Selected quad for the lemma: death_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
death_n	age_n	agree_v	answer_v	16	3	5.3423	4	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A59611	Miscellaneous essays by Monsieur St. Euremont ; translated out of French. With a character / by a person of honour here in England ; continued by Mr. Dryden.	Saint-Evremond, 1613-1703.; Dryden, John, 1631-1700.	1692 (1692)	Wing S305; ESTC R27566	144,212	393

none to come to him but some particular Persons he taught the same things he delivered in publick His Morning Thoughts did not resemble those of the Evening So soon as the Gates of the Lycaeum were shut and that he thought himself at Liberty he spoke another Language 'T is there he acknowledged much more clearly than he doth in his Treatise of the Soul that nothing is more impenetrable than its Nature its Original and its Duration Thus when Alexander was angry that he had published some Works that he had composed for him alone Don't afflict your self answered this cunning Tutor I have taken good order to prevent their being comprehended they are not made to instruct the present Age but to exercise Posterity As for what relates to Seneca you will agree that he is a Braggadocio that shakes for fear at the prospect of Death that he collects all his forces to assure his Countenance in the cutting of his Veins and that he speaks as a Man who is not altogether perswaded of what he says Sometimes these Philosophers tell us wonders of the Residence of the Gods and the Ultimate Bliss sometimes they know not where to harbour them and say That all things annihilate in Death as far as Death it self Now they promise themselves Immortality and promise it to others Now they turn it into Ridicule This is so true that Aristotle is expell'd Athens for an Atheist and Seneca laughs at a Divinity in the Deifying of Claudius From whence do you think proceeds this Diversity in their Opinions It is that they are troubled with different Idea's of present Death and future Life their Soul unc●rtain upon the knowledge of it self establisheth or overthrows its Opinions according as it is seduced by the different appearances of truth If you hearken to these Talkers they 'll do their utmost to make you believe them Assure your self Sir that the most resolute amongst them are no more than Quacks that swallow down the Poison with a b●tter Grace than others to the end of selling off their Drugs with more applause Epicurus makes an open Profession of putting the Sovereign good in the Senses and teaches that all things conclude with them notwithstanding doth he not seem in dying to contradict the Maxims which he made Profession of during his Life He makes his Will with all the Cautions of a Man that 's concerned at what will happen after him Posterity has an influence upon him his Memory becomes dear to him he cannot wean himself from the Delights of his Garden he flatters himself with the Reputation of his Writings and recommends them to his Disciple Hermachus His Mind which was so far engaged in the Opinion of Annihilation is affected with some tenderness for himself and lays up Honours and Pleasures in another State besides that he goes to leave Solomon who was the greatest of all Kings and the wisest of all Men seems to furnish the Impious wherewith to sustain their Errors at a time when he advises the good Men to remain firm in the love of truth When he makes the Libertines speak in Ecclesiastes is it not plain that he appropriates to Wisdom alone the knowledge of our selves He forms all the Doubts wherein for the most part Humane Reason is perplexed he makes a downright Description of his Irresolution his Desires his Distastes his Knowledge his Ignorance and at length concludes that Eternal Wisdom alone can disentangle this Labyrinth that we must adore the Profundity of its Mysteries and that the silence of a Wise Man is of more value than the Arguments of a Philosopher If any one ought to have been exempt from Error Doubt Inconstancy it was Solomon Notwithstanding we see in the inequality of his Conduct that he was weary of his Wisdom that he was weary of his Folly and that his Vertues and his Vices turn by turn gave him new Disgusts Sometimes he enjoy'd his Life as if all things went at random sometimes he brought back all things to Providence and never spoke with a firm tone but when Eternal Wisdom made him speak Let the Philosophers let the Learned study they will oftentimes find an Alteration and now and then an absolute contrariety in their Judgments Unless Faith subjects our Reason we pass our Lives in Belief and Unbelief in endeavouring to perswade our selves and unable to convince us the activity of our Spirit gives us Motion enough but its Lights are too dim to conduct us The one amorous of themselves help their Imagination to flatter themselves they think to have found what they seek for they triumph some time in their Error but are undeceived in the end The others are vexed at their Ignorance every thing stops them nothing satisfies them they debate upon all Questions that are put to them more unhappy in this than the former in as much as they have not the Wit to deceive themselves This is it Sir in my Judgment wherein consists the purest Wisdom provided that one is always deceived provided that one is puzzled with every thing that 's difficult and that one thinks of the future only to reap the more advantage of the present provided at length that one has reduced his Reason to dispute no more upon things that God was not pleased to submit to reasoning is all that one can desire I not only believe with Solomon that the silence of a Wise Man in this case is of more account than the Discourse of a Philosopher but I esteem the Faith of a stupid Peasant more than all the Lessons of Socrates I know very well that Examples might be brought which seem contrary to what I say There are Pagans perswaded of the other Opinion and affected to their own Sentiments A Discourse upon the Immortality of the Soul hath push'd on some even to brave the horrors of Death the better to enjoy those Pleasures of Life which were promised to them But not to displease the Partisans of the Vertue of the Pagans I believe with some great Saints that Vain-glory made more than half of those Heroick Actions which cause our Admiration When one comes to these terms 't is no more reason that conducts us 't is Passion that draws us along 't is no more the Discourse that has an effect upon us 't is a desire to be better 't is a vanity to die with courage which we love more than Life it self 't is a weariness of present Misfortunes 't is a hope of future Rewards a blind Love of Glory in a word a Distemper a Fury that doth violence to natural Instinct and transports us beyond our selves But a peaceable Mind that examines in cold Blood this terrible Alteration is not at all disturbed by the reading of Plato or Seneca They may preach up That Death is not an evil if Grace doth not come to its relief they don't determine it to us It belongs only to the Sovereign Master of Reason to make Martyrs to inspire a courageous Contempt

