their Business and able to deal with it but not too much above and able to play with it Men that know how to give and take their Due but not such as will sacrifice the Publick to a Nice Point of Honour and their own Unseasonable Vanity Next after Counsel we may very well be allowed to place Treasures The Fifth Head Treasure for certainly these must be confest a very great Point a useful necessary and powerful Provision If Advice be the Head that sees and directs Money is the Nerves the Hands the Feet of the State by which it moves and acts and is strongly knit together For when all is done there is no Sword cuts deep not makes its own way through like that with a Silver Edge No Master is so Absolute in his Commands so readily obey'd No Orator so Eloquent so Persuasive so Winning upon the Wills and Affections of Men no Conquerour so Successful or so great a Gainer by Storms and Sieges and force of Arms as a good Purse This is serv'd with Zeal and obeyed without Grudging this gets Possession of Hearts and draws the World after it this takes Towns and Castles without the Expence of Blood or Time or Hazard And therefore a Wise Prince will always think himself oblig'd to take care that his Treasury be in good Condition and that he never be disabled in this so very necessary so vital a Part of his Government Now the Art and the Care of effecting and securing this consists in Three Particulars The First whereof concerns the providing good Funds The Second in employing the Money arising from them to the best Advantage and the Third in keeping a constant Reserve that he may never be destitute of a necessary Supply upon any sudden Accident or pressing Occasion And in all these Cases there are Two things which the Prince must by all means look upon himself bound to avoid which are Injustice and sordid Frugality for how Necessary and Advantagious soever the Observation of these Rules may be yet he must never purchase this Convenience at so dear a Rate as the Invasion of other Men's Rights or the loss of his own Honour For the First of these which relates to laying the Foundation as it were and amassing together a sufficient Treasure there are several Methods of doing it Many Springs which like so many little Streams contribute to the filling up this common Cistern Funds but though all of them pour in some yet they do not all supply the same Proportion nor are they all perpetual or equally to be depended upon For Instance One Fund is the Crown Lands I. and Demesnes and other standing Revenues appointed to the Use of the Prince for the Support of his Grandeur and Government And these ought to be husbanded to the best Advantage and kept up to their old Rents and put into good Hands They should by no means be alienated without some very urgent Exigency require it but look'd upon as things Sacred and such as in their own Nature are not transferrable to any other Owner II. Another is the Conquests made upon Enemies which should be so ordered as to turn to good Account and not squandered and prodigally wasted because they are a sort of additional Wealth and when they are gone the Prince is but where he was before The Power of old Rome is in great Measure owing to their good Management in this Point They always took Care to bring in vast Summs not only to pay the Charge of the War but to enrich and swell their Exchequers with the Wealth transferred thither from the Towns they took and the Countries they vanquished This their Historian Livy tells us was the Practice of their Bravest and most Renown'd Generals Camillus Flaminius Aemilius Paulus the Scipios Lucullus and Caesar and not only so but after this first drawing over their present Treasures they constantly imposed a Yearly Stipend to be paid either by the Natives left upon their own Soil under these and certain other Conditions or by those Colonies of Romans whom they transplanted thither But still every Conquest brought some substantial Advantage to the Common-Wealth and was more than an empty Name and the meer Glory of the Thing The Presents Free-Gifts Pensions Donations and Grants III. Tributes Taxes arising either from Friends or Allies or Subjects Legacies and Bequests of the Dead Deeds of Gift from Owners yet surviving or any other manner of Conveyance Tolls and Imposts IV. Customs upon Goods imported or exported Commodities Foreign or Domestick Duties upon Docks and Havens Ports and Rivers which hath been a general and very ancient Method of raising Money as well upon Strangers as Natives and a very just lawful and beneficial Method no doubt it is when limited with these Conditions That no Provisions or Other Goods that are Necessaries of Life shall be transported so as to impoverish the
Country and reduce the Subject to Streights nor any raw Wares but that Materials of home-growth should be likewise wrought up and finish'd at Home to find the Subjects Employment and keep the poor and labouring People at Work upon their own Manufacture that so the Profit and Wages as well as the Stuff might centre and circulate among Natives and the Growth of one Nation not be transferr'd to the enriching of another But now when these Commodities are wrought and dress'd there is good Reason for carrying them to foreign Markets as it is likewise Policy to import all the raw and unwrought Commodities they can and to prohibit all foreign and finish'd Manufactures because in all these Cases there is greater Encouragement and Opportunity given for Labour And it is also highly reasonable in all Matters of Traffick that a heavier Imposition should be laid upon Strangers who trade among us than the natural Subjects of the same Country For all foreign Impositions bring large Summs into the Treasury and are a great Ease to the Subject which is a Consideration always to be regarded and for that Reason the Customs which are laid upon all such Necessaries of Life as are imported from abroad should be moderated and brought as low as possibly they can These Four Methods already mention'd are not only allowable and convenient but strictly Just and Equitable Honourable and Fair. The Fifth which I consess is not altogether so agreable to Decency V. and the Dignity of a Prince is That of Trade which is carried on for the Profit of the Sovereign by means of his Factors and hath several Methods of turning to Account which are some less and some more liable to Scandal but the most Infamous and