not Cato dyed in the defence of his country and common wealth his fame had dyed with his body thus are the actions of the worlde full of dangers without iudgement of destruction But come to the managing of a state with iudgement thou canst not be throwne what though thou seest examples of ingratitude of dangers of death these in iudgement thou seest rather terrours then dangers thy end is to doe good and these letter resisted innobles thy intendement my country gaue me life it is my duety to giue it her againe but what is life in respect of vertue alas too meane a purchase I haue a soule whose perfection rests in resisting the childish opinions of the body and that soule knowes it is ignominious to deny a publike good for a priuate perill no vertue comes to vs pleasingly but after come pleaseth it is vices baite to seeme sweet at the first tast the coÌ„tinuance is the vertue which shews her the child of eternity safenes entertaining pleasure demonstrates mortality dust It is not danger with iudgement what the world calles danger the losse of vertue not of life is vnhappines then for our country all our endeuours should bend not because honor and promotion goeth that way but because it is one of the lessons of vertue we must not looke after danger and corruption but after the purity of vertue had Caesar died when his conquestes and gouernement of the Gaules made his Countrye hould him a true seruant how much more cleere and shining had he left his memory then it is now with his perpetuall dictatorship what might haue beene vertue is now polluted with ambition and all those vertues that without this might haue beene called fortitude temperance liberallity and pacience are now not these but counterfaites of this he was not but seemed vertuous for vnspotted uertue calles none vertuous that haue any other end but her selfe howsoeuer the grosnesse of our sight vsed rather to colours then truth would perswade vertue to put one a more mixt body yet thus is vertue and thus she may be brought acquainted with our soules though our vile bodily composition cannot comprehend her none can tell but they that haue felt the many conflicts the soule indures with the body whose impurity not tasting the purities of vertue drawes the naturall well inclined parts of the minde into the vnnaturall naturall affections of the body In this Caesar questionlesse were more many graces had they not beene disgraced with conuerting the sweete abilities of his soule to the bodies gaine Bâ—â— thus a young experience may produce many examples where the abouÌ„dance of vertues reward ouerwaying men hath sunck them for the eyes tonge of the worst haue this inforced instinct though they do not well yet must they praise well doers and in the middest of thereill exalt vertue I thinke Caesar meant well to his common wealth so long as his common wealth was his maister but declined when their power declined to his will thus betweene too much and too little wauers the life of man no reward makes him desperate too much ambitious but iudgement swimmes betweene these and neuer touches any of these extremities she labours for vertue noâ— power she runnes without the stopâ— eyther of feare or couetousnes I wonder at this infection of greatnes that it can so blind vertue thinkes no further then death the reasons to ouerthrow tâ—is theft will shew them reasonlesse that affect it neither in number proportion nor quality can one equall thousands what reason is there then hee should be preferred before them there is iustice against it one cannot withstand thousands there is safety against it and could hee wante danger yet he that wantes not guiltinesse is neuer without the torments of feare and suspition Ne vitima quidem sortis homiâ—um conspiratione periculo caruit as hee is a man he wantes them not but beeing an ill man are they not increased and fame the roabe of greatnesse is it not ouer-throwne by this Yes who seeth not that the best priuate performance answeres not a meane publike a greate deale of petill and paines of a priuate souldier ranckes not in mens mouthes with a generalls but comming within shotte the least mannaged Duello carries not the grace of the hauing but beene at a skirmishe of small moment hee that dooth but for himselfe though hee doe well yet it is no woonder it may bee mentioned perhaps in a ballad neuer in an historie Fame is not so light as to saile with a small gale it must be a winde of force that mooues her sayles which neuer is so forcible as when a good action is good for all But Caesar robde the worlde brought all the proffits of his common-wealth to be his onely of which that it was in-iustice all sees that it was daungerous he felte and for fame the