in the Vices of his Mind We must discharge all Impediments and make way for Philosophy as a Study Inconsistent with Common Business To all other things we must deny our selves openly and frankly When we are Sick we refuse Visits keep our selves Close and lay aside all Publick Cares and shall we not do as much when we Philosophize Business is the Drudgery of the World and only fit for Slaves but Contemplation is the Work of Wise Men. Not but that Solitude and Company may be allow'd to take their Turns the One Creates in us the Love of Mankind the Other That of our selves Solitude Relieves us when we are Sick of Company and Conversation when we are weary of being Alone So that the One Cures the Other There is no Man in fine so miserable as he that is at a Loss how to spend his Time He is Restless in his Thoughts unsteady in his Counsels Dissatisfy'd with the Present Sollicitous for the Future whereas he that prudently computes his Hours and his Business does not only fortifie himself against the Common Accidents of Life but Improves the most Rigorous Dispensations of Providence to his Comfort and stands Firm under all the Tryals of Humane Weakness CHAP. XXI The Contempt of Death makes all the Miseries of Life Easy to us IT is a hard Task to Master the Natural Desire of Life by a Philosophical Contempt of Death and to convince the World that there is no hurt in 't and crush an Opinion that was brought up with us from our Cradles What help What Encouragement What shall we say to Humane Frailty to carry it Fearless through the Fury of Flames and upon the Points of Swords What Rhetorick shall we use to bear down the Universal Consent of People to so dangerous an Error The Captious and Superfine Subtilties of the Schools will never do the Work They speak many sharp things but utterly unnecessary and void of Effect The Truth of it is there is but one Chain that holds all the World in Bondage and that 's the Love of Life It is not that I propound the making of Death so Indifferent to us as it is whether a Mans Hairs be Even or Odd For what with Self-Love and an Implanted Desire in every thing of Preserving it self and a long Acquaintance betwixt the Soul and Body Friends may be loth to part and Death may carry an Appearance of Evil though in truth it is it self no Evil at all Beside that we are to go to a strange Place in the Dark and under great Uncertainties of our Future State So that People Dye in Terror because they do not know whither they are to goe and they are apt to Phancy the worst of what they do not understand and these Thoughts indeed are enough to startle a Man of great Resolutionâ—… without a wonderful Support from Above And moreover our Natural Scruples and Infirmities are assisted by the Wits and Phancies of all Ages in their Infamous and Horrid Descriptions of another World Nay taking it for granted that there will be a Reward and Punishment they are yet more affraid of an Annihilation than of Hell it self BUT What is it we fear Oh! 'T is a terrible thing to Dye But is it not better Once to Suffer it than always to Fear it the Earth it self suffers both With me and Before me How many Islands are swallow'd up in the Sea How many Towns do we Sail over Nay How many Nations are wholly Lost either by Inundations or Earthquakes And Shall I be afraid of my little Body Why should I that am sure to Dye and that all other things are Mortal be fearful of coming to my last Gasp my Self It is the Fear of Death that makes us Base and troubles and destroys the Life that we would preserve That Aggravates all Circumstances and makes them Formidable We depend but upon a Flying Moment Dye we must but When VVhat 's that to us It is the Law of Nature the Tribute of Mortals and the Remedy of all Evils 'T is only the Disguise that affrights us as Children that are Terrify'd with a Visor Take away the Instruments of Death the Fire the Axe the Guards the Executioners the VVhips and the VVracks take away the Pomp I say and the Circumstances that accompany it and Death is no more than what my Slave yesterday Contemn'd The Pain is nothing to a Fit of the Stone if it be Tolerable it is not Great and if Intolerable it cannot last long There is nothing that Nature has made Necessary which is more Easie than Death VVe are longer a coming into the VVorld than going out of it and there is not any Minute of our Lives wherein we may not Reasonably Expect it Nay 't is but a Moments VVork the parting of the Soul and Body VVhat a shame is it then to stand in Fear of any thing so Long that is done so Soon NOR is it any great matter to overcome this Fear For we have Examples as well of the meanest of Men as of the greatest that have done it There was a Fellow to be expos'd upon the Theatre who in disdain thrust a Stick down his Own Throat and Chok'd himself And another on the same Occasion pretending to nod upon the Chariot as if he were asleep cast his head betwixt the Spokes of the Wheel and kept his Seat till his Neck was broken Caligula upon a dispute with Canius Iulus do not flatter your self sayes he for I have given Order to put you to Death And I thank your most Gracious Majesty for it sayes Canius giving to understand perhaps that under his Government Death was a Mercy For he knew that Caligula seldome fail'd of being as good as his Word in that Case He was at Play when the Officer carry'd him away to his Execution and beckoning to the Centurion Pray sayes he will you bear me Witness when I am dead and gone that I had the better of the Game He was a Man exceedingly belov'd and lamented And for a Farewell after he had Preach'd Moderation to his Friends You sayes he are here disputing about the Immortality of the Soul and I am now a going to learn the Truth of it If I discover any thing upon that Poynt you shall hear on 't Nay the most Timorous of Creatures when they see there 's no escaping they oppose themselves to all Dangers the Despair gives them Courage and the Necessity overcomes the Fear Socrates was Thirty dayes in Prison after his Sentence and had time enough to have Starv'd himself and so to have prevented the Poyson but he gave the World the Blessing of his Life as long as he could and took that Fatal Draught in the Meditation and Contempt of Death Marcellinus in a Deliberation upon Death call'd several of his Friends about him One was Fearful and Advis'd what he himself would have done in the Case Another gave the Counsel which he thought Marcellinus would like
Demolish'd but the Deity still remaines untouch'd EPIST. XXVII Some Traditions of the Antients concerning Thunder and Lightning with the Authors Contemplations Thereupon THere is no question but that Providence has given to Mortals the Tokens or Fore-runners of things to Come and by those meanes laid open in some measure the Decrees of Fate Only we take Notice of some things without giving any heed to Others There is not any thing done according to the Course of Nature which is not either the Cause or the Sign of something that follows So that wheresoever there is Order there is place for Prediction But there is no judgement to be given upon Accidents Now though it is a very hard matter to arrive at the Fore-Knowledge of things to come and to predict particularly what shall hereafter fall out Upon a Certain Knowledge of the Power and Influences of the Stars It is yet unquestionable that they have a Power though we cannot expresly say what it is In the Subject of Thunder there are several Opinions as to the significations of it The Stoicks hold that because the Cloud is Broken therefore the Bolt is shot according to Common Speech Others Conjecture that the Cloud is broken to that very End that it may discharge the Thunder-Bolt referring all in such sort to God as if the signification did not arise from the thing done but as if the thing it self were done for the signification sake But whether the signification goes before or follows it comes all to the same Point There are Three sorts of Lightning the First is so pure and subtile that it pierces through whatsoever it Encounters The Second Shatters and Breaks every thing to pieces the Other Burns either by Blasting Consuming Inflaming