the most Destructive of all is the setting to sale Offices and Honours Preferments and Places of Trust There is indeed a Course not yet mention'd which I think will come within the Notion of Trade and therefore I choose to name it under this Head for the sake of the Resemblance it bears to the Subject now in Hand This hath no great Matter of Indecency in it and hath the Example of several very wise and eminent Princes to give it Countenance It is the letting out the publick Money in Bank upon a moderate Interest as Five in the Hundred Prosit for instance and securing the Principal either by an Equivalent in Pawns or Mortgages or else such Personal Security as is sufficient and of unquestionable Credit And these Loans are of great Advantage in Three Respects For First They add greatly to the Wealth of any Government by taking Care that it shall always turn to fresh Account and no part of it ever lie dead Then Secondly It is a mighty Convenience to private Men who by this means are sure of a Fund to trade upon and cannot sail of being furnished in any Proportion which their Occasions shall require or which they can find such Security as is fit to be accepted for But the Third and greatest Senefit of all is That it keeps this Money out of the â—aws of Sharpers and saves that to the publick Use which would otherwise become a Prize to the Importunity and nauseous Flattery of hungry Courtiers and be thus extorted from the good Nature of a King wearied into gaving And upon this last Consideration singly to save the Trouble of being importuned and the Difficulties of denying some Princes have found it advisable to lend out their ready Cash without any Interest to be paid upon at â—â— purely for the sake of securing the Prime Summ which they took Care to do by binding the Debtor in a Penalty of paying double if he were not Punctual to his Day VI. The Sixth and Last Method is That of Loans and Subsides extraordinary levied upon the Subject and this shou'd be a Reserve for times of Necessity a Remedy always to be made use of with Reluctancy and such as is properly applyed when other stated Methods fall short and the Exigence of Affairs calls for a larger Supply than the former Particulars can furnish out In the Circumstances of this Kind no doubt can be made of the Justice of the Thing But then to make this still more easie and gentle to the Subject it is not only requisite that the Necessity of such Supplies be evident and the Publick Safety highly concern'd in them but these following Conditions should likewise concur to the sofining them First I. That whatever Moneys are advanc'd upon Loans for the serving a present Occasion should be afterwards punctually and honestly paid back again as soon as the Difficulty is over and the Occasion serv'd This we find practised by the Common-Wealth of Rome when driven to Extremities by Hannibal And at this Rate the Prince will never want Money for while the Exchequer keeps Touch and Credit private Men will be pleas'd nay proud to lend not only because they think their Cash deposited in safe Hands and can depend upon their own again with Advantage but for the Honour and Reputation of having assisted the Publick and serv'd their Prince in a time of Distress And this to generous Men is a Valuable and will always be a Powerful Consideration where the Hazard and Fears of a Loss do not check it But Secondly II. If the Publick Stock be drawn so low that the Debt cannot be satisfied from thence and some fresh extraordinary Imposition be necessary this should by all Means be adjusted and charged with the Consent of the Subjects who are to contribute toward it The present Defects of the Treasury fairly stated the Occasion that exhausted it fully represented and the People made truly sensible of the necessity they are under so pressing upon them that Passage of the Blessed Saviour the Gracious King of Kings The Lord hath need of them for thus He in marvelous Condescension was pleas'd to express himself And in such Circumstances if the Case require it and the Satisfaction of the People can be effectually consulted upon those Terms it may be very advisable to lay an Account of the Receits and Expences before them Persuasion and fair Means are always best employed in Matters of this Nature and to be driven to use Power and Constraint is the last Unhappiness that can happen to a Governor Themistocles was certainly in the right when he thought it more for the Honour of a Ruler * Impetrare melius est quam imperâ—re to gain his Point by Request and Expostulation than by Commands And though it be true that every Word of a King is full of Power and Force and what he asks his Character makes in effect a Command yet still it is more for the Advantage of the Publick and the Continuance of a mutual Affection and Good Understanding between Prince and People that this kind of Supply should run in the form of a free Gift that the Subjects should express their Sense of the Publick Necessities and desire the
Prince to accept what Relief they are capable of contributing toward it at least it is fit that these extraordinary Taxes should be limited to a certain Term that they do not pass into constant Payments things of Course and Continuance and that the Subjects never be prescribed to in these Cases without their own Approbation and Consent A Third Course to qualifie these Impositions would be to lay them not upon Persons but Estates that Men may pay for what they have and not for what they are For a Poll-tax hath every where been looked upon as the most odious of any it being indeed by no means just that all should be levelled where Fortune hath made so vast a difference and while the Men of Wealth and Honour and Noble birth pay little or nothing that the greatest part of the Duty should rise upon poor Country People who work hard for their Living But especially should all possible care be taken in the Fourth place that such Subsidies should be levy'd fairly and equally For the being rack't and screw'd above one's proportion is a very grating and intolerable thing and breeds more murmuring and Contention than the Charge it self Now in order to bring every body in to bear a part in this common Burden it will be convenient to tax such Provisions with it as all Mankind have occasion for and must make use of Such as Salt and Drink and the like for thus the Excise will be universal and every Member of the