Selected quad for the lemma: death_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
death_n	body_n	die_v	life_n	17,544	5	4.8615	4	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A39868	Lucian's ghost: or, Dialogues between the dead, wandering in the Elyzian shades. Being certain satyrical remarques upon the vain ostentatious humours of several learned and philosophical men and women, as well ancient as modern. Composed first in French, and now paraphras'd into English, by a person of quality.	Fontenelle, M. de (Bernard Le Bovier), 1657-1757.	1684 (1684)	Wing F1413B; ESTC R213744	36,631	141

a Critick on his death which still had something in 't that was glorious but how could you pretend to prefer yours to his for if I mistake not you dy'd quietly in your Bed and there was nothing in 't that was remarkable Adrian What! was not that remarkable to make these Verses just as I was breathing out my last Adieu my little Soul my dear'st delight To what far Country dost thou take thy flight Trembling and naked thou'lt alone be left And of thy Body's clothing quite bereft What will become of all thy Jollity When thou art gone I know not where from me Cato in my mind treated Death too seriously but I made it my diversion and 't is on this account that I do pretend mine to have surpast his 'T is much easier to Brave one's fate than 't is to Rally at it and to entertain it kindly when it comes to our relief than when we have no occasion for it M. Austr I 'll allow you dy'd more decently than Cato yet 't was my misfortune never to hear of those Verses which were the ornament on 't Adrian See how the world 's impos'd on because Cato tore out his own Entrails rather than fall into the hands of his Enemies yet such an action shines so in Story that every body that beholds it is dazel'd with its lustre but let a man die calmly and in such good humour to droll on death it self yet our dull Historians ne'er regard it M. Austr Alas there can be nothing truer than what you say for I my self when I thought I should have dy'd took my farewell of the World more handsomely than you and yet 't has made but little noise in it Adrian How what say you M. Austr I was Daughter to an Emperour and betroth'd to a King's Son who after the death of his Father sent me back again with disgrace to my Friends without ever consummating the Marriage and not long after I was contracted to another King's Son and on my Voyage to his Country there arose so dreadfull a Storm that I was in apparent danger of my life yet I was calm enough to write my own Epitaph which was this Margr'et that Royal Damsel here is laid Who twice was Marry'd and yet dy'd a Maid I must confess I dy'd not then yet what 's the same I thought I shou'd Cato's firmness was extravagant in its kind and so was your Jollity in another but mine was the onely natural and easie he was too serious you to vain and I the onely rational person Adrian What! do you reproach me then that I had too little concern for death M. Austr Yes you seem'd as if you slighted its approaches yet I doubt you took as much pains to dissemble your resentments as Cato did to rip up his Bowels I expected without fear to be shipwrack't every moment and yet in cold blood I made my own Epitaph If there had not been something natural in my story the world might have made some difficulty in believing it or at least that I did it out of extravagancy or fear but at the same time I was a poor Maid and though twice contracted was like to be so unfortunate as to die one and you may observe that I regretted the severity of my Fate and 't is that which makes my story appear so natural and from whence it borrows all its lustre your Verses if you observe speak nothing but what seems strain'd and affected whereas mine easily represent my fortune without art or dissimulation Adrian On my word I ne'er could have believ'd that the trouble of dying with your Virginity on your hands would have prov'd so glorious M. Austr You may make your self as merry with me as you please yet my death if it may be so call'd hath this advantage over yours and Cato's that as you liv'd with the reputation of Philosophers so in honour you were oblig'd to die and if you had but dar'd to fear it the world might have been very severe on you on that occasion but for my part I might have trembled at the apprehension of drowning and made my cries reach the Heavens and no body e'er esteem me the less for it yet I was compos'd enough to write my own Elegy Adrian Between you and I was it not made on Land M. Austr That trifling evasion of yours is a little uncivil I made no difficulty of believing you Adrian I own my self subdu'd by your reasons and shall henceforward be of your opinion That that vertue is greatest and most commendable which surpasses not the bounds of nature DIALOGUE V. Between Erasistratus and Harvey Era. YOU tell me wonders What that the Bloud Circulates in the Body that the Veins carry it to the Heart and the Arteries receive it from thence to convey it to the exteriour Parts Har. I have demonstrated it by so many Experiments that now there is no one doubts it Era. Then we Ancient Physicians were very much deceiv'd when we attributed to the Bloud onely a slow and gentle Motion from the Heart to the Extremity of the Parts The World has