or Discolouring and the like Some Lightnings are Monitory Some are Mâ—…nacing and others they Phansy to be Promising They Allot to Iupiter Three Sorts the First is only Monitory and Gentle which he casts of his own Accord The Second they make to be an Act of Counsel as being done by the Vote and Advice of Twelve Gods This they say does many times some Good but not without some Mischief too As the Destruction of One Man may prove the Caution of another The Third is the Result of a Council of the Superior Deities from whence proceed great Mischiefs both Publick and Private Now this is a great Folly to Imagine that Iupiter would wreak his Displeasure upon Pillars Trees nay upon Temples themselves and yet let the Sacrilegious go Free To strike Sheep and Consume Altars and all this upon a Consultation of the Gods as if he wanted either Skill or Justice to Govern his own Affairs by himself either in Sparing the Guilty oâ—… in Destroying the Innocent Now What should be the Mistery of all this The Wisdom of our Forefathers found it necessary to keep Wicked People in Awe by the Apprehension of a Superior Power And to Fright them into their good Behaviour by the Fear of an Armed and an Avenging Justice over their Heads But How comes it that the Lightning which comes from Iupiter himself should be said to be harmless and That which he casts upon Counsel and Advice to be so Dangerous and Mortal The Moral of it is This. That all Kings should after Iupiters Example do all Good by themselves And when Severity is Necessary permit That to be done by Others Beside that as Crimes are Unequal so also should be the Punishments Neither did they believe That Iupiter to be the Thunderer whose Image was worship'd in the Capitol and in other Places but intended it of the Maker and Governor of the Universe by what Name soever we shall call him Now in truth Iupiter does not Immediately cast the Lightning himself but leaves Nature to her Ordinary Method of Operation so that what he does not Immediately by himself he does yet Cause to be done For whatsoever Nature does God does There may be something gather'd out of all things that are either said or done that a Man may be the better for And he does a greater thing that Masters the Fear of Thunder than he that discovers the Reason of it We are Surrounded and Beset with Ill Accidents and since we cannot avoid the stroke of them let us prepare our selves honestly to bear them But How must that be By the Contempt of Death we do also Contemn all things in the way to it as Wounds Shipwracks the Fury of Wild Beasts or any other violence whatsoeever which at the worst can but part the Soul and the Body And we have this for our Comfort though our Lives are at the Mercy of Fortune she has yet no power over the Dead How many are there that call for Death in the Distress of their Hearts even for the very Fear of it And this Unadvised Desire of Death does in Common affect both the best and the worst of Men only with this Difference the Former Despise Life and the other are Weary of it 'T is a Nauseous thing to serve the Body and to be so many years a doing so many Beastly things over and over It is well if in our Lives we can please Others but whatever we do in our Deaths let us be sure to please our selves Death is a thing which no Care can avoid no Felicity can Tame it no Power Overcome it Other things are Disposed of by Chance and Fortune but Death treats all Men alike The Prosperous must Dye as well as the Unfortunate and methinks the very Despair of overcoming our Fate should inspire us with Courage to Encounter it For there is no Resolution so Obstinate as that which arises from Necessity It makes a Coward as bold as Iulius Caesar though upon different Principles We are all of us reserv'd for Death and as Nature brings forth One Generation she Calls back Another The whole Dispute is about the Time but no body doubts about the Thing it self EPIST. XXVIII A Contemplation of Heaven and Heavenly Things Of God and of the Soul THere is a great Difference betwixt Philosophy and other Arts and a greater yet betwixt That Philosophy it self which is of Divine Contemplation and That which has a regard to things here Below It is much Higher and Braver It takes a Larger Scope and being unsatisfy'd with what it sees it aspires to the Knowledge of something that is Greater and Fairer and which Nature has placed out of our Ken. The One only teaches us what is to be done upon Earth the Other reveales to us That which Actually is done in Heaven The One discusses our Errors and holds the Light to us by which we distinguish in the Ambiguities of Life the Other Surmounts that Darkness which we are wrapt up in and carries us up to the Fountain of Light it self And then it is that we are in a special manner to acknowledge the Infinite Grace and Bounty of the Nature of things when we see it not only where it is Publick
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
having receiv'd more Proofs of his Freedome than of his Flattery This Answer of Seneca's was deliver'd to Caesar in the Presence of Poppaea and Tigellinus the Intimate Confidents of this Barbarous Prince and Nero ask'd him Whether he could gather any thing from Seneca as if he intended to make himself away The Tribunes Answer was That he did not find him one jot mov'd with the Message but that he went on roundly with his Tale and never so much as chang'd Countenance for the matter Go back to him then sayes Nero and tell him That he is Condemn'd to Die Fabius Rusticus delivers it that the Tribune did not return the same way he came but went aside to Fenius a Captain of that Name and told him Caesars Orders asking his Advice whether he should obey them or not who bad him by all means to do as he was Order'd Which want of Resolution was fatal to them all for Silvanus also that was one of the Conspirators assisted now to serve and to increase those Crimes which he had before complotted to revenge And yet he did not think fit to appear himself in the business but sent a Centurion to Seneca to tell him his Doom Seneca without any surprize or disorder calls for his Will which being refus'd him by the Officer he turn'd to his Friends and told them That since he was not permitted to requite them as they deserv'd he was yet at liberty to bequeath them the thing of all others that he esteem'd the most that is the Image of his Life which should give them the Reputation both of Constancy and Friendship if they would but imitate it exhorting them to a firmness of Mind sometimes by Good Counsel otherwhile by Reprehension as the occasion requir'd Where sayes he is all your Philosophy now all your Premeditated Resolutions against the violences of Fortune Is there any Man so Ignorant of Nero's Cruelty as to expect after the Murther of his Mother and his Brother that he should ever spare the Life of his Governor and Tutor After some General Expressions to this Purpose he took his Wife in his Armes and having somewhat fortify'd her against the Present Calamity he besought and conjur'd her to moderate her Sorrows and betake her self to the Contemplations and Comforts of a Virtuous Life which would be a fair and an ample Consolation to her for the loss of her Husband Paulina on the ether side tells him her determination to bear him Company and Wills for the Executioner to do his Office Well sayes Seneca if after the sweetness of Life as I have represented it to thee thou hadst rather entertain an honorable Death I shall not envy thy Example consulting at the same time the Fame of the Person he lov'd and his own tenderness for fear of the Injuries that might attend her when he was gone Our Resolution sayes he in this Generous Act may be equal but thine will be the greater Reputation After this the Veins of both their Armes were open'd at one and the same stroke Seneca did not bleed so freely his spirits being wasted with Age and a thin Diet so that he was forc'd to cut the Veins of his Thighs and elsewhere to hasten his dispatch When he was far spent and almost sinking under his Torments he desir'd his Wife to remove into another Chamber least the Agonyes of the one might work upon the