Publick Body will be inexcusably obliged to contribute something to the Publick Necessity Besides these indeed there may and it is but reasonable there should be constant and heavy Incumbrances laid upon such Commodities whether Foreign or Domestick as are vicious in their use and tend only to debauch the Subject and thus all those things manifestly do which serve only for Luxury and vain Pomp such as are purchased at dear Rates merely out of extravagant Humour or useless Curiosity all superfluous State in Diet Clothes Equipage the Instruments of Pleasure Corrupters of Manners and whatever contributes to a Licentious way of Living And the loading such things with such Impositions as shall make them yet more expensive may possibly prove the best Method to discourage the use of them For Men in the midst of Luxury will sometimes be content to save their Purses and abstain upon a Consideration of Tenderness in that respect when their Consciences would be so far from being restrain'd by Laws that a positive Prohibition would rather set a sharper Edge upon their Appetite and make them but so much more impatient and eager to come at these things The Second Branch of this Science relating to the Publick Treasures is the taking good Care that they be well employ'd The using the Treasure well And to this Purpose I will here lay down a short account of the several Heads of Expence upon which a Prince must necessarily and ought in Duty to make use of them Such are There Subsistence and honourable Salaries of the Houshold the Pay of the Soldiers the Wages of Officers of all sorts the just Rewards of such as by their good Services have merited of the Publick The Pensions and charitable Relief extended to those who come well recommended and are proper Objects of his Royal Bounty and Compassion These Five are constant and unavoidable Occasions But then there are others too very useful and fitting tho' not so absolutely and always necessary such as the Reparation of old decay'd Towns strengthening the Frontiers of his Country amending the High-ways and making Roads as direct and convenient as the Condition of the Place will bear keeping up Bridges and all other necessary Accommodations for Travellers founding Colleges for the study and improvement of Learning and Religion and Virtue Building and Endowing Hospitals for distressed and disabled People and erecting Publick Halls and other Structures that are for the Honour and Service of the State These sorts of Repairs and Fortifications and Foundations are of excellent use and advantage besides the Profit which immediately redounds to the State in general by their means For by promoting such Designs Art is encouraged and improved Workmen are kept in Employment the People are highly contented and pleased and a great part of that Grudging and Repining usual to the Commonalty is prevented and cured when they see their Taxes converted to so good uses and The Benefit comes back to them again But especially these two great Banes of any Commonwealth are by this means utterly banished the Plague of Idleness and the Scandal of Poverty and Beggery Whereas on the contrary the consuming the Publick Wealth in extravagant Gifts to some particular Favourites in stately but unnecessary Buildings or in other vain Expences for which there is no need and whereof there can be no use draws a general Odium and Indignation For the Subjects cannot bear to think that so many Thousand should be stripped to clothe and make one Man sine that another should strut and look big with their Money and that the great Houses should be built with their Blood and the Sweat of their Brows For such as these are the grumbling Terms in which the Vulgar when provoked to discontent murmur out their Resentments and nothing touches them so near as Money and a Notion of Extravagance and Wastfulness in the Disposal of their Taxes The Third and Last Part of this Advice consists in taking care to have a good Supply in reserve for any extraordinary Exigence that may happen Saving That so in Cases of necessity a Prince may not be driven to sudden and unjust Remedies nor use Violence upon others to help himself This Store thus laid up and frugally managed for the Prince to draw out as he sees sit is the common Notion of the Exchequer Now in the management of this Article there are two Extremes which must be both avoided because each of them is of very dangerous Consequence to the Person that falls into it The One is That of immoderate Greediness in amassing prodigious Summs for such Treasures tho' got by Methods never so just and honourable are not always the most for a Prince's Security when they are out of measure They really very often involve him in Wars either by putting him upon Oppressing and invading his weaker Neighbours in confidence of hisown Strength and tha the longest Purse will be sure to carry it at last or else they are a Bait to some Enemy to fall upon Him And threfore it is much more for the Safety and Advantage as well as for the Honour of a King to convert them to such uses as have been already mentioned than to let them grow exorbitantly great upon hishands and so either tempt the Owner to Insolence or expose him for a Prey to those who want such Prize The Other Extreme is spending all and keeping nothing to help at a Pinch and This is worse than the Former for such a
Men have been very different in the first Branch of this Comparison Foot For some and especially the Barbarous and Undiciplined Nations are much more for Horle than Foot but others are generally of the quite contrary Opinion Indeed it may with great reason be affirmed that if both are considered simply and absolutely without any regard to particular Exigences and Qualifications Foot are much the better of the Two For they are of Service all along and run through the whole Course of the War no place excludes them no Action is atchieved without them Whereas the Horse are often useless for in Mountainous and rough Countries and where the Defiles are very straight and in the besieging and taking of Towns they stand a General in very little stead Foot are also more ready at Hand upon all occasions they cannot lie far out of Call and as their Attendance and Service is more so the Expence of raising and maintaining them is considerably less The Subsistence and Equipage of Horse is extremely Chargeable and even for That Action where they are