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A12820 Staffords heauenly dogge: or The life, and death of that great cynicke Diogenes, whom Lertius stiles Canem Cœlestem, the heauenly dogge, by reason of the heauenly precepts he gaue Taken out of the best authors, and written to delight great hearts, and to raise as high as heauen the minds that now grouell on the earth, by teaching them how to ouercome all affections, and afflictions. Stafford, Anthony. 1615 (1615) STC 23128; ESTC S117802 17,172 108

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to what place thou wilt and that is part of my Country I am not a Citizen of Athens nor of Corinth but of the World I am free of this capacious Circumferēce and therefore cannot bee sent from home Any place habitable for man or beast I can liue in Thou canst not send me thither where I shall not tread vpon some earth drink some water Hauing heauen ouer and earth vnder me I cannot doe amisse The basest Souldier of thine army was neuer driuen by Necessity to that hardnesse which I voluntary put my age The lees of Life for on my neuer violated word my later dayes are as pleasing to mee as were my first Sure some woman first broached that opinion who had rather bee strucken dead then strucken in yeares I haue not a Character of age but my haire My sight is quicke my ioynts nimble my backe strong my heart good No man that sees me would think that the earths lappe were my best Lodging Thou seest by this time great Alexander that thou canst not send mee out of mine owne Country or if thou couldst yet that I am so armed against the miseries of an exile that banishment to me would rather be a iourney of pleasure then of penance But thou wilt say that thy power extends it selfe farther and that thou art Master of my life I graunt it thou art so What of that Hee is not a Philosopher that this can moue It would trouble me no more to lay downe my life then it would do thee to take it Yea good Gods what a sight it is to behold an austere bushbearded Philosopher who feares a razor as much as a rope quake at the name of death euen as a treuant boy does at the name of his Tutor Such a one was old Antisthenes whom I hearing exclaime and say Who shall free me of my griefes I forthwith gaue him a dagger and told him that could ease him to which he made reply that he desired to be rid of his griefes not of his life I cannot abstaine from extremity of laughter when I ruminate Homers Mars whom he describes beaten and howling so that the clamours of ten thousand men could not drowne the noise hee made Perhaps he wanted Venus there to wipe his face to stroke his head and to drie his n'eyes Though he was a god and could not die yet he could not contemne paine which a weak woman in trauaile can endure A lofty spirit indeede feares not death but to deserue it and verely he deserues it that cannot suffer it He that abhorreth death telleth vs that hee hath yet done nothing to make himselfe liue heereafter and therefore would yet bee because hee neuer yet was An earthly body is too in hers Alexander condemnes Diogenes to die and Nature Alexander Take this old head off see if not vndaunted I stand the stroke and why because I know thou art but natures Executioner I will stare my headsmā in the face with as much confidence as if he came to barbe mee What I must that I will do without so much as a repine or a struggle I am not ignorant that Necessity Fate are twins what Fate decrees that Necessity exacts I professe to thee I would neither eate nor drinke but that Necessity will haue it so neither would I die did not Necessity will it but Necessity bidding I will as willingly die as either eate or drinke And if I should not stripes were my due since I see nothing horrible in death No euill can happen to him in this life that truely comprehends that in the priuation of life there is no euill Those who compare death to sleepe shew vs the little harme is in it Death is nothing to him that contemplates it aright for while we are Death is absent when death is come we are then departed So that it is a false opinion of deaths cruelty and not death it selfe that torments vs. Certainely had Nature written the day of each mans death in his forehead al the world would haue died with thought and not one haue liued to his assigned day There is no death miserable but that which giues an end to a profane life the wicked leauing their infamy as an inheritance to their posteritie Blessed is hee and next to the Gods happy that dies his head begirt with a Garland of glorious actions whose sweet sauour shall perfume the world Thus shall I die who haue liued with more innocency then