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	flesh_n	life_n	6,515	5	4.6902	4	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A03771	Examen de ingenios. = The examination of mens vvits In whicch [sic], by discouering the varietie of natures, is shewed for what profession each one is apt, and how far he shall profit therein. By Iohn Huarte. Translated out of the Spanish tongue by M. Camillo Camili. Englished out of his Italian, by R.C. Esquire.; Examen de ingenios. English	Huarte, Juan, 1529?-1588.; Carew, Richard, 1555-1620.	1594 (1594)	STC 13890; ESTC S118803	216,544	356

knowne is a worke of the imagination as to write and returne to read it is a worke of the Scriuener and not of the paper Whereby it falleth out that the memorie remayneth a power passiue and not actiue euen as the blew and the white of the paper is none other than a commoditie whereby to write To the fourth doubt may be answered That it maketh little to the purpose as touching the wit whether the flesh be hard or tender if the braine partake not also the same qualitie the which we see many times hath a distinct temperature from al the other parts of the body But when they concur in one selfe tendernesse it is an euill token for the vnderstanding and no lesse for the imagination And if we consider the flesh of women and children we shall find that in tendernesse it excee deth that of men and this notwithstanding commonly men haue a better wit than women and the naturall reason heereof is For that the humours which make the flesh tender are fleagme and bloud because they are both moist as we haue aboue specified and of them Galen said That they make men simple dullards and contrariwise the humours which harden the flesh are choler and melancholie and hence grow the prudence and sapience which are found in man In sort that it is rather an ill token to haue the flesh tender than drie and hard And so in men who haue an equall temperature throughout their whole bodie it is an easie matter to gather the qualitie of their wit by the tendernesse or hardnes of their flesh For if it be hard rough it giueth token either of a good vnderstanding or a good imagination and if smooth and supple of the contrary namely of good memory and small vnderstanding and lesse imagination and to vnderstand whether the brain haue correspondence it behooueth to consider the haire which being big blacke rough and thicke yeeldeth token of a good imagination or a good vnderstanding and if soft and smooth they are a signe of much memorie and nothing els But who so will distinguish and know whether the same be vnderstanding or imagination when the haire is of this sort it must be considered of what forme the childe is in the act of laughter for this passion discouereth much of what qualitie he is in the imagination What the reason and cause of laughter should be many Philosophers haue laboured to conceiue and none of them hath deliuered ought that may well be vnderstood but all agree that the bloud is an humour which prouoketh a man to laugh albeit none expresse with what qualitie this humour is indewed more than the rest why it should make a man addicted to laughter The follies which are committed with laughing are lesse dangerous but those which are done with labour are more perillous as if he should say When the diseased become giddie and doting do laugh they rest in more safetie than if they were in toyle and anguish for the former commeth of bloud which is a most mild humour and the second of melancholie but we grounding vpon the doctrine whereof we intreat shall easily vnderstand all that which in this case may be desired to be knowen The cause of laughter in my iudgement is nought els but an approouing which is made by the imagination seeing or hearing somewhat done or said which accordeth very well and this power remaineth in the braine when any of these things giue it contentment sodainly it mooueth the same and after it all the muscles of the body and so manie times we do allow of wittie sayings by bowing downe of the head When then the imagination is verie good it contents not it selfe with euery speech but onely with those which please verie well and if they haue some litle correspondence and nothing els the same receiueth thereby rather paine than gladnesse Hence it groweth that men of great imagination laugh verie seldome and the point most worthie of noting is that ieasters and naturall counterfeiters neuer laugh at their own meriments nor at that which they heare others to vtter for they haue an imagination so delicat that not euen their own pleasanteries can yeeld that correspondence which they require Heereto may be added that merimentes besides that they must haue a good proportion and be vttered to the purpose must be new and not to fore heard or seene And this is the propertie not onely of the imagination but also of all the other powers which gouerne man for which cause we see that the stomacke when it hath twise fed vpon one kinde of meate straightwaies loatheth the same so doth the sight one selfe shape and colour the hearing one concordance how good soeuer and the vnderstanding one selfe contemplation Hence also it proceedeth that the pleasant conceited man laugheth not at the ieastes which himselfe vttereth for before he send them forth from his lips he knew what he would speake Whence I conclude that those who laugh much are all defectiue in their imagination where-through whatsoeuer merriment pleasanterie how cold soeuer with them carrieth a verie good correspondencie And because the bloud pertaketh much moisture wherof we said before that it breedeth dammage to the imagination those who are very sanguine are also great laughers Moisture holdeth this propertie that because the same is tender and gentle it abateth the force of heate and makes that it burne not ouermuch For which cause it partakes better agreement with drinesse because it sharpneth his operations Besides this where there is much moisture it is a signe that the heat is remisse seeing it cannot resolue nor consume the same and the imagination cannot performe his operations with a heate so weake Hence we gather also that men of great vnderstanding are much giuen to laughter for that they haue defect of imagination as we read of that great Philosopher Democritus and many others whom my selfe haue seene and noted Then by meanes of this laughter we shall know if that which men or boyes haue of flesh hard and tough and of haire blacke thicke hard and rough betoken either the imagination or the vnderstanding In sort that Aristotle in this doctrine was somwhat out of the way To the fifth argument we answer that there are two kindes of moisture in the braine one which groweth of the aire when this element predominateth in the mixture and another of the water with which the other elements are amassed If the braine be tender by the first moisture the memory shall be verie good easie to receiue and mightie to reteine the figures for a long time For the moisture of the aire is verie supple and full of fatnesse on which the shapes are tacked with sure hold-fast as we see in pictures which are lymned in oyle who being set against the sunne and the water receiue thereby no dammage at all and if we cast oyle vpon any writing it will neuer be wiped out but marreth the same