of most Advantage Flanking and Galling the Enemy in a Battle if the Foot be well appointed armed Substantially and Skilful in their Business they will stand the Shock and maintain their Post very well And accordingly Those who set up for Masters in this Art usually give them the Preference The Horse indeed are of greater use in a pitch'd Battle and for making quick Work * Equestrium virium proprium est citò parare citò cedere victoriam For this says one is the Quality of Horse that they soon get and soon lose the Day The Foot it is plain cannot be so good at dispatch nor can it be expected they should But then they make amends another way and as they are the slower so they are a great deal the surer of the Two Nor do we find an entire Agreement of Opinions concerning the next Article Natives Whether Natives or Strangers are sittest to be made use of tho' to me the Odds appear so very great that I make no manner of difficulty to give it on the Native's side For certainly we may expect better Principles and greater Fidelity from Home-born Subjects than we can from Strangers who are Soldiers of Fortune and only fight for their Pay They will endure more be better contented submit more quietly to Orders carry themselves with more Respect to their Officers use more Civility in Quarters will think their Honour more concerned and when they come to Action shew more Courage in the Engagement as they cannot but have a more affectionate and tender Regard to their own Country for the defence whereof they are engaged Besides the Publick saves more by them they cost a great deal less and are more ready at hand than Auxiliaries from Abroad For Foreigners are very often mutinous and grumbling and that sometimes just when there is occasion to make use of them They commonly keep a great blustering but have more of Insolence and Vanity than of real Service in them They are generally Troublesome and a Burden to the Publick cruel and oppressive to poor Country People and fancy themselves licensed to plunder as if it were an Enemy's Country because it is none of their own Then the Expence of Transporting them backward and forward the Voyages by Sea or long Marches by Land are a prodigious Charge And which is worst of all their Motions are frequently so tedious and their Delays so many that Opportunities are lost incredible Damage sustained and the Season of Action quite spent before they come up This I say is very often the Case and therefore where Natives are equally qualify'd in other respects and there is no want of Hands these are certainly sittest to be employed But still This hinders not but that there may be occasions in which a Foreigner's Aid is advisable and therefore this staring of the Comparison is not to be lookt upon as a conclusive Rule nor of any force against Cases of Necessity or particular Convenience But even then it will be for the safety of a Prince to take heed that the Strangers do not exceed those of his own Subjects for though they may constitute a Part or Limb of the Army yet they must by no means make up the main Body of it For when once they feel themselves superiour or but an equal Match for the Natives there is danger of their making use of such an Advantage to subdue and make a Prey of their Masters that hired them And History takes notice of this Trick being play'd so often that no prudent Governour would run the risque of it or put such a Game into Strangers Hands And a fair Game to be sure it is for He that is 〈◊〉 of the Field may be Master of all the Kingdom whenever he pleases Again If there be a neâ—â—â—sry for the Assistance of Strangers let them be borrowed from our Allies and Confederates whose Interests are interwoven with our own and so whatever Damage one sustains will affect both Upon which account we have reason to repose greater Confidence in their Fidelity and to expect better Service and more Zeal from them than we can from mere Strangers who have no concern at all either with or for us To make such then not one 's Refuge but one's Choice and to multiply them to the Danger and Terror of one 's own Subjects is a Course fit for none but Tyrants who because they use their Subjects ill are afraid of them They treat them as Enemies and are sensible Low general a Hatred they have incurred and therefore they dare not trust them for fear they should have the Inclination to take it when they are put into a Condition of Revenage and turn those Swords upon their Master which he taught them to use for His defence but hath provoked them to use for their Own As for the Ordinary and auxiliary Forces a Prince will sind occasion for both sorts Ordâ—â—â—â— and 〈◊〉 Now the Difference betwixt these two is That the Former are but very few they are constantly in Pay and upon Duty as well in times of Peace as of War And of These therefore all that was necessity hath been delivered urder the Provisionary Part of Civil Prudence These are People entirely destined to War This is their whole Trade and therefore they ought to be perfect Marters of is dexterous in all manner of Exercise and reselute as well as skilful in handling their Arms. This is what the Moderâ—â— call the Standing-Forces of a Kingdom the Princes Honour in Peace his main Protection in War and much of the Nature with that Institution of the Old Râ—man 〈◊〉 Now it will he convenient that there thould be contâ—â—'d out by Regiments in time of Peace and quarterd in very small Bodâ—es remote from one another to preveâ—â— any Coâ—â—binations among them or the giving Disturbence to the Publick The Auxiliaries or Extraordâ—â—ary Fâ—ce are