spirite of his actions are commended the disposing of them because not hurtfull vnto vs not exclaymde agaynst but aske Iudgement and surelye hee will condemne him for killing vertue which ambition if after death we behold them impartially who would not choose to be Camillus the sauer of his countrey rather then Caesar the destroyer of his countrie how warme and cherishing to the soule are actions like Camillus is what a sweetenesse comes from the ayre of such a meditation when the other feeles as much cruelty inwardly as he effects outwardly and byes a beautifull out side with the tortures of his hart That corrupt speach of Caesars vpon Scilla Scillam nesciuisse literas qui Dictaturam deposuerit Had Scilla out liued Caesar how well might he haue mocked his greedy body when in spite of it greatnesse it lay intangled and liuelesse in the Senate Scilla saw this and eschewed it Caesar marked his iudgement and found to late there was wisedome in moderating power But all this saues not greatnesse all are tempted many yeeld few hould out wee vse power commonly as meate not nourishing ourselues but surfetting to please our tast we ouerlaye our stomackes thus we abuse the preciousnesse of things that it needes no wonder though there be a frailty and weaknesse in what we are and haue for we pull it vpon them and vs with abusing all this is the oddes and preciousnesse of greatnesse ouer meaner fortunes that by their greatnesse they may doe more good vertue in lowe states lies buryed in high it standes a lost poore men may thinke well but ritch men both thinke and doe well here is all greatnesse hath no other circuit no other ought be his end for power is giuen him by the incomprehensible greatnesse compared to whome his is leste then nothing to no other ende that he hath then to support the weaknesse of mens fortunes and vnderstanding head to dispatch it not that he hath a body to consume is his desert power is not to do wrong but to punish doâ—ers of wrong and wealth I should holde a burthensome companion were
daungerous by knowledge thou knowest it is dangerous and knowledge will teache thee to intertaine it with resistance or patience how so euer she giueth thee the victorie for patience is inuincible conquering when resistance is conquered he is not ouercome whose discourse resolution can say with Vlisses Hoc quoque câ—r perfer namque hoc grauiora tulistâ— As in this so in all things knowledge like the sunne kills feare and darkenesse makes the foundation where she is the sement not to be shaken nor stirred by the stormes of the worlde As his sight is cleere so are his steppes right no apparition nor colour distractes him neither with ioye nor sorrowe that childe of the Phancie appetite in beasts it is called appetite but in maÌ„ it is termed his wil a word of command which authoritie is giuen him for knowledges sake who knowes what to will for otherwise did he appetite without knowledges couÌ„sell it should be appetite in men as wel as in beasts What should man will theÌ„ but knowledge by this wil is made pretious when he goeth from this he goeth to beasts it is appetite from whom pull but the paintings of the worlde and it is like a tyrants pompe Detrahit is qui superbis Vani tegmina cultus I am videbit intus arctas Dominos ferre catenas How admirable is this vertue which gouernes here so wisely as no shot nor tempest of the world can batter her how lasting is this vertue so embalming our actions as time cannot ruine them sloath sensualitie are drownd in a few yeares but knowledge her effects are immortall In historie and other relations euery head can determine of vertue and vice let our heads make vs do this for our selues let vs impartially see how often times we haue stumbled for want of this light if we come to this sight we shall come to more for this examination is the way of light without this Homo homini dominus non est sed mors vita voluptas dolor but with this with Socrates Me quidem Anitus Melitus occidere possunt laedere non possunt Fortune the world or all that is in the world with this armour is vanquished for knowledge saith of Fortune Fortuna vitrea est quae cum splendet frangitur of the world Homines perturbantur non rebus sedijs quas de rebus habent opinionibus It is not opinion that is in knowledge but iudgemeÌ„t who waieth euery thing with the ballance of Iustice and discretion what more caÌ„ be said but that she is so pretious as hauing her thou wantest nothing in a body thou liuest but in a minde thou ioyest and death doth no more to thee but make thy alreadie obtained sight more cleare with seperating of mortalitie froÌ„ eternitie The world is sweetned by thy example fame makes thy memory resouÌ„d ouer the whole