Courage of the other His Eloquence continu'd to the last as appears by the Excellent Things he deliver'd at his Death which being taken in Writing from his own Mouth and publish'd in his own words I shall not presume to deliver them in any other Nero in the mean time who had no particular Spite to Paulina gave Orders to prevent her Death for fear His Cruelty should grow more and more Insupportable and Odious Whereupon the Soldiers gave all freedome and encouragement to her Servants to Bind up her Wounds and stop the Blood which they did accordingly but whether she was sensible of it or not is a Question For among the Common People who are apt to judge the worst there were some of Opinion that as long as she despair'd of Nero's Mercy she seem'd to Court the Glory of dying with her Husband for Company but that upon the likelihood of better Quarter she was prevail'd upon to out-live him And so for some years she did survive him with all Piety and Respect to his Memory but so miserably pale and wan that every body might Read the Loss of her Blood and Spirits in her very Countenance Seneca finding his Death slow and lingering desires Statius Annaeus his old Friend and Physician to give him a Dose of Poyson which he had provided before-hand being the same Preparation which was appointed for Capital Offenders in Athens This was brought him and he drank it up but to little purpose for his Body was already chill'd and bound up against the force of it He went at last into a hot Bath and sprinkling some of his servants that were next him This sayes he is an Oblation to Jupiter the Deliverer The fume of the Bath soon dispatch'd him and his Body was Burnt without any Funeral solemnity as he had directed in his Testament though this Will of his was made in the height of his Prosperity and Power There was a Rumor that Subrius Flavius in a Private consultation with the Centurions had taken up this following Resolution and that Seneca himself was no stranger to it that is to say that after Nero should have been slain by the help of Piso Piso himself should have been kill'd too and the Empire deliver'd up to Seneca as one that well deserv'd it for his Integrity and Virtue BOOKS Printed for and sold by H. Brome since the dreadful Fire of LONDON 1666 to 1677. Divinity BIshop Wilkins of Natural Religion M Cumber's Companion to the Temple being a Paraphrase on the Common Prayer 3 Vol. Bishop Cosen's Devotions Bishop Taylor 's Holy Living and Dying Mr. Fowler 's Design of Christianity Mr. Patrick's Witnesses to Christianity in 2 Vol. His Advice to a Friend Dr. Spark's Devotions on the Feasts and Fasts of the Church Dr. Du Moulin's Prayers Holy Anthems of the Church The Saints Legacies The Reformed Monastry or the Love of Iesus Mr. Farindon's Sermons Bona's Guide to Eternity And his Precepts and Practical Rules for a Christian Life Several Sermons at Court c. Dr. Duport's Three Sermons on May 29. Nov. 5. Ian. 30. Histories The Life of the great Duke of Espernon being the History of the Civil Wars of France beginning 1598. Where D'Avila leaves off and ending in 1642. by Charles Cotton Esq The Commentary of Mr. Blaiz de Montluc the great Favourite of France in which are contained all the Sieges Battels Skirmishes in three Kings Reigns by Charles Cotton Esq Mr. Rycaut's History of Turkie The History of the Three last Grand Seigniors The History of Don Quixot Fol. Bishop Wilkins's Real Character Fol. Bishop
as who should say Well since you will needs have it so I am content to take it Some again so carelesly as if they hardly knew of any such thing whereas we should rather aggravate the matter You cannot Imagine how many you have oblig'd in this Act there never was so great so kind so seasonable a Courtesie Furnius never gain'd so much upon Augustus as by a Speech upon the getting of his Fathers Pardon for siding with Anthony This Grace sayes he is the only Injury that ever Caesar did me for it has put me upon a necessity of Living and Dying Ungrateful 'T is safer to affront some people than to oblige them for the better a Man deserves the worse they 'll speak of him as if the professing of open hatred to their Benefactors were an Argument that they lie under no Obligation Some people are so sour and ill-natur'd that they take it for an Affront to have an Obligation or a Return offer'd them to the discouragement both of Bounty and of Gratitude together The not doing and the not receiving of Benefits are equally a Mistake He that refuses a new one seems to be offended at an old one and yet sometimes I would neither return a Benefit no nor so much as receive it if I might CHAP. XVII Of Gratitude HE that Preaches Gratitude pleads the Cause both of God and Man for without it we can neither be Sociable nor Religious There is a strange delight in the very purpose and Contemplation of it as well as in the Action when I can say to my self I love my Benefactor What is there in this World that I would not do to oblige and serve him Where I have not the Means of a Requital the very Meditation of it is sufficient A Man is nevertheless an Artist for not having his Tools about him or a Musician because he wants his Fiddle Nor is he the less brave because his hands are bound or the worse Pilot for being upon dry Ground If I have only a Will to be Grateful I am so Let me be upon the Wheele or under the hand of the Executioner Let me be burnt Limb by Limb and my whole Body dropping in the Flames a Good Conscience supports me in all Extremes Nay it is comfortable even in Death it self For when we come to approach that point What care do we take to summon and call to mind all our Benefactors and the Good Offices they have done us that we may leave the World fair and set our Minds in Order Without Gratitude we can neither have Security Peace nor Reputation And it is not therefore the less desirable because it draws many Adventitious Benefits along with it Suppose the Sun the Moon and the Stars had no other Business then only to pass over our heads without any effect upon our Minds or Bodies without any regard to our Health Fruits or Seasons a Man could hardly lift up his Eyes toward the Heavens without wonder and veneration to see so many Millions of Radiant Lights and to observe their Courses and Revolutions even without any respect to the Common good of the Universe But when we come to consider that Providence and Nature are still at Work when we Sleep with the admirable Force and Operation of their Influences and Motions we cannot then but acknowledge their Ornament to be the least part of their value and that they are more to be esteem'd for their Virtue than for their Splendor Their main End and Use is matter of Life and Necessity though they may seem to us more considerable for their Majesty and Beauty And so it is with Gratitude we love it rather for Secondary Ends then for it Self NO Man can be Grateful without Contemning those things that put the Common People out of their Wits We must go into Banishment Lay down our Lives Begger and expose our selves to Reproaches Nay it is often seen that Loyalty suffers the Punishment due to Rebellion and that Treason receives the Rewards of Fidelity As the Benefits of it are many and great so are the hazards which is the Case more or less of all other Virtues and it were hard if this above the rest should be both painful and fruitless So that though we may go currently on with it in smooth way we must yet prepare and resolve if need be to force our passage to 't even if the way were cover'd with Thornes and Serpents and fall back fall edge we must be Grateful still Grateful for the Virtue sake and Grateful over and above upon the point of Interest for it preserves old Friends and gains new ones It is not our business to fish for one Benefit with another and by bestowing a little to get more or to oblige for any sort of Expedience but because I ought to do it and because I love it and that to such a degree that if I could not be Grateful without appearing the contrary if I could not return a Benefit without being suspected of doing an Injury in despite of Infamy it self I would yet be Grateful No Man is greater in my esteem than he