reason to be much oblig'd to you for abolishing this old mistake Har. I am satisfy'd it has and not onely for that but by putting 'em into a Method of making all those modern discoveries in Anatomy which so much Illustrate the Art of Physick the Motion of the Bloud was no sooner discover'd but immediately there were new Canales new-Pipes and new Repositories found out for it It seem'd as if the whole Frame and Machine of Man's Body were taken in Peices and cast over a-new What Advantage the modern Physicians have over you who pretended to cure the Diseases of that Body ye had so little knowledge of Era. I grant you that the Moderns are something better Naturalists than we but yet I do deny that they are better Physicians I should desire very much to see how you or any of 'em would have manag'd such a Patient as Antiochus in his Quartane Ague You must needs have heard of my Success in that Case and how I discover'd by the brisker Motion of his Pulse in the presence of Stratonice that he was enamour'd of that Beautifull Queen and that his Disease proceeded from that Violence he did himself in Endeavouring to conceal his Passion yet I perform'd that difficult Cure without the knowledge of the Circulation of the Bloud whereas had you been in my Place you would have found your self extremely puzl'd with all your Inventions your new Pipes and Canales would have serv'd you then but to little purpose the Disease was in the Heart and therefore 't was of more Importance to know that Har. That 's not always necessary to be known neither are all those that are sick Inamour'd of their Mother-in-Laws as was Antiochus I doubt not but for lack of this knowledge of the Circulation of the Bloud you let many of your Patients die on your Hands Era. Then you believe your

new Discoveries are of great use and benifit to the World Har. Without doubt they are Era. Then pray Answer me one question what 's the reason the Dead come crowding hither as thick as e'er they did Har. Oh! if they dye now 't is commonly the Fault of the Patient not of the Physicians Era. Therefore your modern discoveries do conduce very little to the Cure Har. Perhaps they han't leasure to make those advantages of our discoveries as they might but 't is probable in a little time we may see more surprizing Effects Era. On my word all things remain in the same Station where they were there 's a certain measure of necessary knowledge which Men do easily attain to and they are so far oblig'd to Nature for inspiring 'em with that which is so much to their advantage Men were very unhappy if they were always beholding to the slow and often unsuccesfull Motions of their reason for all they know and those things that are not of the like necessity are discovered by degrees and long pursuit of many Years Har. Why may not a skilfull Anatomist make the same advantage of the perfect knowledge of the Machine of a Man's body as an Artist doth of a Clock or Watch and by the in-sight that he has of its springs and wheels best know how to regulate its Motions when they are disorder'd but if it be of so little use as you would have it men strive in vain to advance that Science and 't were much better if 't were let alone Era. Oh no! then there would be much diverting knowledge lost but for any use there 's in 't I think to discover some new conduit in the body or some new Star in the Heavens is much the same We cannot break great Nature's rule who has Ordain'd that men must mutually succeed one another which can be done by no other way but Death Mankind may make defences and seem to combate with diseases till they come to the brink of Fate but neither the newest discoveries in Anatomy nor a search into the Closest recesses of the Body can ever make Mankind pass over that Nature will still be Conquerour and Death will put an end to all their Pretensions DIALOGUE VI. Between Berenice Cosme II. de Medicis C. de med I am told by the modern Wits lately come hither some news which troubles me you know Galilaeus who was my Mathematician had discover'd certain Planets which move about Jupiter and in honour to me call'd 'em de Medicis that they are now known no more by that Name but call'd the Satellites it must needs be that the World is grown ill natur'd to rob me of that honour which is my due Beren I never knew a more remarkable instance of its Malice C. de med You may speak without concern nor have you the same reason to complain as I you made a vow to cut off your hair if your Husband Ptolomy return'd Victor from I know not what Wars which he afterwards did and you to perform your vow made an offering of your hair in the Temple of Venus but the next Day a certain Mathematician stole it thence and Publish't that 't was taken up to Heaven and plac't amongst the Stars and to this Day one of the Constellations goes by the Name of Berenice's hair they might as well call the Stars after a Prince's name as a Woman's Locks yet you are remembred in the Skies and I am forgotten Beren Were it in my Power to present you with my Heavenly Locks I should be very willing to part with 'em for your satisfaction and yet have no reason to upbraid you with the greatness of the Obligation C. de med I should esteem it very considerable to be assur'd my name should live as well as yours Beren Alas if all the