superiour to the Enemy when Victory seems to invite and stretch out her hand on purpose to be receiv'd and embrac'd when the Enemy is at present considerably weakned by some Detachment or otherwise or not yet fully joyn'd but expects in a very short time to be compleated or reinforc'd and will then bid you Battel When you have it in your Power to surprâ—â—â— them and they imagine that you are at a Distance and incapable of reaching them When he is harass'd or taking Refreshment When he is divided and Parties out Petrolling or upon Booty busie in Victualling their Camp or their Horses forc'd to be Stabl'd up at a distance and feed upon dry Meat for want of Forage near their Camp The Place of Engagement deserves also to be very diligently consider'd Place this being of very great Importance in Action One may venture to say in general That it is by no means prudent to wait for the Enemy in your own Country his Entrance thither should if possible be prevented and you ought either to advance and meet him so as to make his Territories the Seat of War or else to secure your own Passes and stop him at his approach But if he have already vanquished that Difficulty and got Footing it is by no means advisable to run the Risque of a Battle except you have another Army in reserve to sustain and recruit you speedily For this would be to play a desperate Game and to stake All upon one single Throw But when Matters draw toward an Engagement the Ground ought to be well viewed and prudently chosen and as you find it for your own or your Enemies Convenience you must manage your self accordingly For the Ground it self is a very great and sometimes almost an insuperable Advantage Now a plain open Country is most convenient for the Horse because this gives them Room to wheel and Scour in but your narrow Defiles and Places full of Boggs Morasses Ditches and Trees are most Favourable to the Foot because These give no Opportunity to the Cavalry to break in and Flank them A General must also be Careful with whom he engages Persons and never venture a Battle with an Enemy stronger than himself Now this Strength is not always to be measured by Numbers but by the Courage and Resolution of the Men. And nothing makes Men so Valiant as Necessity because this is almost an invincible Enemy and therefore the Stress of it awakens all our Powers to make Opposition Upon this Account it is a good Rule never to fight with Men reduced to desperate Circumstances but rather to put an Opportunity into their Hands of being upon better Terms with you And this agrees exactly with the Counsel given in the former Paragraph of not Hazarding an Engagement in one's own Countrey because the Enemy must then be forc'd to make a Desperate and Bloody Business of it as being sensible that if he happen to be worsted there is no avoiding of utter Ruine No Fort to protect no Retreat to receive no fresh Succours to relieve and sustain them and so nothing in Prospect but certain Victory or certain Death * Unde necessitas in loco spes in virtute sâ—lus ex Victoriâ As for the Manner of engaging XI Manner That is certainly the best which is most Advantageous and likely to succeed whether Surprise or Stratagem or making a Feint pretending to retreat for Fear to draw the Enemy out of a good Post or into an Ambuscade and take them in a Trap. Thus †Spe Victorie inducere ut vincatur the Expectation of Victory is the very Instrument made use of to work their Overthrow Watching all their Motions narrowly taking Advantages of every false Step and charging them when and where they are least in a Condition to receive the Attack For the due Management of a formal and ranged Battel Form'd Battels these following things are very expedient The First and indeed the Principal is a regular Disposition of one's Men and Marshalling every part of the Army in their proper Place and Order A Reinforcement Secondly constantly ready so near at Hand that they may pour in upon the least notice and yet so much under Covert that the Enemy may not discern or be at all aware of any such Thing 'till they are actually upon them And tho' this Reserve be not very considerable in it self yet the Effects of it will be so for in a Hurry there is nothing so Ridiculous or despicable but it is able to create or increase our Confusion And * Pumi in omnious Pâ—â—his vincuntur Oculi Aures in all Engagements the Conquest is first gain'd upon the Eyes and Ears for when once their Senses are struck and make a Report full of Terror the Heart falls the Hands grow faint and seeble and all is our own A Third useful Direction is To be first in the Field and stand ready in Form of Battel This gains time and gives a Commander Leisure to do what he sees fit with Deliberation and Ease it likewise animates our own Men and discourages the Enemy who measure our Assurance by out Forwardness Besides This is to make our selves the Aggressors and the First Blow is commonly given with more Spirit and Resolution than it is received A Fourth Expedient is a Becoming Bold Brave and resolute Aspect in the General and the rest of the Commanders when their Countenances do not only speak their own Courage but inspire and animate those that want it The Fifth and Last is a seasonable and pertinent Exhortation to the Soldiers encouraging them to do well representing to them the Glory the Advantages nay the Safety of behaving themselves Gallantly That Infamy and Reproach Danger and Death are the certain Portion and Fate of Cowards For â‚ Minus Timoris minus Periculi audaciam pro muro esse Effugere mortem qui eam contemnit the less Fear the less Danger always Courage is its own Defence and the readiest way to escape Death is boldly to face and generously to despise it He that runs hastens to his own Destruction and for one that falls in the Heart of Action there are Ten cut to Pieces in the Flight When once the Armies are engaged In the Action it self the General is to observe on which side the Advantage inclines and if he find his own Party give Ground he is then to act the Part of a Firm Undaunted Mind to do all that can be expected from a Resolure Officer and a Gallant Soldier To rally them again lead them on in Person bring them out of their Confusion stop them in their Retreat throw himself into the midst of them hearten and encourage them to a Second Shock by all manner of means and in his whole Behaviour to give evident Demonstration both to the Enemy and his own Soldiers of his own Bravery and Presence of Mind that his Head his Hands his Tongue