that ventures the Fame to preserve the Conscience of an honest Man the one is but Imaginary the other Solid and Inestimable I cannot call him Grateful who in the instant of returning one Benefit has his Eye upon another He that is Grateful for Profit or Fear is like a Woman that is honest only upon the Score of Reputation AS Gratitude is a Necessary and a Glorious so is it also an Obvious a Cheap and an Easie Virtue So Obvious that wheresoever there is a Life there is a place for it So Cheap that the Covetous Man may be Grateful without Expense and so Easie that the Sluggard may be so likewise without Labour And yet it is not without its Niceties too for there may be a Time a Place or Occasion wherein I ought not to return a Benefit Nay wherein I may better disown it than deliver it LET it be understood by the way that 't is one thing to be Grateful for a good Office and another thing to Return it the Good Will is enough in one Case being as much as the one side demands and the other promises but the Effect is requisite in the other The Physitian that has done his best is acquitted though the Patient dies and so is the Advocate though the Clyent may lose his Cause The General of an Army though the Battel be lost is yet worthy of Commendation if he has discharg'd all the parts of a prudent Commander In this Case the one acquits himself though the other be never the better for 't He is a Grateful Man that is alwayes willing and ready and he that seeks for all means and occasions of requiting a Benefit though without attaining his end does a great deal more than the Man that without any trouble makes an immediate Return Suppose my Friend a Prisoner and that
fall under Natural Philosophy Arguments under Rational and Actions under Moral Moral Philosophy is again divided into Matter of Iustice which arises from the Estimation of Things and of Men and into Affections and Actions and a failing in any one of these disorders all the rest For What does it profit us to know the true value of things if we be transported by our Passions or to Master our Appetites without understanding the when the what the how and other Circumstances of our Proceedings For it is one thing to Know the Rate and Dignity of things and another to know the little Nicks and Springs of Acting Natural Philosophy is Conversant about things Corporeal and Incorporeal the disquisition of Causes and Effects and the Contemplation of the Cause of Causes Rational Philosophy is divided into Logick and Rhetorick the One looks after Words Sense and Order the Other Treats barely of Words and the Significations of them Socrates places all Philosophy in Moralls and Wisdome in the distinguishing of Good and Evil. It is the Art and Law of Life and it Teaches us what to do in all Cases and like good Markes-men to hit the White at any distance The force of it is incredible for it gives us in the weakness of a Man the security of a Spirit In Sickness it is as good as a Remedy to us for whatsoever eases the Mind is profitable also to the Body The Physitian may prescribe Dyet and Exercise and accommodate his Rule and Medicine to the Disease but 't is Philosophy that must bring us to a Contempt of Death which is the Remedy of all Diseases In Poverty it gives us Riches or such a State of Mind as makes them superfluous to us It armes us against all Difficulties One Man is prest with Death another with Poverty some with Envy others are offended at Providence and unsatisfied with the Condition of Mankind But Philosophy prompts us to relieve the Prisoner the Infirm the Necessitous the Condemn'd to shew the Ignorant their Errors and rectify their Affections It makes us inspect and govern our Manners it rouzes us where we are faint and drouzy it binds up what is loose and humbles in us that which is Contumacious It delivers the Mind from the Bondage of the Body and raises it up to the Contemplation of its Divine Original Honors Monuments and all the works of Vanity and Ambition are demolished and Destroyed by Time but the Reputation of Wisdome is venerable to Posterity and those that were envy'd or neglected in their Lives are ador'd in their Memories and exempted from the very Laws of Created Nature which has set bounds to all other things The very shadow of Glory carries a Man of Honor upon all dangers to the Contempt of Fire and Sword and it were a shame if Right Reason should not inspire as generous Resolutions into a Man of Virtue NEITHER is Philosophy only profitable to the Publick but one Wise Man helps another even in the Exercise of their Virtues and the One has need of the Other both for Conversation and Counsel for they Kindle a mutual Emulation in good Offices We are not so perfect yet but that many new things remain still to be found out which will give us the reciprocal Advantages of Instructing one another For as one Wicked Man is Contagious to another and the more Vices are mingled the worse it is so is it on the Contrary with Good Men and their Virtues As Men of Letters are the most useful and excellent of Friends so are they the best of Subjects as being better Judges of the Blessings they enjoy under a well-order'd Government and of what they owe to the Magistrate for their Freedome and Protection They are Men of Sobriety and Learning and free from Boasting and Insolence they reprove the Vice without Reproaching the Person for they have learn'd to be Wise without either Pomp or Envy That which we see in high Mountains we find in Philosophers they seem taller near hand then at a distance They are rais'd above other Men but their greatness is substantial Nor do they stand upon the Tiptoe that they may seem higher than they are but content with their own stature they reckon themselves tall enough when Fortune cannot reach them Their Laws are short and yet comprehensive too for they bind all IT is the Bounty of Nature that we live but of Philosophy that we live well which is in truth a greater Benefit than Life it self Not but that Philosophy is also the Gift of Heaven so far as to the Faculty but not to the Science for that must be the business of Industry No Man is born Wise but Wisdom and Virtue require a Tutor though we can easily learn to be Vicious without a Master It is Philosophy that gives us a Veneration for God a Charity for our Neighbor that teaches us our Duty to Heaven and exhorts us to an Agreement one with another It unmasks things that are terrible to us asswages our Lusts refutes our Errors restrains our Luxury Reproves our Avarice and Works strangely upon Tender Natures I could never hear Attalus sayes Seneca upon the Vices of the Age and the Errors of Life without a compassion for Mankind and in his discourses upon Poverty there was something me thought that was more than Humane More than we use saies he is more than we need and only a Burthen to the Bearer That saying of his put me out of countenance at the superfluities of my own fortune And so in his Invectives against vain pleasures he did at such a rate advance the felicities of a Sober Table a Pure Mind and a Chast Body that a man could not hear him without a Love for Continence and Moderation Upon these Lectures of his I deny'd my self for a while after certain delicacies that I had formerly used but in a short time I fell to them again though so sparingly that the Proportion came little short of a Total Abstinence NOW to shew you saies our Author how much earnester my entrance upon Philosophy was than my Progress My Tutor Sotion gave me a wonderful kindness for Pythagoras and after him for Sextius The former forbare shedding of Bloud upon his Metempsychosis and put men in fear of it least they should offer violence to the souls of some of their departed friends or relations Whether sayes he there be a Transmigration or not if it be true there 's no hurt in 't if false there 's frugality and nothing's gotten by Cruelty neither but the cozening a Wolfe perhaps or a Vulture of a Supper Now Sextius abstain'd upon another Account which was that he would not have men inur'd to hardness of heart by the Laceration and tormenting of Living Creatures beside that Nature had sufficiently provided for the Sustenance of Mankind without Bloud This wrought so far upon me that I gave over eating of flesh and in one year made it not only easie to me but
