best but a Friend of his that was a Stoick and a stout Man reason'd the Matter to him after this manner Marcellinus do not trouble your self as if it were such a mighty business that you have now in hand 't is Nothing to Live all your Servants do it nay your very Beasts too but to Dy Honestly and Resolutely that 's a great point Consider with your self there 's nothing pleasant in Life but what you have tasted already and that which is to Come is but the same over again And how many Men are there in the World that rather chuse to Dye than to suffer the Nauseous Tediousness of the Repetition Upon which discourse he fasted himself to Death It was the Custome of Pacuvius to Solemnize in a kind of Pagentry every day his own Funerals When he had Swill'd and Gourmandiz'd to a Luxurious and Beastly Excess he was carry'd away from Supper to Bed with this Song and Acclamation He has Liv'd he has Liv'd That which he did in Lewdness would become us to do in Sobriety and Prudence If it shall please God to add another Day to our Lives let us thankfully receive it but however it is our Happiest and Securest Course so to compose our selves to Night that we may have no Anxious Dependence upon to Morrow He that can say I have Liv'd this Day makes the next clear again DEATH is the worst that either the Severity of Laws or the Cruelty of Tyrants can impose upon us and it is the Utmost extent of the Dominion of Fortune He that is fortify'd against That must consequently be Superior to all other Difficulties that are but in the Way to 't Nay and in some Occasions it requires more Courage to Live than to Dye He that is not prepar'd for Death shall be perpetually troubled as well with vain Apprehensions as with real Dangers It is not Death it self that is Dreadful but the Fear of it that goes before it When the Mind is under a Consternation there is no State of Life that can please us for we do not so much endeavour to Avoid Mischiefs as to Run away from them and the greatest slaughter is upon a flying Enemy Had not a Man better breathe out his Last once for all than lye Agonizing in pains Consuming by Inches losing of his Blood by Drops and yet how many are there that are ready to betray their Country and their Friends and to prostitute their very Wives and Daughters to preserve a Miserable Carkass Madmen and Children have no apprehension of Death and it were a shame that our Reason should not do as much toward our security as their Folly But the great matter is to Dye Considerately and Chearfully upon the Foundation of Virtue For Life in it self is Irksome and only Eating and Drinking and Feeling in a Circle HOW many are there that betwixt the Apprehensions of Death and the Miseries of Life are at their Wits End what to do with themselves wherefore let us fortifie our selves against those Calamities from which the Prince is no more exempt than the Beggar Pompey the Great had his head taken off by a Boy and an Eunuch young Ptolomy and Photinus Caligula commanded the Tribune Daecimus to kill Lepidus and another Tribune Chaereas did as much for Caligula Never was any Man so Great but he was as Liable to suffer Mischief as he was Able to do it Has not a Thief or an Enemy your Thâ—…ote at his Mercy Nay and the meanest of Servants has the Power of Life and Death over his Master for whosoever contemns his own Life may be the Master of Another bodies You will find in Story that the Displeasure of Servants has been as Fatal as that of Tyrants And what matters it the Power of him we Fear when the thing we Fear is in every Bodies Power Suppose I fall into the hands of an Enemy and the Conqueror Condemns me to be led in Triumph It is but carrying me thither whither I should have gone without him that is to say toward Death whither I have been marching ever since I was born It is the Fear of our Last hour that disquiets all the Rest. By the Justice of all Constitutions Mankind is condemn'd to a Capital Punishment Now how despicable would that Man appear who being Sentenc'd to Death in Common with the whole World should only Petition that he might be the last Man brought to the Block Some Men are particularly afraid of Thunder and yet extremely careless of Other and of greater Dangers as if That were all they have to Fear Will not a Sword a Stone a Feaver do the work as well Suppose the Bolt should hit us it were yet braver to Dye with a Stroke than with the Bare Apprehension of it Beside the Vanity of Imagining that Heaven and Earth should be put into such a Disorder only for the Death of one Man A Good and a Brave Man is not mov'd with Lightening Tempests or Earthquakes but perhaps he would voluntarily plunge himself into that Gulph where otherwise he should only fall the cutting of a Corn or the swallowing of a Fly is enough to dispatch a Man and 't is no matter how great That is that brings me to my Death so long as Death it self is but Little Life is a small matter but 't is a matter of Importance to Contemn it Nature that Begot us expells us and a better and a safer Place is provided for us And what is Death but a Ceasing to be what we were before we are kindled and put out to Cease to Be and not to Begin to Be is the same thing We Dye daily and while we are growing our Life decreases every moment that passes takes away part of it All that 's past is Lost Nay we divide with Death the very Instant that we Live As the last Sand in the Glass does not Measure the Hour but finishes it so the Last moment that we Live does not make up Death but concludes There are some that Pray more earnestly for Death than we do for Life but it is better to receive it chearfully when it Comes than to hasten it before the time BUT What is it that we would live any longer for Not for our Pleasures for those we have tasted over and over even to Satiety so that there 's no point of Luxury that 's New to us But a Man would be loth to leave his Country and his Friends behind him That is to say he would have them go First for that 's the least part of his Care Well! But I would fain live to do more Good and discharge my self in the Offices of Life As if to Dye were not the Duty of every Man that Lives We are loth to Leave our possessions and no Man Swims well with his Luggage We are all of us equally Fearful of Death and Ignorant of Life But What can be more shameful than to be Sollicitous upon the Brink of
stand the Test. One Man is Forsaken for Fear or Profit Another is Betray'd 'T is a Negotiation not a Friendship that has an Eye to Advantages only through the Corruption of Times that which was formerly a Friendship is now become a Design upon a Booty Alter your Testament and you lose your Friend But my End of Friendship is to have One dearer to me than my Self and for the saving of whose Life I would chearfully lay down my Own taking this along with me that only Wise Men can be Friends Others are but Companions and that there 's a great Difference also betwixt Love and Friendship The One may sometime do us Hurt the Other alwayes does us Good for One Friend is Helpful to Another in all Cases as well in Prosperity as Affliction We receive Comfort even at a Distance from those we Love but then it is Light and Faint whereas Presence and Conversation touches us to the Quick especially if we find the Man we Love to be such a person as we wish IT is Usual with Princes to Reproach the Living by Commending the Dead and to Praise those People for speaking Truth from whom there is no longer any Danger of Hearing it This was Augustus his Case He was forc'd to banish his daughter Iulia for her Common and Prostituted Impudence and still upon Fresh Informations he was often heard to say If Agrippa or Mecaenas had been now alive this would never have been But yet where the Fault lay may be a Question for perchance it was his Own that had rather complain for the Want of them than seek for Others as Good The Roman Losses by War and by Fire Augustus could quickly Supply and Repair but for the Loss of Two Friends he lamented his whole Life after Xerxes a Vain and a Foolish Prince when he made War upon Greece One told him 'T would never come to a Battel Another That he would find only empty Cities and Countryes for they would not so much as stand the very Fame of his Coming Others sooth'd him in the Opinion of his Prodigious Numbers and they all concurr'd to puff him up to his destruction Only Demaratus advis'd him not to depend too much upon his Numbers for he would rather find them a Burthen to him than an advantage And that 300 Men in the Streights of the Mountains would be sufficient to give a Check to his whole Army and that such an Accident would Undoubtedly turn his vast Numbers to his Confusion It fell out afterward as he foretold and he had Thanks for his Fidelity A Miserable Prince that among