Men and with approbation of the Gods Destroy then my body victorious man make it a subiect of dishonour and shame nay exercise all imaginable villany vpon it and thou shalt see me stand like one elected by Ioue to trie how much humane Nature can suffer All thy torments cannot alter the temper of my mind nor can any punishment displease mee Is it thy will the rage of fire consume mee with a thankefull heart I accept it thinking it better to hau● my body consume in an Element noble and borne with Heauen it selfe then to haue putrifaction and corruption prey vpon it Wilt thou drowne mee Though this bee the most terrible of deaths because the substance of the Soule as some thinke is fiery and therefore abhorrs to be quenched yet it shall nothing at all ap●ale me I had as liefe the Fishes should deuoure me as the Wormes All paines all deaths are to mee indifferent As a strong constitution can away with heates and coldes and all such annoyances so a good disposition can withstand the malice and the fury of Tyrants together with all such afflictions Thou canst prouide no torture mighty Monarch against which my minde is not forearmed Thus much on the passiue part now on the Actiue Leauy Diogenes an Army of men and see if he do not as well as thou teach them the military Discipline and bee to them an example of Valour But what shall draw mee into the field An Ambition to be stiled Monarch of the World standing for I had rather giue my body to the ground then giue ground In this cause I would not care to die with conquering so by death I might conquer Here should my prowesse proclaime to my Souldiers that Fortune is sometime wanting to the valiant but euer to cowards In this quarrell were Alexander my foe I would single him out and fist to fist encounter him though I knew destruction to be the certaine wages of his sword I would then make it apparant to Alexander that a Philosophers courage cannot fall though his Body cannot stand and that though it be the taske of one man to take Diogenes prisoner yet millions of men cannot subdue his soule Nay which more is Fortune to whose will thou and thine army are subiect could neuer yet cause the mind of Diogenes to stoop That blind Queene of this Ball who is aboue thee and Kings is vnder mee My mind is not deiected but erected against Fortunes worst If thy
pride will let thee learne I will teach thee too how to lay her prostrate at thy feete Listen and his last gaspe will grone out loue In death hee will loue me and I him after it His memorie shal be as deare to mee as euer was his presence But graunt it to bee a crosse deseruing griefe no more to taste the sweetnesse of my friends conuersation How then Must I therefore breake out into immoderate whining No. Fortune hath yet left mee Philosophy to moderate betwixt me and sorrow Philosophy telles mee that my friend was borne subiect to that fatall law of Nature which as it allowes an entrance into life so it commands a departure out The earth neuer produced any thing that was not reduced to that first predominant Element The first minute of our life wee lake our iourney towards death which some finish in that minute some in an houre in a yeare some and all once Hee that endeth soonest his pilgrimage is in my opinion most in grace with Prouidence As wee prize our meate not according to the quantity but the quality of it so should we life not according to the length but the sweetnesse of the same Iupiter I haue often called port him that his curses shall ayme at though they cannot hit Iupiter He will dare to say that the soule of his Loue grudged to leaue her body as being loth to leaue a true heauen to goe to a supposed Exclaime he will against death and call for his fatall stroke bidding death to be pittilesse towards him since to her he was not pittifull He will say that Nature to auoide the imputation of a lyer let death seize her Nature hauing in her promised more to the World then shee could performe In contempt hee will mention the flinty wisedome of vs Cynicks and sweare that wee are as void of vertues as of affections and by way of argument will avouch that no Vertue makes a man lose his vnderstanding But were hee conuersant in our Schooles hee should there learne that a man who vnderstands himselfe aright will subiect his mind to God all other things to his mind and not lose his vnderstanding for the losse of a woman Wee could teach him that they are fooles who will not lay downe for their owne sake the griefe which they haue taken for anothers in thy brest not in the field It is not bloud not famine not warre that can bring peace to thine owne conscience If on Externall things depend thine