where a Man can hardly pass this day for a Croud may be to Morrow a Desart Wherefore let us set before our Eyes the whole Condition of Humane Nature and consider as well what May happen as what commonly Does The way to make future delights Easie to us in the Sufferance is to make them Familiar to us in the Contemplation How many Cities in Asia Achaia Assyria Macedonia have been swallow'd up by Earthquakes Nay whole Countryes are lost and large Provinces lay'd under Water but time brings all things to an end for all the Works of Mortals are Mortal All Possessions and their Possessors are Uncertain and Perishable and What wonder is it to lose any thing at any time when we must one day lose all THAT which we call our Own is but lent us and what we have receiv'd Gratis we must return without Complaint That which Fortune gives us this hour she may take away the next and he that trusts to her Favours shall either find himself deceiv'd or if he be not he will at least be troubled because he may be so There 's no Defence in Walls Fortifications and Engines against the Power of Fortune we must provide our selves within and when we are safe There we are Invincible we may be Batter'd but not Taken She throws her Gifts among us and we Sweat and Scuffle for them Never considering how few are the better for that which is expected by all Some are transported with what they Get Others tormented for what they Miss and many times there 's a Leg or an Arme broken in a Contest for a Counter She gives us Honors Riches Favours only to take them away again either by Violence or Treachery So that they frequently turn to the damage of the Receiver She throws out Baits for us and sets Traps as we do for Birds and Beasts Her Bounties are Snares and Lime-twigs to us we think that we Take but we are Taken If they had any thing in them that were substantial they would some time or other fill and quiet us but they serve only to provoke our Appetite without any thing more than Pomp and Shew to allay it But the best of it is if a Man cannot mend his Fortune he may yet mend his Manners and put himself so far out of her Reach that whether she Gives or Takes it shall be all one to us for we are never the Greater for the One nor the Less for the Other We call this a Dark Room or That a Light One when 't is in it self neither the one nor the other but only as the Day and the Night renders it And so it is in Riches Strength of Body Beauty Honor Command and likewise in Pain Sickness Banishment Death which are in themselves Middle and Indifferent things and only Good or Bad as they are Influenc'd by Virtue To Weep Lament and Groane is to renounce our Duty and it is the same weakness on the other side to Exult and Rejoyce I would rather Make my Fortune than Expect it being neither depress'd with her Injuries nor dazled with her Favours When Zeno was told that all his Goods were drown'd Why then sayes he Fortune has a Mind to make me a Philosopher 'T is a great Matter for a Man to advance his Mind above her Threats or Flatteries for he that has once gotten the Better of her is safe for ever IT is some Comfort yet to the Unfortunate that Great Men lie under the Lash for Company and that Death spares the Palace no more than the Cottage and that whoever is above Me has a Power also above him Do we not daily see Funerals without Trouble Princes depos'd Countries depopulated Towns sack'd without so much as thinking how soon it may be our own Case Whereas if we would but prepare and arme our selves against the Iniquities of Fortune we should never be surpriz'd When we see any Man Banish'd Beggar'd Tortur'd we are to accompt that though the Mischief fell upon another it was levell'd at us What wonder is it if of so many Thousands of dangers that are constantly hovering about us one comes to hit us at last That which befals any Man may befal every Man and then it breaks the force of a Present Calamity to provide against the Future Whatsoever our Lot is we must bear it as suppose it be Contumely Cruelty Fire Sword Pains Diseases or a Prey to wilde Beasts there 's no struggling nor any Remedy but Moderation 'T is to no purpose to bewail any Part of our Life when Life it self is miserable throughout and the whole Flux of it only a Course of transition from one Misfortune to another A Man may as well wonder that he should be cold in Winter Sick at Sea or have his Bones clatter'd together in a Waggon as at the Encounter of Ill Accidents and Crosses in the Passage of Humane Life And it is in vain to run away from Fortune as if there were any Hiding place wherein she could not find us or to expect any Quiet from her for she makes Life a perpetual State of War without so much as any Respite or Truce This we may conclude upon that her Empire is but Imaginary and that whosoever serves her makes himself a voluntary Slave for the things that are often contemn'd by the Inconsiderate and Always by the Wise are in themselves neither Good nor Evil as Pleasure and Pain Prosperity and Adversity which can only operate upon our Outward Condition without any Proper and Necessary Effect upon the Mind CHAP. XI A Sensual Life is a miserable Life THE Sensuality that we here treat of falls naturally under the Head of Luxury which extends to all the Excesses of Gluttony Lust Effeminacy of Manners and in short to whatsoever concerns the over-great Care of the Carkass TO begin now with the Pleasures of the Palate which deal with us like Aegyptian Thieves that strangle those they embrace What shall we say of the Luxury of Nomentanus and Apicius that entertain'd their very Souls in the Kitchin they have the Choicest Musick for their Eares the most diverting Spectacles for their Eyes the Choicest variety of Meats and Drinks for their Palates What is all this I say but a Merry Madness 'T is true they have their Delights but not without Heavy and Anxious Thoughts even in their very Enjoyments beside that they are follow'd with Repentance and their Frolicks are little more than the Laughter of so many people out of their Wits Their Felicities are full of Disquiet and neither Sincere nor well-Grounded but they have need of one Pleasure to support another and of new Prayers to forgive the Errors of their Former Their Life must needs be wretched that Get with great Pains what they Keep with greater One Diversion overtakes another Hope excites Hope Ambition begets Ambition so that they only change the Matter of their Miseries without seeking any End of them and shall never be
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
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
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
only the want of Success has Kept us from being Criminals This very thing methinks should make us more favourable to Delinquents and to forgive not only our selves but the Gods too of whom we seem to have harder thoughts in taking that to be a Particular Evil directed to us that befalls us only by the Common Law of Mortality In fine no Man living can Absolve himself to his Conscience though to the World perhaps he may 'T is true that we are also Condemn'd to Pains and Diseases and to Death too which is no more than the quitting of a Soul house But Why should any Man complain of Bondage that wheresoever he looks has his way open to Liberty That Precipice that Sea that River that Well there 's Freedome in the bottom of it It hangs upon every Crooked Bow and not only a Mans Throte or his Heart but every vein in his Body opens a Passage to 't TO Conclude where my Proper Virtue fails me I will have recourse to Examples and say to my self Am I greater than Philip or Augustus who both of them put up greater Reproches Many have pardon'd their Enemies and shall not I forgive a neglect a little freedome of the Tongue Nay the Patience but of a Second Thought does the business for though the first shock be violent take it in parts and 't is subdu'd And to wind up all in one word The great Lesson of Mandkin as well in this as in all other Cases is to do as he would