so many Thousand Subjects had but One Servant to tell him the Truth CHAP. XIX He that would be happy must take an Accompt of his Time IN the distribution of Humane Life we find that a great part of it passes away in Evil-doing A Greater yet in doing just Nothing at all and effectually the whole in doing things beside our business Some hours we bestow upon Ceremony and Servile Attendances Some upon our Pleasures and the Remainder runs at Waste What a deal of Time is it that we spend in Hopes and Fears Love and Revenge in Balls Treats making of Interests Suing for Offices Solliciting of Causes and Slavish Flatteries The shortness of Life I know is the Common Complaint both of Fools and Philosophers as if the Time we have were not sufficient for our duties But 't is with our Lives as with our Estates a good Husband makes a Little go a great way whereas let the Revenue of a Prince fall into the Hands of a Prodigal 't is gone in a moment So that the Time allotted us if it were well employ'd were abundantly enough to answer all the Ends and Purposes of Mankind But we squander it away in Avarice Drink Sleep Luxury Ambition fawning Addresses Envy Rambling Voyages Impertinent Studies Change of Counsels and the like and when our Portion is spent we find the want of it though we gave no heed to it in the Passage In so much that we have rather Made our Life Short than found it so You shall have some People perpetually playing with their Fingers Whistling Humming and Talking to themselves and Others consume their dayes in the Composing Hearing or Reciting of Songs and Lampoons How many precious Mornings do we spend in Consultation with Barbers Taylors and Tire-Women Patching and Painting betwixt the Comb and the Glass A Counsel must be call'd upon every Hair we cut and one Curle amiss is as much as a Bodies Life is worth The truth is we are more sollicitous about our Dress than our Manners and about the Order of our Perriwigs than that of the Government At this rate let us but discount out of a Life of a Hundred years that Time which has been spent upon Popular Negotiations frivolous Amours Domestick Brawls Sauntrings up and down to no purpose Diseases that we have brought upon our selves and this large extent of Life will not amount perhaps to the Minority of another Man It is a Long Being but perchance a Short Life And what 's the Reason of all this we Live as if we should never Dye and without any thought of Humane Frailty when yet the very Moment we bestow upon this Man or Thing may peradventure be our last But the greatest Loss of Time is Delay and Expectation which depends upon the Future We let go the Present which we have in our own Power we look Forward to that which depends upon Fortune and so quit a Certainty for an Uncertainty We should do by Time as we do by a Torrent make Use of it while we may have it for it will not last alwayes THE Calamities of Humane Nature may be Divided into the Fear of Death and the Miseries and Errors of Life And it is the great Work of Mankind to Master the One and to Rectifie the Other And so to Live as neither to make Life Irksome to us nor Death Terrible It should be our Care before we are Old to Live Well and when we are so to Die well that we may expect our End without Sadness For it is the Duty of Life to prepare our selves for Death and there is not an hour we Live that does not Mind us of our Mortality Time Runs on and all things have their Fate though it lies in the Dark The Period is Certain to Nature but What am I the better for it if it be not so to me We propound Travels Armes Adventures without ever considering that Death lies in the way Our Term is set and none of us Know how Near it is but we are all of us Agreed that the Decree is Unchangable Why should we wonder to have That befall us to Day which might have happen'd to us any Minute since we were Born Let us therefore Live as if every Moment were to be our Last and set our Accompts Right every day that passes over our Heads We are not Ready for Death
Security If Death be at Any time to be Fear'd it is Allwayes to be Fear'd but the way never to Fear it is to be often thinking of it To what end is it to put off for a little while that which we cannot avoid He that Dyes does but follow him that is Dead Why are we then so long afraid of that which is so little a while a doing How miserable are those People that spend their Lives in the Dismal Apprehensions of Death For they are beset on all hands and every Minute in Dread of a surprize We must therefore look about us as if we were in an Enemies Country and Consider our Last hour not as the Punishment but as the Law of Nature The Fear of it is a Continual Palpitation of the Heart and he that overcomes That Terror shall never be troubled with any Other Life is a Navigation we are perpetually wallowing and dashing one against another Sometimes we suffer Shipwrack but we are Alwayes in Danger and in Expectation of it And what is it when it comes but either the End of a Journey or a Passage It is as great a Folly to Fear Death as to Fear Old Age. Nay as to Fear Life it self for he that would not Dye ought not to Live since Death is the Condition of Life Beside that it is a Madness to Fear a thing that is Certain for where there is no Doubt there is no place for Fear WE are still chiding of Fate and even those that exact the most Rigorous Justice betwixt Man and Man are yet themselves Unjust to Providence Why was such a One taken away in the Prime of his Years As if it were the Number of years that makes Death easie to us and not the Temper of the Mind He that would Live a little Longer to Day would be as loth to Dye a Hundred year Hence But which is more Reasonable for Us to obey Nature or for Nature to obey us Go we must at Last and no Matter how soon 'T is the Work of Fate to make us Live Long but 't is the Business of Virtue to make a short Life sufficient Life is to be measur'd by Action not by Time a Man may Dye Old at Thirty and Young at Fourscore Nay the One Lives after Death and the Other Perish'd before he Dy'd I look upon Age among the Effects of Chance How Long I shall Live is in the Power of Others but it is in my Own how Well The largest space of Time is to live till a Man is Wise. He that Dyes of Old Age does no more than go to Bed when he is weary Death is the Test of Life and it is that only which discovers what we are and distinguishes betwixt Ostentation and Virtue A Man may Dispute Cite Great Authorities Talk Learnedly Huff it out and yet be Rotten at Heart But let us Soberly attend our Business and since it is Uncertain When or Where we shall Dye let us look for Death in all Places and at all Times We can never Study that Point too much which we can never come to Experiment whether we know it or no. It is a Blessed thing to dispatch the Business of Life before we Dye and then to Expect Death in the Possession of a Happy Life He 's the Great Man that is willing to Dye when his Life is pleasant to him An Honest Life is not a Greater Good than an Honest Death How many Brave young Men by an Instinct of Nature are carry'd on to Great Actions and even to the Contempt of all Hazards 'T IS Childish to go out of the World Groning and Wailing as we came into 't Our Bodies must be thrown away as the Secondine that wraps up the Infant the other being only the Covering of the Soul We shall then discover the Secrets of Nature the Darkness shall be Discuss'd and our Souls Irradiated with Light and Glory A Glory without a Shadow a Glory that shall surround us and from whence we shall look down and see Day and Night beneath us If we cannot lift up our Eyes toward the Lamp of Heaven without dazling What shall we do when we come to behold the Divine Light in its Illustrious Original That Death which we so much dread and decline is not a Determination but the Intermission of a Life which will return again All those things that are the very Cause of Life are the way to Death We Fear it as we do Fame but it is a great Folly to Fear Words Some People are so impatient of Life that they are still wishing for Death but he that wishes to dye does not desire it Let us rather wait Gods Pleasure and Pray for Health and Life If we have a Mind to Live Why do we wish to dye If we have a Mind to dye we may do it without talking of it Men are a great deal more Resolute in the Article of Death it self than they are about the Circumstances of it For it gives a Man Courage to Consider that his Fate is Inevitable the slow Approches of death are the most Troublesome to us as we see many a Gladiator who upon his wounds will direct his Adversaries weapon to his very Heart though but Timorous perhaps in the Combat There are some that have not the Heart either to Live or Dy and that 's a Sad Case But this we are sure