Constellations were call'd by my name what should I be the better they are plac't above in the Heavens whilst I am here below Men know not how to Rob Death of 's due and yet they wou'd make two or three Syllables survive this is a very pleasant evasion were it not as well that they and their names dy'd together C. de med I am not of your mind we naturally desire to die but as little as may be and after Death it self we endeavour to preserve our lives on some Marble-stone or Monument Beren Why those very things which seem to give us Immortality do also at length die themselves On what ' Object would you fix your name neither City Town nor Empire could answer your desire C. de med 'T was well contriv'd then to give it to the Stars for they always last Beren Nor there could you be secure the Stars themselves being Subject to the same Fate of changes and revolutions and if we can believe Astronomers new ones rise and the old do disappear and it may come to pass at length that my Locks may also vanish or if we knew how to fix it on something that was more permanent our names as well as that whereon it was set might suffer a Grammatical Death by the change of words and letters enough to puzzle the greatest antiquaries to find 'em out Sometime since there were two of the Dead who disputed one with another with some heat and I observing on 't desir'd to know who they were and what was the grounds of their Controversie and I was told that one was Constantine the Great and the other was an Heathen Emperour and that their past greatness was the Subject of their quarel Constantine said he had been Emperour of Constantinople and to give it the Preference said it was situated upon three Seas the Euxine the Thracian Bosphorus and the Propontis The Heathen Emperour said he was so of Stambould which has as advantageous a situation on the black Sea the Strait and the Marmorean Constantine was surpriz'd at the resemblance between Constantinople and Stambould but after he had exactly inform'd himself of the situation of the place he was much more so when he found it was the very same which he knew not because of the alteration of the name and cry'd out Alas I might as well have left it it 's ancient name of Bizantium for who can find the name of Constantine in Stambould I doubt 't is therefore drawing near it's utmost Period C. de med I am somewhat satisfi'd and resolve hence forward to be more patient and since we cannot free our selves from death not to be concern'd about our names which is of so much less Consequence Modern Dialogues DIALOGUE I. Between Anne of Britain and Mary of England Anne of B. CErtainly you were very well pleas'd with my death for I was no sooner dead but you crost the Seas to Espouse Lewis the Twelfth my Husband to seat your self in that Throne which I had but just forsaken but yet you enjoy'd it not long and your youth and beauty which so much charm'd the King hasten'd his death and your departure Mary

Warriour But once again what would you conclude from hence Smind That this Lover and this Conquerour and almost all Mankind though they lye on Beds of Roses yet the folding but of one Leaf might be enough to disturb their rest A very small uneasiness is sufficient to destroy our pleasures and these are our Beds of Roses where 't will be a matter of some difficulty to make all the Leaves lye smooth and easie Milo I must confess I am not very knowing in these matters but in my opinion you your Imaginary Lover and your Conquerour and every body else of this temper doe your selves a great deal of wrong by being so over-nice and delicate Smind Ah Milo Men of wit are no Crotonians as thou art but Sybarites like me Milo Now I guess what you would be at That nature having made 'em of a more delicate frame than ordinary they would enjoy too many pleasures if the fineness and subtilty of their Reason did not devest 'em of those that were superfluous Smind You 're mistaken in your Guesses men of wit have no pleasures that are superfluous Milo Then they are fools to take so much pains to destroy their own happiness Smind Behold the misery of the whole Creation Mankind onely does enjoy this fineness of temper which is produc'd by the brisk and and lively motion of the blood and spirits Every body is satisfy'd with himself when he has it and he that has it not is still in pursuit after it yet it diminishes our pleasures and makes 'em flat and dull which of their own natures are insipid enough How miserable therefore is the condition of humane nature that 's furnish't but with so few delights and yet our subtile reason marrs 'em all in the enjoyment DIALOGUE III. Between Dido and Stratonice Dido ALas my Stratonice how unfortunate am I you must needs have heard how I liv'd the mirrour of Chastity and prov'd so constant to my first Vows that I chose rather to burn alive and sacrifice my self to the shade of my first Husband than endure a second Yet I could not secure my self from the Censure of evil Tongues as to my very death which was the Crown and Ornament of my life It has pleas'd a certain Poet called Virgil to change me who always had the reputation of a wise and prudent Matron into a young Coquet who let her self be Charm'd with the good Meen of a stranger the first day she saw him and in fine he has turn'd the whole History