be done by CHAP. XII Of Cruelty THERE is so near an Affinity betwixt Anger and Cruelty that many People confound them as if Cruelty were only the Execution of Anger in the Payment of a Revenge which holds in some Cases but not in others There are a sort of Men that take delight in the spilling of Humane blood and in the Death of those that never did them any Injury nor were ever so much as suspected for it As Apollodorus Phalaris Sinis Procrustes and others that burnt Men alive whom we cannot so properly call Angry as Brutal For Anger does necessarily presuppose an Injury either Done or Conceiv'd or Fear'd but the other takes Pleasure in Tormenting without so much as pretending any Provocation to 't and kills merely for killing sake The Original of this Cruelty perhaps was Anger which by frequent Exercise and Custome has lost all sence of Humanity and Mercy and they that are thus affected are so far from the Countenance and Appearance of Men in Anger that they will Laugh Rejoyce and Entertain themselves with the most horrid Spectacles as Racks Iails Gibbets several sorts of Chains and Punishments Dilaceration of Members Stigmatizings and Wild Beasts with other exquisite Inventions of Torture And yet at last the Cruelty it self is more Horrid and Odious than the Means by which it works It is a Bestial madness to Love Mischief beside that 't is Womanish to Rage and Tear a Generous Beast will scorn to do 't when he has any thing at his Mercy It is a Vice for Wolves and Tigers and no less Abominable to the World than Dangerous to it self THE Romans had their Morning and their Meridian Spectacles In the Former they had their Combats of Men with Wild Beasts and in the Latter the Men fought One with Another I went sayes our Author the other day to the Meridian Spectacles in hope of Meeting somewhat of Mirth and Diversion to sweeten the humors of those that had been entertain'd with Blood in the Morning But it prov'd otherwise for compar'd with this Inhumanity the former was a Mercy The whole business was only Murther upon Murther the Combatants fought Naked and every Blow was a Wound They do not contend for Victory but for Death and he that kills one Man is to be kill'd by another By Wounds they are forc'd upon Wounds which they Take and Give upon their bare Breasts Burn that Rogue they cry What Is he afraid of his Flesh Do but see how sneakingly that Rascal dies Look to your selves my Masters and consider on 't Who knows but this may come to be your own Case Wicked Examples seldome fail of Coming home at last to the Authors To destroy a Single Man may be Dangerous but to Murther whole Nations is only a more Glorious Wickedness Private Avarice and Rigour are Condemn'd But Oppression when it comes to be Authoriz'd by an Act of State and to be publickly Commanded though particularly Forbidden becomes a Point of Dignity and Honor. What a shame is it for Men to Enterworry one another when yet the fiercest even of Beasts are at peace with those of their own kind This Brutal Fury puts Philosophy it self to a stand The Drunkard the Glutton the Covetous may be reduc'd Nay and the mischief of it is that no Vice keeps it self within its proper Bounds Luxury runs into Avarice and when the Reverence of Virtue is extinguish'd Men will stick at nothing that carryes profit along with it Mans Blood is shed in Wantonness his Death is a Spectacle for Entertainment and his Grones are Musick When Alexander deliver'd up Lysimachus to a Lyon how glad would he have been to have had Nails and Teeth to have devour'd him himself It would have too much derogated he thought from the dignity of his Wrath to have appointed a Man for the Execution of his Friend Private Cruelties 't is true cannot do much Mischief but in Princes they are a War against Mankind C. CAESAR would commonly for Exercise and Pleasure put Senators and Roman Knights to the Torture and Whip several of them like Slaves or put them to Death with the most accurate Torments merely for the satisfaction of his Cruelty That Caesar that wish'd the People of Rome had but one Neck that he might cut it off at one Blow It was the Employment the Study and the Joy of his Life He would not so much as give the Expiring leave to Grone but caus'd their Mouthes to be stopt with Spunges or for want of them with Rags of their own Cloths that they might not breathe out so much as their last Agonies at Liberty Or perhaps least the tormented should speak something which the Tormentor had no mind to hear Nay he was so Impatient of Delay that he would frequently rise from Supper to have Men kill'd by Torch-light as if his Life and Death had depended upon their dispatch before the next morning To say Nothing how many Fathers were put to death by him in the same night with their Sons which was a kind of Mercy in the prevention of their Mourning And was not Sylla's Cruelty prodigious too which was only stopt for want of Enemies He caused 7000 Citizens of Rome to be slaughter'd at once and some of the Senators being startled at their Cryes that were heard into the Senate-house Let us mind our business sayes Sylla This is nothing but a few Mutineers that I have Order'd to be sent out
How Miserable is that Man in Himself who when he has employ'd his Power in Rapines and Cruelty upon Others is yet more Unhappy in himself He stands in Fear both of his Domesticks and of Strangers the Faith of his Friends and the Piety of his Children and flies to Actual Violence to secure him from the Violence he Fears When he comes to look about him and to consider what he Has done what he Must and what he is About to do what with the Wickedness and with the Torments of his Conscience many times he Fears Death Oftner he wishes for 't and lives more Odious to himself than to his Subjects whereas on the Contrary he that takes a Care of the Publick though of One Part more perhaps than of Another yet there is not Any Part of it but he looks upon as Part of Himself His Mind is Tender and Gentle and even where Punishment is Necessary and Profitable he comes to it Unwillingly and without any Rancor or Enmity in his heart Let the Authority in fine be what it will Clemency becomes it and the Greater the Power the greater is the Glory of it It is a truly Royal Virtue for a Prince to deliver his People from Other Mens Anger and not to Oppress them with his Own The End SENECA'S MORALS The Third and Last Part. Digested into XXVIII EPISTLES By ROGER L'ESTRANGE LONDON Printed by Tho. Newcomb for Henry Brome at the Gun in S t Pauls Church-yard MDCLXXVIII THE Contents Epist. I. CErtain General Directions for the Government of the Voice as in speaking Soft or Loud Quick or Slow The Speech is the Index of the Mind Pag. 1. Epist. II. Of Stiles Compositions and the Choice of Words That 's the Best way of Writing and Speaking which is Free and Natural Advice concerning Reading p. 6. Epist. III. Against all sorts of Affectation in Discourse Phantastical Studies Impertinent and Unprofitable Subtilties Mans Business is Virtue not Words p. 16. Epist. IV. Business and want of Newes are no Excuse among Friends for not Writing Wise Men are the better for one another How far Wisdom may be advanc'd by Precept p. 26. Epist. V. Seneca gives an Accompt of Himself his Studies and of his Inclinations With many Excellent Reflections upon the Duties and the Errors of Humane Life p. 37. Epist. VI. The Blessings of a Virtuous Retirement How we come to the Knowledge of Virtue A Distinction betwixt Good and Honest. A Wise Man Contents himself with his Lot p. 49. Epist. VII Of Impertinent Studies and Impertinent Men. Philosophers the Best Companions p. 60. Epist. VIII Against Singularity of Manners and Behaviour p. 67. Epist. IX The Blessings of a Vigorous Mind in a Decay'd Body With some Pertinent Reflections of Seneca upon his Own Age. p. 72. Epist. X. Custome is a Great Matter either in Good or Ill. We should check our Passions Betimes Involuntary Motions are Invincible p. 78. Epist. XI We are Divided in our Selves and Confound Good and Evil. p. 84. Epist. XII We are mov'd at the Novelty of things for want of Understanding the Reason of them p. 92. Epist. XIII Every Man is the Artisicer of his Own Fortune Of Justice and Injustice p. 97. Epist. XIV Of Trust in Friendship Prayer and Bodily Exercise p. 102. Epist. XV. The Danger of Flattery and in what Cases a Man may be allow'd to Commend Himself p. 108. Epist. XVI A General Dissolution of Manners With a Censure of Corrupt Magistrates p. 114. Epist. XVII The Original of All Men is the Same And Virtue is the Only Nobility There is a Tenderness due to Servants p. 121. Epist. XVIII We are Juster to Men than to God Of Life and Death Of Good and Evil. p. 127. Epist. XIX Of True Courage p. 137. Epist. XX. 