of The Fear of Death is a Continual Slavery as the Contempt of it is Certain Liberty CHAP. XXII Consolations against Death from the Providence and the Necessity of it THIS Life is only a Prelude to Eternity where we are to expect Another Original and Another State of Things We have no Prospect of Heaven Here but at a Distance Let us therefore expect our Last and Decretory Hour with Courage The Last I say to our Bodies but not to our Minds Our Luggage we must leave behind us and return as Naked Out of the World as we came Into 't The day which we fear as our Last is but the Birth-day of our Eternity and it is the only way to 't So that what we Fear as a Rock proves to be but a Port In many Cases to be Desir'd Never to be Refus'd and he that Dyes Young has only made a Quick Voyage on 't Some are Becalm'd Others cut it away before the Wind and we Live just as we Saile First we run our Childhood out of sight our Youth next and then our Middle Age After That follows Old Age and brings us to the Common End of Mankind It is a great Providence that we have more wayes Out of the World than we have Into 't Our Security stands upon a Point the very Article of Death It draws a great many Blessings into a very Narrow Compass And although the Fruit of it does not seem to extend to the Defunct yet the Difficulty of it is more than ballanc'd by the Contemplation of the Future Nay suppose that all the
at my Pleasure What Towns shall be Advanc'd or Destroy'd who shall be Slaves or who Free depends upon my Will and yet in this Arbitrary Power of Acting without Controle I was never Transported to do any Cruel Thing either by Anger or Hot Blood in my Self or by the Contumacy Rashness or Provocations of other Men though sufficient to turn Mercy it self into Fury I was never mov'd by the Odious vanity of making my self Terrible by my Power that Accursed though Common Humor of Ostentation and Glory that haunts Imperious Natures My Sword has not only been bury'd in the Scabbard but in a manner Bound to the Peace and Tender even of the Cheapest Blood And where I find no other Motive to Compassion Humanity it self is Sufficient I have been alwayes Slow to Severity and Prone to Forgive and under as Strict a Guard to Observe the Laws as if I were Accomptable for the Breaking of them Some I pardon'd for their Youth Others for their Age. I spare one Man for his Dignity Another for his Humility and when I find no other matter to work upon I spare my self So that if God should at this Instant call me to an Accompt the whole World would agree to witness for me that I have not by any Force either Publick or Private either by my Self or by any Other defrauded the Common-wealth and the Reputation that I have ever sought for has been That which few Princes have Obtain'd the Conscience of my Proper Innocence And I have not lost my labor neither for no one Man was ever so Dear to another as I have made my self to the whole Body of my People Under such a Prince the Subject has nothing to wish for beyond what he enjoyes their Fears are Quieted and their Prayers heard and there is nothing can make their Felicity Greater unless to make it perpetual and there is no Liberty deny'd to the People but that of Destroying one another IT is the Interest of the People by the Consent of all Nations to run all hazards for the Safety of their Prince and by a Thousand Deaths to redeem that one Life upon which so many Millions depend Does not the whole Body serve the Mind though only the One is expos'd to the Eye and the Other not but Thin and Invisible the very seat of it being Uncertain Yet the Hands Feet and Eyes observe the Motions of it we Lye down Run about and Ramble as That Commands us If we be Covetous we Fish the Seas and Ransack the Earth for Treasure If Ambitious we burn our own Flesh with Scaevola we cast our selves into the Gulph with Curtius So would that vast Multitude of People which is Animated but with One Soul Govern'd by One Spirit and Mov'd by One Reason destroy it self with its own Strength if it were not supported by Wisdom and Government Wherefore it is for their Own Security that the People expose their Lives for their Prince as the very Bond that ties the Republick together the Vital Spirit of so many Thousands which would be nothing else but a Burthen and a Prey without a Governor When this Union comes once to be Dissolv'd All falls to Pieces for Empire and Obedience must Stand and Fall together It is no wonder then if a Prince be Dear to his People when the Community is wrapt up in him and the Good of Both as Inseparable as the Body and the Head the One for Strength and the othet Counsel for What signifies the Force of the Body without the Direction of the Understanding While the Prince watches his People Sleep his Labor Keeps Them at Ease and his Busines keeps them at Quiet The Natural Intent of Monarchy appears even from the very Discipline of Bees They assign to their Master the fairest Lodgings the Safest Place and His Office is only to see that the Rest perform their Duties When the King is Lost the whole Swarm Dissolves More than One they will not Admit and then they contend who shall have the Best They are of all Creatures the Fiercest for their Bigness and leave their Stings behind them in their Quarrels Only the King himself has None Intimating that Kings should neither be Vindictive nor Cruel Is it not a Shame after such an Example of Moderation in these Creatures that Men should be yet Intemperate It were well if they lost their Stings too in their Revenge as well as the Other that they might hurt but Once and do no Mischief by their Proxies It would tire them out if either they were to execute All with their Own hands or to wound Others at the Peril of their Own Lives A Prince should behave himself Generously in the Power which God has given him of Life and Death especially toward those that have been at any time his Equals for the One has his Revenge and the other his Punishment in 't He that stands Indebted for his Life has lost it but he that Receives his Life at the Foot of his Enemy Lives to the Honor of his Preserver He Lives the Lasting Monument of his Virtue whereas if he had been led in Triumph the Spectacle would have been quickly over Or what if he should restore him to his Kingdom again Would it not be an Ample Accession to his Honor to shew that he found nothing about the Conquer'd that was worthy of the Conqueror There 's nothing more Venerable than a Prince that does not Revenge an Injury He that is Gracious is Belov'd and Reverenc'd as a Common Father but a Tyrant stands in Fear and in Danger even of his Own Guards No Prince can be safe himself of whom all Others are Afraid for to spare None is to enrage All. 'T is an Error to imagine that any Man can be secure that suffers no body else to be so too How can any Man endure to lead an Uneasie Suspicious Anxious Life when he may be Safe if he Pleases and enjoy all the Blessings of Power together with the Prayers of his People Clemency Protects a Prince without a Guard there 's no need of Troops Castles or Fortifications Security on the One side is the Condition of Security on the Other and the Affections of the Subject are the most Invincible Fortress What can be Fairer than for a Prince to Live the Object of his Peoples Love to have the Vows of their Hearts as well as of their Lips and his Health and Sickness their Common Hopes and Fears There will be no Danger of Plots Nay on the Contrary Who would not frankly venture his Blood to serve Him under whose Government Justice Peace Modesty and Dignity Flourish Under whose Influence Men grow Rich and Happy and whom Men look upon with such Veneration as they would do upon the Immortal Gods if they were Capable of seeing them And as the True Representative of the Allmighty they consider him when he is Gracious and Bountiful and employes his Power to the Advantage of his