of my Life into a Romance Yet he would not rob me of my last Funeral Pyle But can you guess the Reason he gives why I cast my self into it not to avoid a second Marriage but despair of seeing my self forsaken by the handsome stranger Straton On my word such fain'd Relations may prove of very ill consequence to the World and we shall have but few Women die Martyrs to Conjugal Fidelity if every Capricious Poet may take the liberty of saying what he pleases of 'em after they are dead perhaps Virgil has not done you so much injury though as you imagine and has onely disoblig'd you by discovering some Intrigue which you hop't would be concealed Dido Had there been any probability in the Amour which the Poet would make me entertain I should not so much complain of him But he gives me Aeneas for my Lover a man that left the World Three hundred years before I came into it Straton I must confess that what you say is something yet there is so great a Resemblance in the several Stories of your Lives that you seem very much to be made the one for the other you were both constrain'd to forsake your native Lands and try your Fortunes in Foreign Kingdoms He was a Widower and you a Widow so that the Agreement of your Loves might well Answer that of your Fates 'T is true you were born Three hundred years after him yet the Poet had so much Reason to make you meet and Love that he might very well dispence with Three hundred years and thought it not of consequence enough to spoil so plausible an Amour Dido What sort of Reasoning is this are not Three hundred years always Three hundred years and how can two persons living at this distance meet and love Straton 'T was in this very point that Virgil hath most shew'd his wit he was a man that understood the world and well knew that in such Amorous Entertainments men judge not of the truth of the Relation by the speciousness of its appearance but sometimes by the very improbability of the Story Dido I am not well satisfy'd that he has fix't his handsome Mysteries and plausible Romances on me Straton Why has he Ridicul'd you and made you speak impertinently any where Dido Neither 'T is my Character which gives his Poem all its beauty and though he has bely'd me yet there is something Divine in his very Fiction and had he been oblig'd to have drawn me with my native Honesty his Aeneids would have lost very much of their Lustre Straton Wherefore then do you complain so much Though he has sully'd your Vertue which you so much rely'd on yet in return he has given you Wit and Beauty which perhaps you never could pretend to Dido What then is that a sufficient recompence Straton I know not what temper you were of but I 'm sure most women would rather have their Vertue sully'd than either their Wit or Beauty and I do ingenuously acknowledge to you it was my temper There came a Painter to the Court of the King of Syria my Husband who on some occasion I had disoblig'd and to revenge himself on me Painted me in the Embraces of a Common Souldier and having expos'd the Picture fled my Subjects zealous for my Honour would publickly have burnt it but because he had drawn me so admirably well though the motions he gave it were more to the advantage of my Beauty than Vertue I preserv'd it from the flames and sent kindly for the Painter and pardon'd him Now if you had been of my mind you should have dealt with Virgil after the same manner Dido If Wit and Beauty were the most considerable Qualifications of a Lady it were not then amiss Straton I can't decide to which the precedency is due but in Common Conversation if the discourse be of a Woman who is a stranger to any of the company the first question is whether she be handsome the second if she have Wit and it rarely happens that any body gives himself the trouble to ask a third DIALOGUE IV. Between Anacreon Aristotle Arist I Could not have believ'd that a Sonnet-maker should have the confidence to compare himself with a Philosopher and one of my Reputation too Anac You would make the name of a Philosopher sound very great I can assure you my Songs have purchas'd me the title of the wise Anacreon and I 'm sure there 's no Phisopher

rest of Mankind and knew by the Justness and weight of your Arguments how to lead Men in that Path that you had Chalk't out for 'em 't was from thence you gain'd the Title of Succesfull Mid-Wife of your Thoughts because you never suffered any to miscarry for my part I must confess to you I never could effect any thing but what was contrary to my first design yet I know not how to grant you this for now there are none of those Vigorous and Noble Souls which they had in former times as that of Aristides Phocion Pericles and Socrates Socrat. What should be the reason on 't is Natures Fountain quite run dry that it can produce no more such Men why should it be productive of all things else and yet so barren of reasonable Men can you Instance me in any of the Works of Nature which are degenerated and therefore why should Man Mont. I know not but we have been convinc'd by wofull Experience it is so it seems that Nature onely gave us Images of some few Men to let us know her Power and what she cou'd do if she pleas'd but I 'm sure she was negligent enough in the rest of her Composures Socrat. Always observe Antiquity is singular in