'T is Never too Late to Learn The Advantages of a Private Life and the Slavery of a Publick The Ends of Punishment p. 143. Epist. XXI The Two Blessings of Life are a Sound Body and a Quiet Mind The Extravagance of the Roman Luxury The Moderation and Simplicity of Former Times p. 152. Epist. XXII Man is Compounded of Soul and Body And has Naturally a Civil War within Himself The Difference betwixt a Life of Virtue and a Life of Pleasure p. 161. Epist. XXIII We abuse Gods Blessings and turn them into Mischiefs Meditations upon the Horrors of Earthquakes and Consolations against them Death is the same thing which way soever it comes Only we are more mov'd by Accidents that we are not us'd to p. 167. Epist. XXIV A Discourse of Gods Providence in the Misfortunes of Good Men in this World and in the Prosperity of the Wicked p. 178. Epist. XXV A Wise and a Good Man is Proof against all Accidents Of Fate p. 189. Epist. XXVI All things are Produced out of Cause and Matter Of Providence A Brave Man is a Match for Fortune p. 197. Epist. XXVII Some Traditions of the Antients concerning Thunder and Lightning with the Authors Contemplations Thereupon p. 204. Epist. XXVIII A Contemplation of Heaven and Heavenly Things Of God and of the Soul p. 211. Epistles EPIST. I. Certain General Directions for the Government of the Voice as in speaking Soft or Loud Quick or Slow The Speech is the Index of the Mind YOu say well that in Speaking the very Ordering of the Voice to say nothing of the Actions Countenances and other Circumstances that accompany it is a Consideration worthy of a Wise Man There are that prescribe Certain Modes of Rising and Falling Nay if you will be govern'd by Them you shall not speak a word move a step or eat a Bit but by a Rule And these perhaps are too Critical Do not understand me yet as if I made no Difference betwixt entring upon a Discourse Loud or Soft for the Affections do Naturally Rise by Degrees and in all Disputes or Pleadings whether Publick or Private a Man should properly Begin with Modesty and Temper and so Advance by little and little if need be into Clamor and Vociferation And as the Voice Rises by Degrees let it fall so too not Snapping off upon a sudden but Abating as upon Moderation The other is Unmannerly and Rude He that has a Precipitate speech is commonly violent in his Manners Beside that there is in it much of Vanity and Emptyness and no Man takes satisfaction in a Flux of Words without Choice where the Noise is more than the Value Fabian was a Man Eminent both for his Life and Learning and no less for his Eloquence His Speech was rather Easie and Sliding than Quick Which he accompted to be not only Lyable to many Errors but to a Suspicion of Immodesty Nay let a Man have Words never so much at Will he will no more speak Fast than he will Run for fear his Tongue should go before his Wit The Speech of a Philosopher should be like his Life Compos'd without Pressing or Stumbling which is fitter for a Mountebank than a
are brought up only to Carve others to Season and all to serve the Turns of Pomp and Luxury Is it not a Barbarous Custome to make it almost Capital for a Servant only to Cough Sneeze Sigh or but wag his Lips while he is in waiting and to keep him the whole Night Mute and Fasting Yet so it comes to pass that they that dare not speak Before their Masters will not forbear talking Of them and those on the other side that were allow'd a modest Freedom of Speech in their Masters Entertainments were most obstinately silent upon the Torture rather than they would betray them But we live as if a Servant were not made of the same Materials with his Master or to Breath the same Ayr or to Live and Dye under the Same Conditions It is worthy of Observation that the most Imperious Masters over their own Servants are at the same time the most Abject Slaves to the Servants of other Masters I will not distinguish a Servant by his Office but by his Manners The One is the work of Fortune the Other of Virtue But we look only to his Quality and not to his Merit Why should not a Brave Action rather Dignify the Condition of a Servant than the Condition of a Servant Lessen a Brave Action I would not value a Man for his Cloaths or Degree any more than I would do a Horse for his Trappings What if he be a Servant shew me any Man that is not so to his Lusts his Avarice his Ambition his Palate to his Quean nay to other Mens Servants and we are all of us Servants to Fear Insolent we are many of us at Home Servile and Despised Abroad and none are more Liable to be trampled upon than those that have gotten a habit of Giving Affronts by Suffering them What matters it how many Masters we have When 't is but One Slavery And whosoever Contemns That is perfectly Free let his Masters be never so Many That Man is only Free not whom Fortune has a Little Power over but over whom she has none at all Which State of Liberty is an Inestimable Good when we desire Nothing that is either Superfluous or Vitious They are Asses that are made for Burthen and not the Nobler sort of Horses In the Civil Wars betwixt Caesar and Pompey the Question was not who should be Slaves or Free but who should be Master Ambition is the same thing in Private that it is in Publick and the Duties are Effectually the same betwixt the Master of a Kingdom and the Master of a Family As I would treat some Servants kindly Because they are Worthy and Others to make them so so on the Other side I would have a Servant to Reverence his Master and rather to Love him than Fear him Some there are that think this too little for a Master though it is all that we pay even to God himself The Body of a servant may be bought and sold but his Mind is Free EPIST. XVIII We are Iuster to Men than to God Of Life and Death of Good and Evil. IT is without Dispute that the Loss of a Friend is one of the greatest Tryals of Humane Frailty and no Man is so much exalted above the sense of that Calamity as not to be affected with it And yet if a Man bears it Bravely they cry he has no Sense of Piety or Good Nature in him if he sink under it they call him Effeminate so that he lies both wayes under a Reproach But What 's the Ground of your Trouble I beseech you but that he might have Liv'd Longer in respect of his years and in effect that he ought to have done so in regard of his Usefulness to the World I cannot but wonder to see that a Person so Just and so Temperate in all his Dealings with Men and in Business should so exceedingly forget himself in This Point But you have in Excuse of this Error the Failings of the whole VVorld with you for Company For even those that are the most scrupulously Consciencious toward Men are yet Unthankful and Injurious to Providence It is not the Number of Dayes that makes a Life Long but the Full Employment of them upon the main End and Purpose of Life which is the Perfecting of the Mind in making a Man the Absolute Master of Himself Ireckon the Matter of Age among External things the main point is to Live and Die with Honor. Every Man that Lives is upon the way and must go through with his Journy without stopping till he comes at the End And wheresoever it ends if it ends well it is a Perfect Life There is an Invincible Fate that attends all Mortals and one Generation is condemn'd to tread upon the Heels of another Take away from Life the Power of Death and 't is a slavery As Caligula was passing upon the way an Old man that was a Prisoner and with a Beard down to his Girdle made it his request to Caesar that he might be put to death Why sayes Caesar to him are you not dead already So that