inspires Delicacy and Agreement The Persons of Quality amongst the Ancients had a particular Care to instruct themselves in all things every one knows that Greece has given to the World the greatest Philosophers and the greatest Legislators And one cannot deny but that other Nations have taken from thence all the Politeness they have had The beginnings of Rome were Ignorant and Savage and that wild Vertue which did not pardon their own Children was advantagious to the Common-wealth as they began to be more reasonable they found a way for the Motions of Nature to consist with the Love of their Countrey at length they joyned Graces and Ornaments to Justice and Reason It has been seen then in the latter times that there was no body of any Consideration but what was tied to some Sect of Philosophy not with a design to comprehend the Principles and Nature of things but to fortifie their Minds by the study of Wisdom As for Politicks it is incredible how the Romans instructed themselves early in all the Interests of their State how they applied themselves in the Knowledge of their Policy and Laws as far as to render themselve capable of the Affairs of Peace and War even without Experience The least Curious know after what manner they were affe●ted with Learning and it is certain that one saw but few great Men at Rome who did not entertain some ingenious Greeks to talk of things that were agreeable Amongst a hundred Examples that I could alledge I will content my self with that of Caesar and it will suffice for my own Opinion to rely upon his Authority Of all the Sects that were then in Repute he chose that of Epicurus as the most pleasant and most conformable to his Nature and his Pleasures for there were two sorts of Epicureans the one teaching Philosophy in Retirements according to Precept the other who could not approve of the Austerity of too rigid Philosophers gave way only to more natural Opinions Of these last have been the greatest part of the ingenious Men of that time who knew how to distinguish the person from the Magistrate and apply their Cares to the Republick in such a manner that there was left enough both for their Friends and for themselves It would be unprofitable to explain to you the Knowledge that Caesar had of the Affairs of State as well as the politeness and beauty of his Genius I will only say that he could dispute for the Mastery of Eloquence with Cicero and if he did not affect the Reputation of it no person can deny that he both writ and spoke much better as a person of Quality than Cicero A DISCOURSE UPON THE Great ALEXANDER SInce I have read the Great Alexander the old Age of Corneille much less alarms me and I don 't so much apprehend to see the writing of Tragedies end with him But I wish that before his Death he would adopt the Author of this Piece to form with the tenderness of a Father his ●rue Successor I wish that he would afford him the good tast of Antiquity which he enjoys so much to his Advantage that he would make him enter into the Genius of those dead Nations and know judiciously the Character of Heroes which are no more It is in my Opinion the only thing which is wanting to so fine a Wit He has Thoughts strong and bold Expressions which equal the force of his Thoughts But then you will permit me to tell you That he was not acquainted with Alexander or Porus. It appears that he had a mind to give a greater Idea of Porus than of Alexander wherein it was not possible for him to succeed for the History of Alexander as true as it is has much of the Air of a Romance and to make a greater Heroe is to make him pass for Fabulous to take from his Work not only the credit of Truth but the agreeableness of Probability Let us not imagine any thing greater than this Master of the World when our Imaginations shall be too vast and elevated If we would give other Heroes an advantage over him let us take from them the Vices which he had and give them the Vertues which he had not don 't let us make Scipio greater although there never was amongst the Romans a Soul so aspiring as his he should be made more Just more disposed to do Good more Moderate more Temperate and more Vertuous Let the greatest Admirers of Caesar against Alexander alledge in his Favour neither the Passion of Glory the Grandeur of the Soul nor the Firmness of Courage These Qualities are so compleat in the Graecian that to have been more would have have been too much but let them make the Roman more wise in his Enterprises more dexterous in his Affairs to have understood his Interests better and more Master of himself in his Passions One who was a very curious Judge of the desert of Men is contented to liken to Alexander him to whom he would give the highest Character He durst not attribute to him greater Qualities but took away from him the Bad. Magno illi Alexandro par sed sobrio nec iracundo Perhaps our Author is entred into these Considerations in some measure perhaps to make Porus the greater without Romancing he took the party to lessen his Alexander If that was his design he could not succeed better therein for he has made of him so moderate a Prince that a hundred others might be preferred before like him ●●●us Not but that Hephestion affords a fine representation of him that Taxila and Porus himself speak advantagiously of his Greatness but when he appears himself he has not the force to sustain it unless through Modesty he had a mind to appear an ordinary Man amongst the Indians in a just Repentance for having been desirous to pass for a God amongst the Persians To speak seriously I can discern here nothing of Alexander but the single Name his Genius his Humour his Qualities appear to me no where I seek in an impe●uous Heroe such extraordinary Motions as should excite my Passion and I find a Prince of so little Spirit that he leaves my Bloud entirely cold I imagined to my self in Porus a greatness of Soul which was more strange to us the Heroe of the Indies should have a different Character from ours Another Heaven that I mak so speak another Sun another Land produce therein other Animals and other Fruits The Men appear there quite otherwise by the difference of their Faces and still more If I durst say so by a distinction of Reason Morals Wisdom singular to Religion seem there to guide other Minds in another World Porus notwithstanding whom Quintus Cu●tius describes an utter Stranger to the Greeks and Persians is here purely French instead of transporting us to the Indies he is brought into France where he is so well accustomed to our Humour that he seems to be born amongst us or at least to have dwelt