worlde and thy name liues in spight of time or detraction Essay 37. Of Iudgement AMongst the rest of the fruitefull children of Knowledge Iudgement me thinks is her deerest issue for they are inseperable they resemble one another so neerly as hardly can a distinction get betweene them if betweene them it is onely in their place for knowledge goeth before iudgement The perfection or blessednesse of knowledge is this her childe it is the rewarde of her trauailes it is the triumphe of her victories she saith Et summa sequar fastigia rerum And iudgement answers her thou shalt determine rightly of euery thing The most resplendent ornament of man is Iudgement here is the perfection of his innate reason here is the vttermost power of reason ioynde with knowledge here is experiences haruest for the excelleÌ„t vnion of reason of knowledge experiences ends his knitting vp with the excellentest perfection of man Iudgement what giue we wisedome what giue we the scarres and battailes of age but Iudgement what hath the most excellent men to prooue their excellencie but the title of Iudiciall what is wisdomes other name but Iudgement for Iudgement is wisdome who able with the wings of reason to mouÌ„t his soule into the pitch of this meditation and is not couetous of his time and repines not that nature hath made him so weake as to satisfie her weakenesse he must often be carryed from his quest but who alienates his minde with the houlding other things more precious how doth hee drowne himselfe in perils and dangers If the very name inamours thee not what wouldest thou haue that she yeeldes not honour wealth happinesse dominion why all these are in her what can merite honour but iudgement wealth thou desirest but for neede but hauing iudgement thou needest not wealth happinesse is iudgements for she neuer knewe misfortune hauing her thou hast dominion ouer the worlde for Kings commaund but bodyes but the minds of all that are not iudiciall shall be thy subiects and lic prostraite before thee but these with Iudgement are but like the puppets of children or pictures liuelesse for they are broken with the least blast of the world if not by time but no time ouerthrowes iudgement she meditates of eternitie and hath already put her possessor in possession of eternitie Though she meddles with the world as being of the world yet so safely as she cleaues not to it nor is not astonished to leaue it Good Archimedes me thinkes I see thy calmenesse and contentment in the middest of the ruines and bloud of Syracuse so busie about knowledge as not hearing the clamours and noyses not labouring for feare but for knowledge and iudgment and when he was interrupted by his murtherers he asked not life of them but a little time to finish his intendment what a tranquillitie of minde was heere how gloriously did he looke through danger and death It is not pompe nor shining roabes that giues grace to the body no it is the minde that is in the body who houlds the preciousnesse of iudgement and whose preciousnesse tels him death tortures and the enmitie of Fortune are not blemishes but graces to him Who will haue to do with the world must take as well the stormes as sunne shines of the world Quid tibi formosa si non nisi casta placebaâ— She is vnchast and inconstant and in the end of all thy labours thou shalt be forgotten and despised it is dangerous to be too skilfull in the matters of the world witnesse the Athenian Ostrocisme where to be higher then the rest in vertue was expulsion witnesse all times all states where the noblest haue begun with praises and ended which disgrace banishment comest thou to the toppe of promotion and dyest thou there what is thy gaine the ages after takes no knowledge of thy ritches and magnificence but of thy vertues not of thy rewardes but deserts Vbi nunc fidelis ossa Eabritii manent he attaind to places hie his fame was great yet his temperance in refusing Pyrrhus gift is his best and most lasting sute had
ESSAYES By Sir WILLIAM CORNE-WALEYS the younger Knight Printed for Edmund Mattes at the signe of the Hand and Plowgh in Fleet-street 1600. The Heads OF ResolutioÌ„ 2. Of Aduise 3. Of Patience 4. Of Suspition 5. Of Loue. 6. Of Friendship and Factions 7. Of Aemulation 8. Of Praise and Glory 9. Of Entertainment 10. Of AmbitioÌ„ 11. Of Discourse 12. Of CeÌ„suring 13. Of Iests and Iesters 14. Of Youth 15. Of the obseruation and vse of things 16. Of Obliuion 17. Of Discontentments 18. Of Sleepe 19. Of Life and the fashions of life 20. Of Imitation 21. Of Behauiour 22. Of Alehouses 23. Of Affectation 24. Of Fantasticknesse 25. Of Fame FINIS To the Right vertuous most Honorable Ladies the Lady Sara Hastings the Lady Theodosia Dudley the Lady