also to eat to drinke and to sleepe and if a will take him to send foorth anie excrement he dares not say it or do it but with cumber shamefastnesse and so gets him to some secret place out of sight Yea we find men so shamefast as though they haue a great will to make water yet cannot do it if any looke vpon them whereas if we leaue them alone straight-waies the vrine taketh his issue And these are the appetites to send foorth the superfluous things of the body which if they were not effected men should die and that much sooner than with forbearing meat or drink And if there be any saith Hippocrates who speaketh or actuateth this in the presence of another he is not maister of his sound iudgement Galen affirmeth that the seed holdeth the semblable proportion with the seed-vessels as the vrine doth with the bladder for as much vrine annoieth the bladder so much seed endammageth the seed vessels And the opinion which Aristotle held in denieng that man and woman incur no infirmitie or death by retaining of seed is contrarie to the iudgement of all Phisitions and especially of Galen who saith and auoucheth that many women remaining widowes in their youth haue therthrough lost their sense motion breathing and finally their life And the selfe Aristotle reckoneth vp many diseases whereunto continēt persons are subiect in that behalfe The true answer of this probleme cannot be yeelded in naturall Philosophie because it is not marshalled vnder her iurisdiction for it behooueth to passe to an higher namely Metaphisicke wherein Aristotle saith that the reasonable soule is the lowest of all the intelligences and for that it partaketh of the same generall nature with the Angels it shameth to behold it selfe placed in a body which hath fellowship with brute beasts wherethrough the diuine scripture noteth it as a mysterie that the first man being naked was not ashamed but so soone as he saw himselfe to be so forthwith he got a couering At which time he knew that through his owne fault he had lost immortality and that his body was become subiect to alteration and corruption and those instruments and parts giuen him for that of necessitie he must die and leaue an other in his roome and that to preserue himselfe in life that small space which rested it behooued him to eat and drinke and to expell those noisome and corrupt excrements And principally he shamed seeing that the Angels with whom he had competence were immortall and stood not in need of eating drinking or sleeping for preseruation of their life neither had the instruments of generation but were created all at once without matter and without feare of corrupting Of all these points were the eies and the eares naturally done to ware Wherethrough the reasonable soule groweth displeased and ashamed that these things giuen man to make him mortall and corruptible are thus brought to his memory And that this is a well fitting answere we euidently perceiue for God to content the soule after the vniuersall iudgement and to bestow vpon him intire glory will cause that his body shall partake the properties of an Angell bestowing therupon subtlenesse lightnesse immortalitie and brightnesse for which reason he shal not stand in need to eat or drink as the brute beasts And when men shall thus-wise dwell in heauen they will not shame to behold themselues clothed with flesh euen as Christ our redeemer and his mother nothing shamed thereat But it will breed an accidentall glory to see that the vse of those parts which were wont to offend the hearing and the eies is now surceased I therefore making due reckoning of this naturall modestie of the eare haue endeuoured to salue the hard and rough termes of this matter and to fetch certain not ill pleasing biasses of speech and where I cannot throughly performe it the honest reader shall affoord me pardon For to reduce to a perfect maner the art which must be obserued to the end men may proue of rare capacities is one of the things most requisit for the common-wealth Besides that by the same reason they shal proue vertuous prompt sound and long lyued I haue thought good to seuer the matter of this chapter into foure principall parts that thereby I may make plaine what shalbe deliuered and that the reader may not rest in confusion The first is to shew the naturall qualities and temperature which man woman ought to possesse to the end they may vse generation The second what diligence the parents ought to employ that their children may be male and not female The third how they may become wise and not fooles The fourth how they are to be dealt withall after their birth for preseruation of their wit To come then to the first point we haue alreadie alleaged that Plato laieth downe how in a well ordered common-wealth there ought to be assigned certain surueiors of marriages who by art might skill to looke into the qualities of the persons that are to be married and to giue ech one the wife which answereth him in proportion to euery wife her cōuenient husband In which matter Hippocrates and Galen began to take some pains and prescribed certain precepts and rules to know what woman is fruitful and who can beare no children and what man is vnable for generation and who able and likely to beget issue But touching all this they vttered verie little and that not with such distinction as was behooffull at least for the purpose which I haue in hand Therefore it falleth out necessarie to begin the art euen from his principles and briefly to giue the same his due order and concert that we so may make plaine and apparant from what vnion of parents wise children issue and from what fools and do-noughts To which end it behooueth first to know a particular point of Philosophy which although in regard of the practises of the art it be verie manifest and true yet the vulgar make little reake therof And from the notice of this dependeth all that which as touching this first point is to be deliuered and that is that man though it seem otherwise in the composition which we see is different from a woman in nought els saith Galen than only in hauing his genitall members without his body For if we make anotomie of a woman we shall find that she hath within her two stones two vessels for seed and her belly of the same frame as a mans member without that any one part is therin wanting And this is so very true that if when nature hath finished to forme a man in all perfection she would conuert him into a woman there needeth nought els to be done saue only to turne his instruments of generation inwards And if she haue shaped a woman and would make a man of her by taking forth her belly and her cods it would quickly be performed This hath chanced many times in