Subjects WHEN a Prince proceeds to Punishment it must be either to Vindicate Himself or Others It is a hard matter to Govern Himself in his Own Case If a Man should Advise him not to be Credulous but to examine Matters and Indulge the Innocent this is rather a point of Justice than of Clemency But in Case that he be Manifestly Injur'd I would have him Forgive where he may Safely do it and be Tender even where he cannot Forgive But far more Exorable in his Own Case however than in Anothers 'T is nothing to be free of Another Man's Purse and 't is as Little to be Merciful in Another Man's Cause He is the Great Man that Masters his Passion where he is stung himself and Pardons when he might Destroy The end of Punishment is either to Comfort the Party Injur'd or to Secure him for the Future A Princes Fortune is above the need of such a Comfort and his Power is too Eminent to seek an Advance of Reputation by doing a Private Man a Mischief This I speak in Case of an Affront from those that are Below us But he that of an Equal has made any Man his Inferior has his Revenge in the bringing of him Down A Prince has been kill'd by a Servant destroy'd by a Serpent but whosoever preserves a Man must be Greater than the Person that he preserves With Citizens Strangers and People of Low Condition a Prince is not to Contend for they are Beneath him He may spare some out of Good Will and Others as he would do some little Creatures that a Man cannot touch without fouling his Fingers But for those that are to be Pardon'd or expos'd to Publick Punishment he may use Mercy as he sees Occasion and a Generous Mind can never want Inducements or Motives to it And whether it be Age or Sex High or Low Nothing comes amiss TO pass now to the Vindication of Others there must be had a regard either to the Amendment of the Person Punish'd or the making of Others better for fear of Punishment or the taking the Offender out of the way for the security of Others An Amendment may be procur'd by a Small Punishment for he lives more Carefully that has something yet to Lose It is a kind of Impunity to be Incapable of a further Punishment The Corruptions of a City are best Cur'd by Few and Sparing Severities for the Multitude of Offenders creates a Custome of Offending and Company Authorizes a Crime and there is more good to be done upon a Dissolute Age by Patience than by Rigor Provided that it pass not for an Approbation of Ill Manners but only as an Unwillingness to proceed to Extremities Under a Merciful Prince a Man will be asham'd to offend because a Punishment that is inflicted by a Gentle Governor seems to fall heavier and with more Reproch And it is Remarkable also that Those Sins are Often Committed which are very often Punish'd Caligula in five years Condemn'd more people to the Sack than ever were before him and there were fewer Parricides Before That Law against them than After For our Ancestors did wisely presume that the Crime would never be Committed till by a Law for Punishing it they found that it might be done Parricides began with the Law against them and the Punishment instructed Men in the Crime Where there are few Punishments Innocency is indulg'd as a Publick Good and it is a dangerous thing to shew a City how strong it is in Delinquents There is a certain Contumacy in the Nature of Man that makes him Oppose Difficulties We are better to Follow than to Drive as a Generous Horse rides best with an Easie Bitt People Obey willingly where they are Commanded kindly When Burrhus the Prefect was to Sentence Two Malefactors he brought the Warrant to Nero to sign who after a long Reluctancy came to 't at last with this Exclamation I would I could not Write A Speech that deserv'd the whole World for an Auditory but all Princes especially and that the hearts of all the Subjects would conform to the Likeness of their Masters As the Head is Well or Ill so is the Mind Dull or Merry What 's the Difference betwixt a King and a Tyrant but a Diversity of Will under one and the same Power the One Destroyes for his Pleasure the Other upon Necessity A Distinction rather in Fact than in Name A Gracious Prince is Arm'd as well as a Tyrant but 't is for the Defence of his People and not for the Ruin of them No King can ever have Faithful Servants that accustomes them to Tortures and Executions The very Guilty themselves do not lead so Anxious a Life as the Persecuters for they are not only affraid of Justice both Divine and Humane but it is Dangerous for them to mend their Manners so that when they are once in they must continue to be Wicked upon Necessity An Universal Hatred unites in a Popular Rage A Temperate Fear may be kept in Order but when it comes once to be Continual and Sharp it provokes people to Extremities and Transports them to Desperate Resolutions as Wild Beasts when they are prest upon the Toyl turn back and Assault the very Pursuers A Turbulent Government is a Perpetual trouble both to Prince and People and he that is a Terror to all Others is not without Terror also himself Frequent Punishments and Revenges may Suppress the Hatred of a Few but then it stirs up the Detestation of All. So that there 's no destroying One Enemy without making Many It is good to Master the Will of being Cruel even while there may be Cause for it and Matter to Work upon AUGUSTUS was a Gracious Prince when he had the Power in his own hand but in the Triumviracy he made use of his Sword and had his Friends ready Arm'd to set upon Anthony during That Dispute But he behav'd himself afterwards at another rate for when he was betwixt forty and fifty years of Age he was told that Cinna was of a Plot to Murther him with the Time Place and Manner of the Design and This from one of the Confederates Upon This he resolv'd upon a Revenge and sent for several of his Friends to Advise upon 't The thought of it kept him waking to consider that there was the Life of a young Nobleman in the Case the Nephew of Pompey and a Person otherwise Innocent He was off and on several times whether he should put him to Death or not What sayes he shall I live in Trouble and in danger my self and the Contriver of my Death walk Free and Secure Will nothing serve him but That Life which Providence has preserv'd in so many Civill Wars in so many Battels both by Sea and Land and Now in the State of an Universal Peace too and not a simple Murther neither but a Sacrifice for I am to be assaulted at the very Altar And shall the Contriver of
Cosens against Transubstantiation Dr. Guidots Hist. of Bathe and of the hot Waters there The Fair one of Tunis a Romance Domus Carthusiana or the History of the most Noble Foundation of the Charter-House in London with the Life and Death of Tho. Sutton Esq The History of the Sevarites a Nation inhabiting part of the third Continent Physick Dr. Glisson de Ventriculo Intestinis De Vita Naturae Dr. Barbet's Practice with Dr. Deoker's Notes Sir Ken. Digby's Excellent Receipts in Physick Chirurgery and Cookery The Anatomy of the Elder-tree with its approved Vertue Miscellanies Vossius of the Wind and Seas Dr. Skinner's Lexicon The Planters Manuel Treatise of Humane Reason The Compleat Gamester Toleration discuss'd by R. L'Estrange Esq England's Improvement by R. Coke Esq Leyburn's Arith. Recreations Geographical Cards describing all parts of the World and a Geographical Dictionary School-Books Screvelius Lexicon in Quarto Centum Fabulae in Octavo Nolens Volens or you shall make Latin Radyns Rudimenta Artis Oratoriae Pools Parnassus The Scholars Guide from the Accidence to the University Erasmus Coll. English Lipsius of Constancy English Controversies Considerations touching the true way to suppress Popery to which is added an Historical account of the Reformation here in England Lex Talionis being an Answer to Naked Truth The Papists Apology answered And several Tracts in Defence of the Church of England SENECA OF Benefits CHAP. I. Of Benefits in General IT is perhaps one of the most pernicious Errors of a Rash and Inconsiderate Life the Common Ignorance of the World in the Matter of exchanging Benefits And this arises from a Mistake partly in the Person that we would Oblige and partly in the thing it self To begin with the Latter A Benefit is a good Office done with Intention and Iudgment that is to say with a due regard to all the Circumstances of What How Why When Where to whom how much and the like Or otherwise It is a Voluntary and Benevolent Action that delights the Giver in the Comfort it brings to the Receiver It will be hard to draw this Subject either into Method or Compass the one because of the infinite variety and Complication of Cases the other by reason of the large Extent of it For the whole Business almost of Mankind in Society falls under this Head The Duties of Kings and Subjects Husbands and Wives Parents and Children Masters and Servants Natives and Strangers High and Low Rich and Poor Strong and Weak Friends and Enemies The very Meditation of it breeds good Blood and generous Thoughts and instructs us in all the Parts of Honor Humanity Friendship Piety Gratitude Prudence and Justice In short the Art and Skill of conferring Benefits is of all Humane Duties the most absolutely necessary to the well-Being both of Reasonable Nature and of every Individual as the very Ciment of all Communities and the Blessing of Particulars He that does good to another Man does good also to himself not only in the Consequence but even in the very Act of doing it for the Conscience of well-doing is an ample Reward OF Benefits in General there are several sorts As Necessary Profitable and Delightful Some things there are without which we Cannot