inward content with those externall things thy content will vanish If thy quiet of soule be procured by things without thee Fortune of these things the Mistresse will command all the thoughts within thee Thy mirth and thy sadnesse shall bee at her appointment Is there a beauty on which thy thoughts seede That beauty she will blast Is there an eie the very thought whereof enlightens thy minde That eye shall bee extinguisht Lies all thy pleasures in thy possessions Within one houre Fortune will lay all thy wealth in anothers lappe Art thou now one of the earths mightiest Kings Anon thou shalt be rancked amongst Slaues Thus shall thy minde bee as changeable as is all mutable Fortune Liue then another while vnder the gouernmēt of Vertue and belieue me whom in al things thou seest to be aboue Fortune that thy ioyes shal farre exceede the number of thy daies But a subiect of thy stomacke not inflame thy blood The fulnesse of wickednesse hath often followed repletion of the grape If to liue ioyfully and blessedly be thy wish haue a care thy attendants be honest Honest they shall bee if thou banish the vicious and retaine the vertuous In the flight of the one villany and slauery will depart thy Court and with the good that tarry with thee goodnesse and liberty will remaine It is better to haue one true honest attendant then a flocke of fooles and knaues Listen no longer to flatterers whose soothings are pernicious As a Wolfe is like a dogge yet they are of farre different natures so is a flatterer like a friend though their intents bee diuers Suffer not Sycophants to perswade thee to the erecting of thy Statues nor let Apelles drawe thee any more but that Cittie which thou meanest to grace with thine Image there striue to make the memory of thee a Monument of Gentlenesse of Mercie of Iustice of Liberalitie As the Sun attends not on the prayers of mortals but rises of his owne accord shines freely and is of all all-hailed So neither do thou respect the praises the applauses and inuocations of the people but doe good freely without solicitation so shalt thou be as welcome to thy subiects as is the Sun to Mortalitie If thou beest not thus gracious and thus good thou art not worthy to be a Prince and therefore resigne thine office to mee I will make it manifest to thee that a Philosopher can preuaile more with perswasion then thou by violence But me thinks I heare thy insolēt tongue bid mee betake my selfe to the gouernment of my Tubbe the onely Kingdome I was borne to Mocke on most miserable of mortals who canst neither gouerne thy passions nor confine thy desires Diogenes despises thy derision This Caske I dwell in is to my minde as ample as all thy Dominions are to thine As hee that is borne in Persia will not couet to liue in Greece but in Persia set vp his rest So I beeing born in Pouerty with pouerty am contented nor does my highest thought ayme at abundance For Alexander to say he is better then Diogenes because hee is richer is as much as if one horse should say to another I am better then thou because I haue more Prouender more hay and finer trappings or as if one bird should say to another I am to bee preferd before thee because I haue finer feathers and a neater nest As it is the swiftnesse of the wing the foote which commends the Hawke and the Horse so is it the quicknesse of capacity that commends the man In this ability of soule if Alexander surpasse Diogenes Alexander shall haue the vpper hand But in that Diogenes cannot be excelled and therefore will neuer yeild to Alexander the precedency Get thee gone then to those that worshippe thee as a God for I thinke thee not a compleate man Tell thy Idolaters thou didst meet with a man that prooued himselfe happy and thee miserable And if they aske thee who Say it was Diogenes who neither feared thee nor Fortune God and mine innocency protect mee against thee and her My uours to tyrants to fire to water and to all things in strength aboue it but nothing is aboue the heauenly part but heauen and the almighty maker of all things Iupiter If then thou hast nothing that can ennoble and enrich my soule keepe all to thy selfe for concerning my body I am not solicitous So base a thing is the body that