Mary Wingfield and the Lady Mary Dy-er RIght Noble Ladyes Although I know that worthy Knight the Author of thèse Essayes hateth nothing more then comming in publick yet many Copies of them being bestowed by often transcription as it many times hapneth they might haue beene by a mercenary hand fowly corrupted and altered in sence and both in his absence and mine deliuered to some Printer who to make present gaine would haue published them vnpolished and deformed without any correction to preuent which hauing in my hands a perfect Copy and being inwardly priuate with his priuatest conceits I thought it better to divulge them then to aduenture that hazard To couer this presumption I haue made your Ladiships partners in the patronage because I am sure howsoeuer he shall dislike the publishing yet it shall please him that your Ladiships names are honoured in the forefront of his writings I know also that if himselfe could haue been perswaded to make them thus vulgar out of his owne choise to your Ladiships they had beene directed of whose vertues I haue heard his owne tongue vtter such worthy praises that I doubt not but his Heart which alwayes agreeth with his tongue and all his other powers are and shall euer be consecrated to your Ladiships seruice The worke of it selfe being vertuous it cannot but be gracious to your Ladiships for in this backward Age too much declining from Vertue who are more fit to protect and defend her then your Ladiships who are so neerely allied to Vertue that she hath chosen you for her Temple therein inshrined her selfe and in you onely desireth to be adored Your Ladiships are neerely conioyned in blood three of you being Sisters by nature the fourth by Loue but that coniunction is nothing so noble although very noble as that sweete combination of your spirits which are all so deuoted to Good that though there be a Quaternity of your persons yet those persons are so guided by those Angel-like spirits that they make vp a delightfull harmony a Soule-rauishing Musick and a most pleasing and perfect Simpathy of Affections If then your Ladiships shall patronize these Essayes what venemous tongues shall dare to infect them If you like who will dislike them what you allowe nothing but Enuie Detraction and Ignorance wil disallow whose infectious â—reaths shall bee so purified by the â—recious Balme of your Vertues that all shall sodainlie dissolue into the sweet Aire of Applause They are now Honorable Ladies your owne being freelie giuen to your Ladiships by the true hearted Affection of their Author and by the hands of Your Ladiships most humbly deuoted Henry Olney Essay I. OF RESOlution THe Worlde is a booke the words and actioÌ„s of men CoÌ„mentaries vpon that volume The former lyke manuscriptes priuate the latter common lyke things printed None rightly vnderstand this Authour most goe contrary Some fewe according to probalitie but the worst of all is the vnsetled opinion whose continuall alteration makes him vnprofitable to himselfe and to others So much haue I hated this giddy vncoÌ„stantnesse as I haue bin coÌ„tent to take knowledge of duttie Resolutions and to preferre them before the other yea to pittie admire them both together and to end the viewing that obiect with allowing the vertue of the Iewel if it had bene wel set Truly I need no other exaÌ„ple then mine owne life which enâ—â—red coÌ„tinual troubles while youth and folly gouerned my barke in the sea of chaunges I still contradicted my self attempted nothing but a languishing wearinesse possessed me before the ende but it was no matter so vnworthy were those thoughts and attemptes as they were worthy of an vntimely death to be interred in the mire of Irresolution In the end I found my self and my soule vndertooke to guide me into a more wholsom aire I dare not say shee hath kept promise really but it was my own fault yet in part she hath Her motions my own memory bookes haue done something these last I am much bound too especially to Seneca and Plato who haue gotten this power ouer me though they seldom make me do well yet they oftentimes make me thinke well they so wholely possesse me as I then resolue to meditate on nothing vnder Socrates Apologie Me thinkes I am stroÌ„g and able to encounter my affectioÌ„ but hardly haue my thoughts made an end of this gallaÌ„t discourse but in comes a wife or a friend at whose sight my Armour of defence is broken and I coulde weepe with them or bee content to laugh at their triuiall sports After which I come again to see my promise broken that challenge in cold bloud makes me desperate that were iâ— not for the comfort of my youth which gently giues mee time I should surely punish my incoÌ„stancie with great