you see Some Desire it as well as others Fear it And why not When it is one of the Duties of Life to Dye And it is one of the Comforts of it too For the Living are under the Power of Fortune but she has no Dominion at all over the Dead How can Life be Pleasant to any Man that is not prepar'd to part with it Or what Loss can be easier to us than that which can never be Miss'd or Desir'd again I was brought by a Defluxion into a hopeless Consumption and I had it many times in my Thought to Deliver my self from a Miserable Life by a Violent Death But the Tenderness I had for an Aged and Indulgent Father held my hand for thought I to my self it will be very hard for my Father to be without me though I could most willingly part with my self In the Case of a Particular Disease a Physitian may propound a Remedy but the onely Remedy for all Diseases is the Contempt of Death Though I know too that it is the business of a Long Life to Learn That Lesson Oh! The Happiness of distinguishing Good from Evil in the Works of Providence But in stead of raising our Thoughts to the Contemplation of Divine Matters and enquiring into the Original the State and the Appointed Issue of Created Nature we are digging of the Earth and serving of our Avarice Neglecting all the good things that are so frankly offer'd us How great a Folly and Madness is it for Men that are Dying and in the hands of Death already to extend their Hopes and to carry their Ambition and Desires to the Grave Unsatisfy'd For whosoever is tainted with those Hydroptick Appetites can never have enough either of Mony or Power It is a Remarkable thing that among those that place their Happiness in Sense they are the most miserable that seem to be happiest The Riches
of Nature are the most precious Treasures What has any Man to desire more than to keep himself from Cold Hunger and Thirst It is not the Quantity but the Opinion that Governs in this Case That can never be Little which is Enough Nor does any Man accompt That to be Much which is too Little The Benefits of Fortune are so far Comfortable to us as we enjoy them without losing the Possession of our selves Let us Purge our Minds and follow Nature we shall otherwise be still either Fearing or Craving and Slaves to Accidents Not that there is any Pleasure in Poverty but it is a great Felicity for a Man to bring his Mind to be contented even in That State which Fortune it self cannot make worse Methinks our Quarrels with Ambition and Profitable Employments are somewhat like those we have with our Mistresses we do not Hate them but Wrangle with them In a word betwixt those things which are Sought and Coveted and yet Complain'd of and those things which we have Lost and pretend that we cannot live without our Misfortunes are purely Voluntary and we are Servants not so much by Necessity as by Choice No Man can be Happy that is not Free and Fearless And no Man can be so but he that by Philosophy has got the better of Fortune In what Place soever we are we shall find our selves beset with the Miseries of Humane Nature Some Without us that either Encompass us Deceive us or Force us Others Within us that eat up our very Hearts in the Middle of Solitude And it is not yet as we imagine that Fortune has Long Armes She meddles with no body that does not first lay hold upon Her We should keep a Distance therefore and withdraw into the Knowledge of Nature and of our Selves We Understand the Original of things the Order of the World the Circulation of the Seasons the Courses of the Stars and that the whole Frame of the Universe only the Earth excepted is but a Perpetual Motion We know the Causes of Day and Night of Light and of Darkness but it is at a distance Let us direct our Thoughts then to That Place where we shall see all nearer Hand And it is not This Hope neither that makes a Wise Man Resolute at the Point of Death because Death lies in his way to Heaven For the Soul of a Wise Man is there before-hand Nay if there were nothing after Death to be either Expected or Fear'd he would yet leave this World with as great a Mind though he were to pass into a State of Annihilation He that reckons every hour his Last a Day or an Age is all one to him Fate is doing our Work while we Sleep Death steales upon us Insensibly and the more Insensibly because it passes under the name of Life From Childhood we grow up without perceiving it to Old Age and this Encrease of our Life duely consider'd is a Diminution of it We take Death to be Before us but it is Behind us and has already swallow'd up all that is past Wherefore make use of the Present and trust nothing to the Morrow for Delay is just so much time lost We catch hold of Hopes and Flatteries of a little longer Life as Drowning Men do upon Thorns or Straws that either Hurt us or Deceive us You will ask perhaps what I do my Self that Preach at this Rate Truely I do like some ill Husbands that spend their Estates and yet keep their Accompts I run out but yet I can tell which way it goes And I have the Fate of Ill Husbands too another way for every Body Pitties me and no Body Helps me The Soul is never in the Right place so long as it fears to quit the Body Why should a Man trouble himself to extend Life which at Best is a kind of Punishment And at Longest amounts to very little more than Nothing He is Ungrateful that takes the Period of Pleasure for an Injury and he is Foolish that knows no Good but the Present Nay there are some Courses of Life which a Man ought to quit though with Life it self As the Trade of Killing Others in stead of Learning to Dye Himself Life it self is neither Good nor Evil but only a Place for Good and Evil. It is a kind of Trage-Comedy Let it be well Acted and no matter whether it be Long or Short We are apt to be missed by the Appearances of things and when they come to us recommended in Good Terms and by Great Example they will impose many times upon very Wise Men. The Mind is never Right but when it is at peace within it self and Independent upon any thing from Abroad The Soul is in Heaven even while it is in the Flesh if it be purg'd of Natural Corruptions and taken up with Divine Thoughts And whether any body sees us or takes notice of us it matters not Virtue will of it self break forth though never so much pains be taken to suppress it And it is all one whether it be known or no But After Ages however will do us Right when we are Dead and Insensible of the Veneration they allow us He that is wise will compute the Conditions of Humanity and contract the Subject both of his Joyes and Fears And it is time well spent so to Abate of the One that he may likewise Diminish the Other By this Practice he will come to understand how short how uncertain and how safe many of those things are which we are wont to Fear When I see a Splendid House or a glittering Train I look upon it as I do upon Courts which are only the Schools of Avarice and Ambition and they are at best but a Pompe which is more for Shew than Possession Beside that Great Goods are seldome Long-liv'd and That is the Fairest Felicity which is of the shortest Growth EPIST. XIX Of True Courage FOrtitude is properly the Contempt of all Hazards according to Reason though it be commonly and promiscuously used also for a Contempt of all Hazards even Without or Against Rea-Reason Which is rather a Daring and a Brutal Fierceness than an Honorable Courage A Brave Man fears Nothing more than the Weakness of being affected with Popular Glory His Eyes are not Dazled either with Gold or Steel he tramples upon all the Terrors and Glories of Fortune he looks upon himself as a Citizen and Soldier of the World and in despite of all Accidents and Oppositions he maintains his Station He does not only Suffer but Court the most Perilous Occasions of Virtue and those Adventures which are most Terrible to Others for he values himself upon Experiment and is more Ambitious of being reputed Good than Happy Mucius Lost his hand with more Honor than he could have Preserv'd it He was a greater Conqueror Without it than he could have been With it For with the very Stump of it he overcame two Kings Tarquin and Porsenna Rutilia follow'd Cotta into