Live Others without which we Ought not to live and some again without which we Will not live In the first Rank are those which deliver us from capital Dangers or Apprehensions of Death And the favour is rated according to the hazard for the greater the Extremity the greater seems the Obligation The next is a Case wherein we may indeed Live but we had better Dye As in the Question of Liberty Modesty and a good Conscience In the third place follow those things which Custome Use Affinity and Acquaintance have made dear to us As Husbands Wives Children Friends c. Which an honest Man will Preserve at his utmost Peril Of things Profitable there 's a large Field as Mony Honor c. to which might be added Matters of Superfluity and Pleasure But we shall open a way to the Circumstances of a Benefit by some previous and more General deliberations upon the thing it self CHAP. II. Several Sorts of Benefits WE shall divide Benefits into Absolute and Vulgar the One appertaining to Good Life the Other is only Matter of Commerce The former are the more Excellent because they can never be made void whereas all Material Benefits are tossed back and forward and change their Master There are some Offices that look like Benefits but are only desirable Conveniencies as Wealth Title c. and These a Wicked Man may receive from a Good or a Good Man from an Evil. Others again that bear the face of Injuries which are only Benefits ill-taken as Cutting Lancing Burning under the hand of a Surgeon The greatest Benefits of all are those of good Education which we receive from our Parents either in the State of Ignorance or Perverseness as their Care and Tenderness in our Infancy Their Discipline in our Childhood to keep us to our duties by fear and if fair means will not do their Proceeding afterward to severity and Punishment without which we should never have come to good There are Matters of great value many times that are but of small price as Instructions from a Tutor Medicines from a Physitian c. And there are small matters again which are of great consideration to us the Gift may be small and the consequence great as a Cup of cold Water in a time of need may save a Mans Life some things are of great Moment to the Giver others to the Receiver One Man gives me a House another snatches me out when 't is falling upon my head One gives me an Estate Another takes me out of the Fire or casts me out a Rope when I am sinking Some good Offices we do to Friends Others to Strangers but those are the noblest that we do without Predesert There is an Obligation of Bounty and an Obligation of Charity This in case of Necessity and That in point of Convenience Some Benefits are Common Others are Personal as if a Prince out of pure Grace grant a Privilege to a City the Obligation lies upon the Community and only upon every Individual as a Part of the whole but if it be done particularly for my sake then am I singly the Debtor for 't The cherishing of Strangers is one of the duties of Hospitality and exercises it self in the Relief and Protection of the Distressed There are Benefits of good Counsel Reputation Life Fortune Liberty Health nay and of Superfluity and Pleasure One Man obliges me out of his Pocket Another gives me Matter of Ornament or Curiosity a Third Consolation To say nothing of Negative Benefits for there are that reckon it an Obligation if they do a Body no hurt and place it to Accompt as if they sav'd a Man when they do not undo him To shut up all in one word as Benevolence
matter to convince a Great Man that his Station is slippery or to Prevail with him not to depend upon his Greatness But all Superfluities are Hurtful a Rank Crop layes the Corn too great a Burthen of Fruit breaks the Bow and our Minds may be as well overcharg'd with an Immoderate Happiness Nay though we our selves would be at Rest our Fortune will not suffer it The way that leads to Honor and Riches leads to Troubles and we find the Causes of our Sorrows in the very Objects of our Delights What Joy is there is Feasting and Luxury in Ambition and a Croud of Clients In the Armes of a Mistriss or in the Vanity of an Unprofitable Knowledge These short and False Pleasures deceive us and like Drunkenness Revenge the Jolly Madness of one hour with the Nauseous and sad Repentance of Many Ambition is like a Gulph every thing is swallow'd up in it and bury'd beside the dangerous consequences of it For that which One has taken from All may be easily taken away again from All by One. It was not either Virtue or Reason but the Mad Love of a deceiptful Greatness that animated Pompey in his Wars either Abroad or at Home What was it but his Ambition that hurry'd him to Spain Affrica and elsewhere when he was too Great already in every bodies Opinion but his Own And the same Motive had Iulius Caesar who could not even then brook a Superior Himself when the Common-wealth had submitted unto Two already Nor was it any instinct of Virtue that push'd on Marius who in the Head of an Army was himself yet led on under the Command of Ambition but he came at last to the deserved Fate of other Wicked Men and to Drink himself of the same Cup that he had filled to others We Impose upon our Reason when we suffer our selves to be transported with Titles for we know that they are nothing but a more Glorious Sound and so for Ornaments and Gildings though there may be a Lustre to Dazle our Eyes our Understanding tells us yet that it is only Outside and that the Matter under it is Course and Common I will never Envy those that the People call Great and Happy A Sound Mind is not to be shaken with a Popular and Vain Applause nor is it in the Power of their Pride to disturbe the State of our Happiness An Honest Man is known now adayes by the Dust he raises upon the Way and 't is become a Point of Honor to overrun People and keep all at a distance though he that is put out of the way may perchance be Happier than he that takes it He that would exercise a Power Profitable to himself and Grievous to no body else let him practise it upon his Passions They that have Burnt Cities otherwise Invincible driven Armies before them and bath'd themselves in Humane Blood after that they have overcome all open Enemies they have been vanquish'd by their Lust by their Cruelty and without any Resistance Alexander was possess'd with the Madness of laying Kingdoms waste He began with Greece where he was brought up and there he quarry'd himself upon that in it which was Best He Enslav'd Lacedaemon and Silenc'd Athens Nor was he content with the Destruction of those Towns which his Father Philip had either Conquer'd or Bought but he made himself the Enemy of Humane Nature and like the worst of Beasts he worry'd what he could not eat Felicity is an Unquiet thing it torments it self and puzzles the Brain It makes some People Ambitious others Luxurious It puffs up some and softens others only as 't is with Wine some Heads bear it better than others But it dissolves all Greatness stands upon a Precipice and if Prosperity carries a Man never so little beyond his Poyze it over-beares and dashes him to pieces 'T is a rare thing for a Man in a great Fortune to lay down his Happiness gently it being a Common Fate for a Man to sink under the Weight of those Felicities that raise him How many of the Nobility did Marius bring down to Herdsmen and other mean Offices Nay in the very Moment of our despising Servants we may be made so our selves CHAP. XIII Hope and Feare are the Bane of Humane Life NO Man can be said to be perfectly Happy that runs the Risque of Disappointment which is the Case of every Man that Feares or Hopes for any thing For Hope and Fear how distant soever they may seem to be the one from the other they are both of them yet coupled in the same Chain as the Guard and the Prisoner and the one treads upon the Heel of the other The Reason of this is Obvious for they are Passions that look forward and are ever sollicitous for the Future only Hope is the more Plausible Weakness of the Two which in truth upon the Main are Inseparable for the one cannot be without the other but where the Hope is stronger than the Fear or the Fear than the Hope we call it the one or the other For without Fear it were no longer Hope but Certainty as without Hope it were no longer Fear but Despair We may come to Understand whether our Disquiets are vain or no if we do but Consider that we are either troubled about the Present the Future or Both. If the Present 't is easie to Judge and the Future is Uncertain 'T is a Foolish thing to be Miserable before-hand for fear of Misery to come for a Man loses the Present which he might enjoy in expectation of the Future Nay the Fear of losing any thing is as bad as the loss it self I will be as Prudent as I can but not Timorous or Careless And I will bethink my self and forecast what Inconveniences may happen before they come 'T is true a Man may Fear and yet not be Fearful which is no more than to have the Affection of Fear without the Vice of it but yet a frequent Admittance of it runs into a Habit. It is a Shameful and an Unmanly thing to be Doubtful Timorous and Uncertain to set one step forward and another backward and to be Irresolute Can there be any Man so Fearful that had not rather fall once than hang alwayes in suspence OUR Miseries are Endless if we stand in Fear of all Possibilities the best way in such a Case is to drive out one Nail with another and a little to qualifie Fear with Hope which may serve to Palliate a Misfortune though not to Cure it There is not any thing that we Fear which is so Certain to come as it is certain that many things which we do Fear will not come but we are loth to oppose our Credulity when it begins to move us and so to bring our Fear to the Test. Wâ—… but What if the Thing we fear should come to pass perhaps it will be the better for us Suppose it to be Death it self Why may it not prove