of their Favour and good Graces To say nothing in their Company tending to the Matter in controversie but to talk altogether of indifferent Things or at least such as we personally know to be true or are otherwise very well assur'd of If we touch upon the Dispute to say what may be for the Service of both and may tend to their reconciliation and better Understanding But by no means submitting to that vile practice of reporting idle Stories or groundless Surmises or aggravating things that have some Foundation or currying Favour by discommending or railing at the Adversary of Him with whom we converse For Matters here ought to be carry'd with such an even Hand that nothing should pass in Company with the one which we would not speak if the other were by nay that nothing should be said to the one which we would not say to the other in his Turn too allowing only for some little Alterations in the Forms and Manner of our Address which the different Circumstances of the Persons or the Relation or Authority we pretend to with them or some other accidental Consideration foreign to the Subject of the Quarrel it self may render seasonable and seem to require from us Justice the Second Cardinal Virtue CHAP. V. Of Justice in General JUSTICE consists in rendring to every one whatsoever of Right belongs to him What it is paying first to himself his Own Duty and then to others Theirs And according to this Definition it comprehends all manner of Duties and Offices which each particular Person can be any way oblig'd to Now these as I hinted before are of Two sorts according to the Objects of them which are Two The First terminate in a Man 's own Person the Second in other People All which in their utmost Latitude sall within the compass of that most extensive Command which hath express'd the Substance and Summ of all Justice in those very few but significant Words Thou shalt love thy Neighbour as thy self For here it is very observable that the Duty to others is put in the Second place that the Love and Duty we owe to our selves is laid as the Ground-work upon which that to our Neighbour is superstructed and the Model by which it is to be proportion'd For as the old Hebrews and not They only but all the World use to say Charity begins at home The Beginning then and Foundation of all Justice is to be sought for within our selves Primitive and Original Justice and the most Ancient and Fundamental Right of all others is that Dominion which Reason hath over the Sensual part of us A Man must be able to command and govern himself before he can be qualify'd to exercise this Authority in demanding Subjection from others And this Government of one's Self consists in reserving to Reason the Power of bearing Sway and keeping the Appetites under reducing and restraining them to their just Measures and Degrees and bowing their stubborn Necks till they become flexible and obedient to Discipline The preserving our Souls in this Order and Posture is what we may call Primitive Original and Internal Justice the most genuine the brightest and infinitely most beautiful of any thing that goes by that Name This Sovereignty and Dominion of the Rational over that sensual and brutish part of the Soul which is the Source of all our Passions and by Them of all our Troubles and Disorders hath been by some Authors not unfitly resembl'd to a Rider managing his Horse keeping himself firm in the Saddle and the Rein constantly in his Hand by which he rules and turns the Beast under him at pleasure To give an exact and nice Account of that Justice Distinguished which goes abroad and is exercis'd in our Dealings with other People it is necessary to observe first of all that there are two sorts of it The One Natural Universal Generous and Brave Rational and Philosophical the Other in a great degree Artificial Particular Positive and Political contrived and cramp'd up according as the Exigencies of particular Countries and Constitutions would allow it a larger or have confin'd it to a narrower Compass The Former of these is much the more regular and uniform more firm and inflexible clearer and fairer of the Two But alas it is antiquated and obsolete capable of doing very little Service to the World as it now stands This occasion'd that Complaint * Veri Juris germanaeque Justitiae solidam expressam essigiem nullam tenemus umbris imaginibus utimur That the Substance and express Image of true Right and Justice was long since fled and gone and all we live by now is only some faint Shadows and imperfect Copies of that Original Representation taken from the Life it self These are like the first Sketches of a Night-piece but they are such as Mankind must be contented with since tho' the Darkness of their Condition need a stronger Light yet their present Infirmities cannot bear any thing so exquisitely bright This is what they say of Polycletus's Rule Inflexible Unalterable The other is more slack and limber and pliable it comes to and accommodates it self to the Necessities and the Weaknesses of Mankind nay of the generality and That to be sure is the worst and most ignorant part This is a Leaden and a Lesbian Rule a Nose of Wax that bends into any Form and may be wrought into any Figure and indeed is bow'd and chang'd perpetually according to the different Exigencies and Circumstances of Time and Place and Person the Posture of Affairs and the variety of Accidents This in case of necessity and convenience dispenses with allows nay approves of several things which the other will not so much as connive at but must absolutely condemn and cannot admit upon any Consideration whatsoever This establishes some Vices and gives them not only the Countenance but sometimes the Sanction of a Law and rejects several Actions in themselves Innocent and Good as unlawful and not to be practis'd Natural Justice looks only at the Reason the Equity the Virtue the Decency and Fitness of the thing But Positive and Political Justice proceeds upon other sort of Considerations it hath a great I might almost say principal Regard to the Advantage the Convenience at least its main Aim and Business is to reconcile these two and make Profit and Probity go Hand in Hand and so mutually promote and assist each other Since therefore This is the only kind which the World is manag'd by and the Design of the present Treatise is to reform Men's Manners and to better them in such Points as are practicable we will confine our selves wholly to this latter sort For it must needs be to very little purpose to insist upon the Former of which there is nothing now but the Idea and bare Speculation left Now this Justice at present in common use Of Justice as now in use and that which is esteem'd the Judge and Standard