this that whereas all other distances do diminish the Object yet that of time makes it seem much bigger had you known Aristides Phocion Pericles and my self since you are pleas'd to Rank me with 'em you would have found that in your own Age there would have been some that might resemble us Antiquity is so much advanc'd because Men are Prejudic'd against the present Age and therefore they wou'd say any thing to discredit it and so are very well pleas'd to exalt their Ancestors so they may depress their Contemporaries When we Liv'd we also esteem'd our Ancestors much more than they deserv'd and our Posterity deals just so with us But I believe if our Ancestors we and our Posterity could be beheld at the same time by an Indifferent Eye the prospect would be found to be very much the same Mont. I always thought that every thing was in Motion and that every Age had produc't different Humours and Characters of men Have there not been some wise and other ignorant Ages some that have been heavy and others more refin'd some more serious and others more trifling and Fantastical Socrat. 'T is true there have Mont. And wherefore by the same reason may not some Ages have been more Vertuous and others more Vicious Socrat. The consequence does not follow for though the Habit change the Figure the Body still continues as it was Wit Bravery Knowledge Ignorance the serious or the Trifling Humour are not essential to the Man but may be put off or on like Clothes But the Heart of Man that never changes and 't is that which distinguishes him This is an Age of Ignoramus but it may be the Mode of the next to be more learn'd This is an Interest Age yet I believe the contrary will ne'er succeed perhaps in the vast Number of Men that may be born in the space of an Hundred Years Nature may produce Twenty or Thirty of Wit and Sense who are equally disperst all the World over yet there 's no where so many of 'em to be found as to make their Vertue and Honesty become the Mode Mont. Is Nature always then the same and makes the same Distribution of 'em in every Age why may not one be blest with many more than others Socrat. Because Nature always Acts by Rule though we are Ignorant of its Motions DIALOGUE IV. Between the Emperour Adrian and Margaret of Austria M. Austr WHAT ails you you are in such a heat Adrian I have had a contest but e'en now with Cato of Vtica about the manner of our Deaths and I endeavour'd to shew that in the last Scene of my Life I approv'd my self more a Philosopher than he M. Austr Me-thinks you were a little Confident though to compare your Death with his What could be more Glorious than first to put his Family in order at Vtica to provide for the safety of his Friends and then to kill himself as desirous to die rather with the Liberty of his Country than to fall into the hands of the Conquerour Adrian If you take but a nearer view on 't you may observe there were many things amiss First of all he was so vain-glorious in his Preparation that there was scarce any Body in all Vtica but knew his design Secondly he was forc't to reade over some Dialogues of Plato about the Immortality of the Soul before he had courage enough to put it in Execution And lastly the thoughts on 't had put him so out of Humour that looking for his Sword under his Beds-head where he had designedly laid it which was taken thence by one of his Servants who fear'd lest despair might make him attempt something on himself but not finding it there he calls for him in Rage and gave him with his Fist so severe a Blow on the Mouth as beat out several of his Teeth and wounded his own Hand M. Austr I can't deny but 't was a very barbarous stroke and was a little scandalous to his philosophical death Adrian You can't imagine what a noise he made about his Sword how he reproach't his Son and his Domesticks as if they design'd to bind him Hand and Foot and deliver him to Caesar and storm'd at 'em at that rate as made 'em all quit his Chamber to kill himself M. Austr What need was there of making all that noise about it had he waited but one day longer he might have done it calmly and quietly for there is nothing easier than to die when one has a mind to it but all those measures he had taken were founded upon his resolution of doing it that day and had he deferr'd it but one day longer he might have fail'd of putting his design in execution Adrian You speak very rationally and I see you are capable of judging what deaths are most Glorious M. Austr Yet 't is reported that when Cato had his Sword again and every body left him he fell asleep and snor'd methinks this was very pleasant Adrian What Story is this but just before he made a noise as if he were undone then beat his Servant and yet in this heat to fall asleep is something strange besides his Wound troubled him so much as not to suffer him to take any rest for he himself but just before profest he could scarce support the pain of it and made his Physician dress it a little before he kill'd himself yet at last when his Sword was brought him at Midnight he read Plato's Dialogues twice o'er and I can't think he had the courage to sleep after that and his snoring was no more than dissimulation that his Servants who were listning at the Door might report it to his advantage M. Austr You do ill to be so severe