and therefore we Fear it because we do not know what will become of us when we are gone and that Consideration strikes us with an Inexplicable Terror The way to avoid this Distraction is to contract our Business and our Thoughts when the Mind is once setled a Day or an Age is all One to us and the Series of Time which is now our Trouble will be then our delight For he that is Steadily resolv'd against all Uncertainties shall never be disturb'd with the Variety of them Let us make haste therefore to Live since every day to a Wise Man is a New Life For he has done his business the Day before and so prepar'd himself for the next that if it be not his Last he knows yet that it might have been so No Man enjoyes the true Taste of Life but he that is willing and Ready to Quit it THE Wit of Man is not able to Express the Blindness of Humane Folly in taking so much more Care of our Fortunes our Houses and our Money than we do of our Lives Every Body breaks in upon the One Gratis but we betake our selves to Fire and Sword if any Man invades the Other There 's no Dividing in the Case of Patrimony but People share our Time with us at pleasure So Profuse are we of that only thing whereof we may be Honestly Covetous 'T is a Common Practice to ask an Hour or two of a Friend for such or such a business and it is as easily granted both Parties only considering the Occasion and not the Thing it self They never put Time to Accompt which is the most Valuable of all pretious things but because they do not see it they reckon upon it as Nothing and yet these Easie Men when they come to Dye would give the whole World for those hours again which they so Inconsiderately cast away before but there 's no recovering of them If they could number their Dayes that are yet to Come as they can those that are already past How would those very People tremble at the Apprehension of Death though a Hundred year hence that never so much as think of it at present though they know not but it may take them away the next Immediate Minute 'T is an usual saying I would give my Life for such or such a Friend when at the same time we Do give it without so much as thinking of it Nay when That Friend is never the better for it and we our selves the worse Our Time is set and Day and Night we Travel On there 's no Baiting by the way and 't is not in the Power of either Prince or People to prolong it Such is the Love of Life that even those Decrepit Dotards that have lost the Use of it will yet beg the Continuance of it and make themselves Younger than they are as if they could cozen even Fate it self When they fall Sick what promises of Amendment if they scape that Bout What Exclamations against the Folly of their Mis-pent Time And yet if they Recover they Relapse No Man takes Care to Live Well but Long when yet it is in every Bodies Power to do the Former and in no Man 's to do the Latter We consume our Lives in providing the very Instruments of Life and govern our selves still with a Regard to the Future So that we do not Properly Live but we are about to Live How great a shame is it to be laying new Foundations of Life at our last Gasp and for an Old Man that can only prove his Age by his Beard with one Foot in the Grave to go to School again While we are Young we may Learn Our Minds are Tractable and our Bodies fit for Labor and Study but when Age comes On we are seiz'd with Languor and Sloth afflicted with Diseases and at last we leave the World as Ignorant as we came into it Only we Dy worse than we were Born which is none of Natures Fault but Ours for our Fears Suspicions Perfidy c. are from our Selves I wish with all my Soul that I had thought of my End sooner but I must make the more Haste now and Spurr on like those that set out Late upon a Journey It will be better to Learn Late than not at all though it be but only to instruct me how I may leave the Stage with Honor. IN the Division of Life there is time Present Past and to Come What we Do is Short what we Shall do is Doubtful but what we Have done is Certain and out of the Power of Fortune The Passage of Time is wonderfully quick and a Man must look Backward to see it and in that Retro-spect he has all past Ages at a View but the Present gives us the slip Unperceiv'd 'T is but a Moment that we Live and yet we are Dividing it into Childhood Youth Mans Estate and Old Age all which Degrees we bring into that narrow Compass If we do not watch we lose our Opportunities if we do not make Haste we are left behind Our Best hours scape us the Worst are to come The Purest part of our Life runs First and leaves only the Dregs at the Bottom And That Time which is good for nothing else we dedicate to Virtue and only propound to Begin to Live at an Age that very few People arrive at What greater Folly can there be in the World than this Loss of Time the Future being so Uncertain and the Dammages so Irreparable If Death be Necessary why should any Man Fear it And if the Time of it be Uncertain Why should we not alwayes Expect it We should therefore First Prepare our selves by a Virtuous Life against the Dread of an Inevitable Death And it is not for us to put off being Good till such or such a Business is Over for One business draws on Another and we do as good as Sow it one Grain produces more We are not to Philosophize when we have nothing else to do but to attend Wisdome even to the neglect of all things else for we are so far from having Time to spare that the Age of the World would be yet too narrow for the work we have to do nor is it enough not to Omit it but we must not so much as Intermit it THERE is nothing that we can properly call our Own but our Time and yet every Body fools us out of it that has a mind to 't If a Man borrows a Paltry Sum of Money there must be Bonds and Securities and every Common Civility is presently charg'd upon Accompt But he that has my Time thinks he owes me nothing for 't though it be a Debt that Gratitude it self can never repay I cannot call any Man Poor that has Enough yet left be it never so Little 'T is good Advice yet to those that have the World before them to play the Good Husbands betimes for 't is too late to spare at the Bottom
their Periods That which we call Death is but a Pause or Suspension and in truth a Progress to Life only our Thoughts look downward upon the Body and not Forward upon things to Come All things under the Sun are Mortal Cities Empires and the time will come when it shall be a Question Where they Were and perchance whether ever they had a Being or no. Some will be destroy'd by War Others by Luxury Fire Inundations Earthquakes Why should it trouble me then to Dye as a Fore-Runner of an Universal Dissolution A Great Mind Submits it self to God and suffers willingly what the Law of the Universe will otherwise bring to pass upon Necessity That good Old Man Bassus though with one Foot in the Grave How Chearful a Mind does he bear He lives in the View of Death and Contemplates his Own End with less Concern of Thought or Countenance than he would do Another Mans. It is a hard Lesson and we are a long time a Learning of it to receive our Death without Trouble especially in the Case of Bassus In Other Deaths there 's a Mixture of Hope A Disease may be Cur'd a Fire Quench'd a falling House either Prop'd or Avoided the Sea may Swallow a Man and throw him Up again A Pardon may Interpose betwixt the Axe and the Body but in the Case of Old Age there 's no Place for either Hope or Intercession Let us Live in our Bodies therefore as if we were only to Lodge in them This Night and to leave them To morrow It is the frequent Thought of Death that must fortifie us against the Necessity