Horror in others And Cato the Elder used to say that Wise Men might learn a great â—deal more from Fools than Fools could from Wise Men. The Lacedoemonians to work in their Children an Abhorrence of Drunkenness and draw them off from this beastly Vice effectually made their Slaves drunk that so this Odious and Ridiculous Spectacle might leave lasting Impressions behind it Now this Second Way of Learning by Example is insinitely the easier and more entertaining of the Two To learn by Precepts is a long and tedious Journey and carries us a great way about because it costs us Time and Pains to understand them and fresh Labour to remember what we do understand and after all this the greatest and most difficult Part of our Business is to be ready and punctual in the Practice of what we do remember So that we cannot easily assure our selves of reaping the Fruit which is and ought to be propounded as the Recompence of our Studies in this kind But now Example and Imitation comes Home to us presently and does the Work at once it draws us on with greater Eagerness and Zeal it fires us with a Noble Emulation of our Patterns and encourages us with a Prospect of the same Reputation and Advantage which those Good and Great Men have already attained to by their shining Virtues All Seeds do by Degrees conform to the Quality of the Soil into which they are transplanted and carry the Relish of that which is the natural Growth of the Place And thus the Minds and Manners of Men are assimulated and transformed into the Dispositions and Habits of the Persons whose Actions they contemplate and whose Company they frequent For there is an Universal Contagion in Nature and One thing is daily more and more changed and drawn into a nearer Resemblance of another Now these Methods of Improvement both by Verbal Precepts and by Examples are capable of a farther Distinction For they are deduc'd and drawn into Practice from Excellent Persons who are either now living by the Benefit of Conversation and Mutual Conference or sensible Observation or else from such as are already dead by reading of Books and such Accounts as History delivers to us concerning them The Former of holding a Correspondence with the Living is the more Lively and Vigorous and Natural This indeed is a very Profitable Exercise much in request among the Ancients and especially in Greece but then it is accidental and uncertain it depends upon another and you cannot always enjoy it when you would It is also Difficult and Rare for a Man cannot every where meet with Persons proper for it and less yet can he enjoy them sufficiently to improve by This again is capable of being practised either about Home or at a greater Distance by travelling and visiting foreign Countries An that is an Advantage I confess very considerable provided a Man make the most of it For the End of Travelling is not to entertain our selves with fine Sights or to bring back an Account of the Buildings or Grottos or Fountains we see abroad but to study the Natives and observe their different Humours and Manner of Living their Vices and Virtues their Laws and Customs their private Conduct and publick Constitutions This is a most agreeable and a most profitable Way of Education in all Respects It contributes much to Health by keeping the Body in Morion and Moderate Exercise a due Medium between Idleness and Fatigue And it keeps the Mind in continual Employment too by presenting new and strange Objects to it every Day and provoking it to proper Observations and Reflections from them and particularly to the drawing Comparisons between these fresh and foreign Matters and what we had seen and were acquainted with before And indeed there is no better School of Life in the World than the seeing continually so many different Tempers and Ways of living contemplating the Beauty of Nature in all her different Forms and out of all these to pick and cull that which may complete and adorn our own Conversation The other Sort of Correspondence is kept up with the Dead by the Help of Books and This is more sure and constant to us We have it in our own Disposal and can go into this Company when we will and beside it is more suitable to the Circumstances of most Men because the Trouble and Expence is much Easier than in the former Case They who know how to make a good Use of this may reap infinite Advantage and Satisfaction from it It discharges us from the Burden of a troublesome Idleness fills up the void Spaces of Leisure and leaves no Room for any Complaints of Time hanging upon our Hands It draws us from the vain and tormenting Imaginations of a roving Mind and diverts the Uneasiness of any Affairs or Accidents from without which are apt to distract and perplex our Thoughts when they find us out of Business and at Liberty to attend them It is a powerful Preservative against Vice not only by the Force of the Arguments and Instructions it furnishes us with to oppose and subdue it but by keeping us out of Harm's Way and at a distance from the Temptation It ministers Comfort and marvellous Relief in our Calamities and Sufferings but then it must be acknowledged with all that it only contributes to the Health and Good Constitution of the Mind for this is a Sedentary Life it keeps the Body out of Exercise and if pursued with great Vehemence and constant Application wasts its Strength impairs its Vigour and Complexion and disposes it to Melancholy and Diseases The next thing to be done is to give some Directions concerning a Tutor's Method and the Forms of Instruction Putting our Scholars upon Discourse which it will be proper for him to Observe in Order to the making his Care Successful This Head consists of several Parts The First Advice I shall give upon it is That he would frequently confer with his Charge ask him Questions and put him upon giving his own Opinion upon every fresh Occasion or Object that offers it self to his Consideration This I am afraid is but too opposite to the manner of proceeding generally in use the Master talks All and teaches his Children in a Dogmatical Way thus pouring his own Notions into their Heads like Water into a Vessel so that They in the mean while have nothing to do but to keep their Ears open and are purely passive in the whole Matter This is certainly a very Ill Custom * Obest plerumque iis qui discere volunt Authoritas eorum qui docent The Authority of the Teacher and his taking so much upon himself is a common and a mighty Hindrance to the Improvement even of the most diligent Scholar Their Apprehension should be awakend and warmed by starting of Doubts and requiring an Account of what we have infused into them and they should likewise be indulged in the same Liberty of asking us