had not Nature giue to euery man a selfe loue each man would haue sought his owne destruction rather then haue his soule dwell in so loath some a lodging This he shall soone apprehend that does but imagine what a trouble and vexation it would be vnto him for a week only to dresse and mundifie any mans body but his owne With what indignation he would rubbe anothers teeth and cleanse other parts which nature of necessity must foule It is then the loue we beare our selues which makes vs beare with our infirmities If then it be true that in our bodies we are subiect to so many diseases to so many discōmodities and that it is the diuine Mistresse of this clayie mansion that giues vs freedome I wil seeke to polish and adorne the latter but bestow little cost on the former Why this Phylosopher whose mind was greater then the Monarks to whom his speech was directed He that looks into their deaths the onely touchstone to finde a counterfeit courage shall see Diogenes die like a man and great Alexander like a little child Hee that had made so many Natiōs patiently put on the yoake of seruitude became himselfe such a slaue to feare that hee sent to death all those that did but mention Augury and trembled at the whistling of the winds Euery ordinary accident was to him ominous and any noise he heard he thought to be the voyce of death His end was much like that of Lewis the 11. of France who in his latter daies suspected the faith of his old seruants cooped himselfe vp in an Iron cage secluded himselfe frō all society He gaue his Phisitian 10000. Crownes a moneth to prolong his too well beloued life He commanded the obseruation of solemne daies fasts and prayers not so much for the saluation of his soule as for the preseruation of his putrified part not the eternity yet it seemes that death was more afraid of him then he of it in that hee was faine to seeke it So some report and that by keeping in his breath hee let out his Soule Others with more probability denie that his death was violent and describe the manner of it By this latter Narration wee shall learne that though he layed not violent hands on himselfe yet hee shooke hands with death and welcomed him as the only Phisitiā that could cure him of all his aches He cryed when he came into the world because he was a child but being a man he scornes to howle at his going out There was no more motion no more reluctation of Nature in his death then in the sleep of others A little before life left him a short slumber vsherd death out of which being awaked his Phisitian asked him how he did enquired whether or no his pain lessened to whom he answered that anon it wold diminish for hee had entertained the one brother already and looked tam stertere noctem Diogenes halfe asleepe halfe awake answered thus Qui popules moderatur ampla negotia tractat This answere expressed to the full the worth and office of Diogenes who taught the people to obey and Kings to rule aright Alexander surpassed Diogenes in strength wherein a horse surpasses Alexander Diogenes excelled Alexander in knowledge wherein the gods excelled not Diogenes He was indeede greater then the gods hee worshipped who were of mortall race as hee was and had not so much desert to claime a Deitie as he had Alexander could not temper his passions but in his anger put to death Philotas and slew Clitus as braue a Souldier as himselfe and all for remembring him that hee was the sonne of Philip. Diogenes made his affections conformable to his will and his will to reason Alexander sought to shun ineuitable death Diogenes met it boldly The Sunne in the space of twelue houres The happy estate man was created in Mans Fall God repayres the ruines of mans mind two sundry wayes The first way The second way Diogenes praysed The loue of Diogenes to the wise Here hee mockes also the Macedonians His Temperancie His Continency His loue of Modestie His patience His Humilitie His Magnanimity Passion an enemy to Vertue The fairenesse of the mind is to be preferred before that of the body The censure of mā not to bee regarded Man is called a little World The whole world is a wise mans Country Hee is no Philosopher that feares death A good man feares not death but to deserue it Necessity is to be obeied Nothing horrible in Death No death miserable but that of profane men A Philosophers courage falleth not with his body The first minute of ●ife wee march to meet death A wise mā submits his minde to God al other things to his minde The feliciis false that depends on things externall The company of the honest to be imbraced He is most miserable that cānot gouerne his passiō and confine his d●sires The ability of soule is that which commēds the man The body is subiect to many inconueniences The loue we beare our selues makes vs beare with our i●firmities Diogenes had a greater spirit then Alexander The superstition of Alexander The ends of Alexander and of Lewis the eleuēth of France much alike Death was more afraid of Diogenes then he of it The admirable answer of Diogenes to 〈◊〉 Physition Their vertues compared Diogenes greater thē the gods he worshipped