of it He that has Arm'd himself against Poverty may Perhaps come to Live in Plenty A Man may strengthen himself against Pain and yet live in a State of Health Against the Loss of Friends and never Lose any But he that fortifies himself against the Fear of Death shall most certainly have Occasion to employ that Virtue It is the Care of a Wise and a Good Man to look to his Manners and Actions and rather how well he Lives than how Long For to Dye Sooner or Later is not the Business but to Dye Well or Ill For Death brings us to Immortality CHAP. XXIII Against Immoderate Sorrow for the Death of Friends NEXT to the Encounter of Death in our Own Bodies the most sensible Calamity to an Honest Man is the Death of a Friend and we are not in truth without some Generous Instances of those that have preferr'd a Friends Life before their Own and yet this Affliction which by Nature is so Grievous to us is by Virtue and Providence made Familiar and Easie TO Lament the Death of a Friend is both Natural and Just A Sigh or a Tear I would allow to his Memory but no Profuse or Obstinate Sorrow Clamorous and Publick Lamentations are not so much the Effects of Grief as of Vain-Glory He that is sadder in Company than Alone shews rather the Ambition of his Sorrow than the Piety of it Nay and in the Violence of his Passion there fall out Twenty things that set him a Laughing At the long Run Time Cures All but it were better done by Moderation and Wisdome Some People do as good as set a watch upon themselves as if they were afraid that their Grief would make an Escape The Ostentation of Grief is many times more than the Grief it self When any Body is within Hearing what Grones and Outcryes when they are Alone and Private all is Hush and Quiet So soon as any body comes in they are at it again and down they throw themselves upon the Bed fall to wringing of their hands and wishing of themselves dead which they might better have done by themselves but their sorrow goes off with the Company We forsake Nature and run over to the Practises of the People that never were the Authors of any thing that is Good If Destiny were to be wrought upon by Tears I would allow you to spend your dayes and nights in Sadness and Mourning Tearing of your Hair and Beating of your Breasts but if Fate be Inexorable and Death will Keep what he has Taken Grief is to no Purpose And yet I would not Advise Insensibility and Hardness It were Inhumanity and not Virtue not to be mov'd at the separation of Familiar Friends and Relations Now in such Cases we cannot Command our selves we cannot forbear weeping and we Ought not to Forbear But let us not pass the Bounds of Affection and run into Imitation within These Limits it is some ease to the Mind A Wise Man gives Way to Tears in Some Cases and Cannot Avoid them in Others When one is struck with the Surprize of Ill Newes as the Death of a Friend or the like or upon the Last Embrace of an Acquaintance under the Hand of an Executioner he lies under a Natural Necessity of Weeping and Trembling In Another Case we may Indulge our Sorrows as upon the Memory of a Dead Friends Conversation or Kindness one may let fall Tears of Generosity and Joy We Favour the One and we are Overcome with the Other and This is Well but we are not upon any Termes to Force them They may flow of their Own accord without derogating from the Dignity of a Wise Man who at the same time both preserves his Gravity and Obeys Nature Nay there is a Certain Decorum even in Weeping for Excess of Sorrow is as Foolish as Profuse Laughter Why do we not as well Cry when our Trees that we took Pleasure in shed their Leaves as at the Loss of Other Satisfactions When the next Season repairs them either with the same again or Others in their Places We may accuse Fate but we cannot alter it for it is Hard and Inexorable and not to be Remov'd either with Reproches or Tears They may carry us to the Dead but never bring Them back again to Us. If Reason does not put an End to our Sorrows Fortune never will One is pinch'd with Poverty Another Sollicited with Ambition and Feares the very Wealth that he Coveted One is troubled for the Loss of Children Another for the Want of them So that we shall sooner want Tears than Matter for them let us therefore spare That for which we have so much Occasion I do confess that in the very Parting of Friends there is something of an Uneasyness and Trouble but it is rather Voluntary than Natural and it is Custome more than Sense that affects us We do rather Impose a Sorrow upon our selves than Submit to it as People Cry when they have Company and when no body looks on all 's well again To Mourn without Measure is Folly and not to Mourn at all is Insensibility The best Temper is betwixt Piety and Reason to be sensible but neither Transported nor Cast down He that can put a stop to his Tears and Pleasures when he will is safe It is an Equal Infelicity to be either too Soft or too
most Importune the Physitians call it the Meditation of Death as being rather an Agony than a Sickness The Fit holds one not above an Hour as no Body is long in Expiring There are Three things Grievous in Sickness the Fear of Death Bodily Pain and the Intermission of our Pleasures The First is to be imputed to Nature not to the Disease for we do not Dye because we are Sick but because we Live Nay Sickness it self has preserv'd many a Man from Dying CHAP. XXV Poverty to a Wise Man is rather a Blessing than a Misfortune NO Man shall ever be Poor that goes to himself for what he wants and that 's the readyest way to Riches Nature indeed will have her Due but yet whatsoever is beyond Necessity is Precarious and not Necessary It is not Her Business to gratifie the Palate but to satisfie a Craving Stomach Bread when a Man is Hungry does his Work let it be never so Course and Water when he is a Dry Let his Thirst be Quench'd and Nature is satisfy'd no matter Whence it Comes or whether he Drinks in Gold Silver or in the Hollow of his Hand To Promise a Man Riches and to Teach him Poverty is to Deceive him But shall I call him Poor that wants nothing though he may be beholden for it to his Patience rather than to his Fortune Or shall any Man Deny him to be Rich whose Riches can never be taken away Whether is it better to have Much or Enough He that has Much desires More which shews that he has not yet Enough but he that has Enough is at Rest. Shall a Man be reputed the less Rich for not having That for Which he shall be Banish'd for which his very Wife or Son shall Poyson him That which gives him Security in War and Quiet in Peace which he Possesses without Danger and Disposes of without Trouble No Man can be Poor that has Enough nor Rich that Covets more than he has Alexander after all his Conquests complain'd that he wanted More World's he Desir'd Something More even when he had Gotten All And That which was Sufficient for Humane Nature was not Enough for One Man Money never made any Man Rich for the More he Had the More he still Coveted The Richest Man that ever Liv'd is Poor in My Opinion and in Any Mans May be so but he that keeps himself to the stint of Nature does neither Feel Poverty nor Fear it Nay even in Poverty it self there are some things Superfluous Those which the World calls Happy their Felicity is a False Splendor that dazles the Eyes of the Vulgar but Our Rich Man is Glorious and Happy within There 's no Ambition in Hunger or Thirst Let there be Food and no Matter for the Table the Dish and the Servants nor with what Meats Nature is satisfy'd Those are the Torments of Luxury that rather Stuff the Stomach than Fill it It studies rather to Cause an Appetite than to Allay it 'T is not for Us to say This is not Handsome That 's Common T'other Offends my Eye Nature Provides for Health not Delicacy When the Trumpet Sounds a Charge the Poor Man knows that he 's not aim'd at When they Cry out Fire His Body is all he has to look after If he be to take a Journey there 's no Blocking up of Streets and Thronging of Passages for a Parting Compliment A small matter Fills his Belly and Contents his Mind he Lives from Hand to Mouth without Carking or Fearing for To morrow The Temperate Rich Man is but his Counterfeit his Wit is Quicker and his Appetite 's Calmer NO Man finds Poverty a Trouble to him but he that Thinks it so and he that Thinks it so Makes it so Does not a Rich Man Travel more at Ease with Less Luggage and Fewer Servants Does he not Eat many times as Little and as Course in the Field as a Poor Man Does he not for his Own Pleasure sometimes and for Variety Feed upon the Ground and use only Earthen Vessels Is he not a Mad-Man then that Allwayes Fears what he Often Desires and Dreads the Thing that he takes Delight to Imitate He that would know the worst of Poverty let him but