grievance is not owing to what we complain of but to our own humour and imagination If we will go to the Reason of the thing all places are alike and a Man 's All is every where equally For two words indeed comprehend the whole of what a Wise Man values and those two are Nature and Virtue The same Nature is common to all Countries the same Sky the same Elements The same Sun shines the same Stars rise and set and their Motion their Extent the Proportion they appear in the same And sure if any part of Nature he to be valued that above us is much more worthy of Consideration and Esteem than this Sediment and gross and drossy part which we tread under our fect The farthest prospect of the Earth which we can take does not amount to more than Ten or Twelve I eagues So that a Soul which settles its Affections upon this part shuts it self up in a very narrow compass But the Face of this glorious Firmament adorned and beautified with such insinite Constellations which like so many grafts of Jewels glister over our heads expands it self and that it may be more effectually and distinctly viewed the Motion is perpetual and circular and every part turned towards us so that every point is visible to every place within the single Revolution of each Day and Night The Earth which taking the Seas and ambient Atmosphere into the account is computed not to be above the hundred and sixtieth part as big as the Sun is to Us incomparably less still for it is not visible to us in any part except that little spot that single Point upon which we stand But were it otherwise what does this Change of our standing signifie We think it a hard case to be born in one place and driven to another Have we any propriety in the place of our Birth Our Mothers might have been delivered in any other place as well as that where they were and nothing is more entirely Casual than the particular Spot where we first drew Breath for there was in Nature the same possibility of our being born any where Besides every Climate produces and carries Men sustains them with its Fruits and furnishes them with all the Necessaries of Life so that there is little fear of Perishing any where Every Country settles us among our Relations too for all Mankind are so nearly allied in Blood and nearer yet in Charity and Affection Friends too may be found any where we need only be at the pains to make them which will soon be done if we are careful to win their Hearts by our Virtue and Wisdom Every quarter of the Habitable World is a Wise-man's Country or rather indeed no part of it is his Country It were an injury and disparagement to suppose him a Stranger any where and a weakness and littleness of Spirit in him to esteem himself so A Man ought to use his Privilege and assert his natural Right which consists in living every where as if he were at home and dwelt in his own In * Omnes terras tanquam suas videre suas tanquam omnium looking upon all places as if he had a propriety in them and upon his own Estate or native Seil as if it were in common to all Mankind But farther what alteration what inconvenience can possibly come to us by this changing our Residence Do not we still carry the same Soul about with us And will not our Virtue keep us company where ever we go What can hinder a Man said Brutus from carrying his Excellencies all he is really and truly worth into Banishment or Captivity The Mind and its commendable Qualities are subject to no consinement circumscribed within no determinate space of ground but can live and act and exert themselves in all places indifferently A good Man is a Citizen of the whole World frank and free content and cheerful wherever his Lot casts him always at home in his own Quarters and always sixt and settled however this Case or Portmantean that incloses and conveys him may be hurried and jumbbied from one place to another †Animus facer aternus ubique est diis cognatus omni mundo aevo par The holy and immortal Sâ—ul is an Vbiquetary of near resemblance and affinity to God himself and like him diffused equally and ever present to all the stages of time and all the distances of place And wheresoever a Man feels himself well and easie and in full enjoyment that is his home call the Country by what name you will And it is evident that Ease and comfortable Enjoyment is not entailed upon particular Cities or Climates this is what no place can give he can only depend upon his own mind for it and that can give it him in any place equally How many very significant Men have found cause to choose and impose a voluntary Banishment upon themselves How many others when sent and driven away and afterwards invited back again have refused to return into their own Native Country and been so far from thinking their Exile an insupportable Misery and Punishment that they have taken great delight and satisfaction in it and reckoned no part of their time so well spent or so worthy the name of living as that in which they were debarred their own Country This was the case of some generous Romans Rutilius and Marcellus in particular And again how many do we read of whom good Fortune hath taken by the hand as it were and led them abroad put them in the way of Honour and Preferment in foreign Lands such as they could have no probable prospect of ever attaining at home CHAP. XXV Of Poverty and Want and Lesses THis is a very vulgar and like the rest of theirs a very silly and poor spirited Complaint for it supposes the whole or at least the most considerable part of a Man's Happiness to depend upon the advantages of Fortune and looks upon a low and mean Condition as a real and sore Evil. But now to shew what that is in truth we must observe that there are two sorts of Poverty One is That Extremity of it which we properly call Penury or want of Bread when those supplies are lacking which are necessary to the support of humane Nature And this is a Calamity which happens but very seldom For Providence hath been so bountiful and Nature so prudent that there are but a few of these absolutely necessary things The very Frame of our Bodies is a good defence in this case and so far from exposing us to a needy Condition that a little will serve the turn and that little is to be had almost every where Nay it is to be had in such quantities as will not only reach to the keeping Life and Soul together but are a sufficient Competency for moderate and frugal Persons If we do not affect to lay it on thick and squander away our Provisions if we would