compare the Looks of the Rich and of the Poor and he shall find the Poor Man to have a Smoother Brow and to be more Merry at Heart or if any Trouble befalls him it passes over like a Cloud Whereas the Other either his Good Humor is Counterfeit or his Melancholy Deep and Ulcerated and the Worse because he dares not Publickly own his Misfortune but he is Forc'd to Play the Part of a Happy Man even with a Canker in his Heart His Felicity is but Personated and if he were but stripp'd of his Ornaments he would be Contemptible In buying of a Horse we take off his Cloths and his Trappings and examine his Shape and Body for fear of being Couzen'd And shall we put an Estimate upon a Man for being set off by his Fortune and Quality Nay if we see any thing of Ornament about him we are to suspect him the more for some Infirmity under it He that is not Content in Poverty would not be so neither in Plenty for the Fault is not in the Thing but the Mind If That be Sickly remove him from a Kennel to a Palace he is at the same Pass for he carries his Disease along with him What can be Happier than That Condition both of Mind and of Fortune from which we cannot Fall What can be a greater Felicity than in a Covetous Designing Age for a Man to live safe among Informers and Thieves It puts a Poor Man into the very Condition of Providence that Gives All without Reserving Any thing to it Self How Happy is he that Ows nothing but to himself and only That which he can Easily Refuse or Easily Pay I do not reckon Him Poor that has but a Little but he is so that Covets more It is a Fair Degree of Plenty to have what 's Necessary Whether had a Man better find Saturity in Want or Hunger in Plenty It is not the Augmenting of our Fortunes but the Abating of our Appetites that makes us Rich. Why may not a Man as well Contemn Riches in his Own Coffers as in Another Mans And rather Hear that they are His than Feel them to be so Though it is a great matter not to be Corrupted even by having them under the same Roof He is the Greater Man that 's Honestly Poor in the middle of Plenty but he is the more secure that is Free from the Temptation of that Plenty and has the least Matter for another to Design Upon It is no great business for a Poor Man to Preach the Contempt of Riches or for a Rich Man to extol the Benefits of Poverty because we do not know how either the One or the Other would behave himself in the Contrary Condition The best Proof is the doing
Business of This World should be Forgotten or my Memory traduc'd What 's all this to me I have done my Duty Undoubtedly That which puts an End to all Other Evils cannot be a very great Evil it Self and yet it is no Easie thing for Flesh and Blood to despise Life What if Death comes If it does not stay with us why should we Fear it One Hangs himself for a Mistress Another Leaps the Garret Window to avoid a Cholerick Master a Third runs away and Stabs himself rather than he will be brought back again We see the Force even of our Infirmities and shall we not then do greater things for the Love of Virtue To suffer Death is but the Law of Nature and it is a great Comfort that it can be done but Once In the very Convulsions of it we have This Consolation that our Pain is near an end and that it frees us from all the Miseries of Life What it is we Know not and it were Rash to Condemn what we do not Understand But this we Presume either that we shall pass out of This into a Better Life where we shall Live with Tranquillity and Splendor in Diviner Mansions or else return to our First Principles free from the Sense of any Inconvenience There 's Nothing Immortal nor Many things Lasting but by Diverse wayes every thing comes to an End What an Arrogance is it then when the World it self stands Condemn'd to a Dissolution that Man alone should expect to live for Ever It is Unjust not to allow unto the Giver the Power of disposing of his Own Bounty and a Folly only to value the Present Death is as much a Debt as Mony and Life is but a Journey towards it Some dispatch it Sooner others Later but we must All have the same Period The Thunder-Bolt is undoubtedly Just that draws even from those that are stuck with it a Veneration A Great Soul takes no Delight in Staying with the Body it considers whence it Came and Knows whither it is to Go. The day will come that shall separate this Mixture of Soul and Body of Divine and Humane My Body I will leave where I found it My Soul I will restore to Heaven which would have been There already but for the Clog that keeps it down And beside How many Men have been the worse for longer Living that might have dy'd with Reputation if they had been sooner taken away How many Disappointments of Hopeful Youths that have prov'd Dissolute Men Over and above the Ruines Shipwracks Torments Prisons that attend Long Life A Blessing so deceiptful that if a Child were in Condition to Judge of it and at Liberty to Refuse it he would not take it WHAT Providence has made Necessary Humane Prudence should comply with Chearfully As there is a Necessity of Death so that Necessity is Equal and Invincible No Man has cause of Complaint for that which Every Man must suffer as well as himself When we should dye we Will not and when we would not we must But our Fate is Fixt and Unavoidable is the Decree Why do we then stand Trembling when the Time comes Why do we not as well lament that we did not Live a Thousand years agoe as that we shall not be alive a Thou sand years hence 'T is but travelling the Great Road and to the Place whither we must All go at Last 'T is but submitting to the Law of Nature and to That Lot which the whole World has suffer'd that is gone Before us and so must They too that are to Come After us Nay how many Thousands when our Time comes will Expire in the same Moment with us He that will not Follow shall be drawn by Force And Is it not much better now to do That willingly which we shall otherwise be made to do in spite of our Hearts The Sons of Mortal Parents must expect a Mortal Posterity Death is the End of Great and Small We are Born Helpless and expos'd to the Injuries of all Creatures and of all Weathers The very Necessaries of Life are Deadly to us We meet with our Fate in our Dishes in our Cups and in the very Ayr we Breathe Nay our very Birth is Inauspicious for we come into the World Weeping and in the Middle of our Designs while we are meditating great Matters and stretching of our Thoughts to After Ages Death cuts us off and our longest Date is only the Revolution of a few years One Man Dyes at the Table Another goes away in his Sleep a Third in his Mistress's Armes a Fourth is Stabb'd Another is Stung with an Adder or Crush'd with the Fall of a Horse We have several wayes to our End but the End it self which is Death is still the same Whether we dye by a Sword by a Halter by a Potion or by a Disease 't is all but Death A Child dies in the Swadling Clouts and an Old Man at a Hundred they are Both Mortal alike though the One goes sooner than the Other All that lies betwixt the Cradle and the Grave is Uncertain If we compute the Troubles the Life even of a Child is Long if the Swiftness of the Passage That of an Old Man is short The whole is slippery and Deceiptful and only Death Certain and yet all People Complain of That which never Deceiv'd any Man Senecio rais'd himself from a small Beginning to a Vast Fortune being very well skill'd in the Faculties both of Getting and of Keeping and either of them was sufficient for the doing of his Business He was a Man Infinitely Careful both of his Patrimony and of his Body He gave me a Mornings Visit sayes our Author and after that Visit he went away and spent the rest of the day with a Friend of his that was desperately Sick At Night he was Merry at Supper and seiz'd immediately after with a Squincy which dispatch'd him in a few hours This Man that had Mony at Use in all Places and in the very Course and Height of his Prosperity was thus Cut off How Foolish a thing is it then for a Man to flatter himself with Long Hopes and to Pretend to Dispose of the Future Nay the very Present slips through our Fingers and there is not that moment which we can call our Own How vain a thing is it for us to enter upon Projects and to say to our selves Well! I 'll go Build Purchase Discharge such Offices Settle my Affairs and then Retire We are all of us Born to the same Casualties All equally Frail and Uncertain of To morrow At the very Altar where we Pray for Life we Learn to Dy by seeing the Sacrifices Kill'd before us But there 's no Need of a Wound or Searching the Heart for 't when the Noose of a Cord or Smothering of a Pillow will do the Work All things have their Seasons they Begin they Encrease and they Dye The Heavens and the Earth grow Old and are appointed