rygour Thus it is with me yet and I am afraid of worse by comparing what power these gentle Disturbances haue ouer me I am afraid griefes and calamities would ouerthrow me nay I will not be afraid since it is truth to confesse that I am more troubled to thinke Disasters should trouble me then of themselues yet I am sometimes perswaded not to mistrust my self since I haue alreadie tasted some store of crosses but they are nothing no not preparatiues to that I may feele Not leauing these thoughts thus I beginne to search into the inuentory of my thinges esteemed I find noâ— that I haue cause to loue any thing so preciously I haue a wife a very good one I loue her according to her deserts but should she fal into any thing except dishonestie which her vertue I know will defend her from I would not weep if I could choose nor do any thing more theÌ„ stand the surer vpon my guard to resist fortune for wealth and her Appendices I know them not nor did I long for them euer but to keepe mee from basenesse and to exercise Charitie For my Parents I owe theÌ„ voluntarily that which the lawes of God and of Nature exact of all men I doo it without Hypocrisie or feare yet should they loose their wealth or their liues I wold neither teare my hair nor melt into womanish exclamations No I know the
then himself to be moued Nothing here is comparable to the vnmoued dispositiō wrought by Reason The earth stands necessited because it cānot go things vnsēsible because vnsensible but to haue the feeling of calamities to bee shaken with the winds tēpests of Chaunce and mortalitie and yet not to be loosened nor in danger of falling is the most bewtiful the most happie and the most renowmed happinesse of man so full of perfection as drawing liking to that extreame pitch as it ends with Admiration Who enioyes this Vertue really for there are counterfaits resembling it hath the precioussest Iewell of the world the vertue of stones expelling poison skins bewitchings and thunder-claps hearbes spelles and Incantations are not comparable they are poore in vertues and perhaps estimation in spight of them giues thē qualities though they haue them it is commōly but one but Patience resists poysons bewitchings thunderbolts spelles Incantations all calamities wherto our life is subiect Traditiō saith some things wil foretokē a mishap and breake before the euent but Patience in the midst of Calamities breakes not no nor crackes The attribute of these outward Iewels of estimation if we receiue good by them must goe to them but all these blessings light vpon our selues we haue not onely the happines of safetie but the sweetnesse of not receiuing it from another Lastly no casualtie can depriue vs of it for wee loose our selues if it nor can we be vanquished with missing it since he parts frō himselfe that wants it Al these blessings are the trapers of the furniture of Patience which no power no strength no authoritie can make recreant Then Praise bring the Garland of Victory the Chariot of Triumph to adorne this Conquerour and Fame out of the mouth of Enuy hale commendations and praises who denies the attendance of his tongue vppon this Trophee let him be cursed with being not capable of Vertue Thus Patience thus Fortitude thus Temperance if Temperance if Fortitude if Patience be vnited one is not enough nor two the consorting Harmony is not full enough besides wanting one the contrary not wanting duskes all with counteruailing vices but to be compleate is to haue all from which though we sometimes slide let not that discourage vs but vp againe and happily with being ouercome we may learne to ouercome which yeelds the contentment of being victorious Victory brings forth Praise and Praise ends with Eternitie Eternitie to our name and to our soules Praise is the breath of Fame which if ouercome by Time Eternitie reuengeth ouercommeth Time and in despight of his worme-eaten consumption liues in our best part our diuinest in that a life full of ioy and knowing no end of ioy carried to the heigth of blisse by the wings of Eternitie and Contentment whose incomprehensible happinesse none can imagine that are not happy in the enioying eternall Contentment Essay 9. Of Entertainment THere are but two causes that pull on Ghests Loue Businesse I must in good nature make much of the former and the latter necessitie inforceth me to entertaine but I like not to dwell vpon these A short time may satisfie visitation and busines not hindred by complement cannot last long Mee thinkes I should haue done now It is tedious to meete with a fellow that will stay to day and tomorrow and the next day on purpose to say he loueth If he feare my memory that he thus reiterateth Loue let him giue me some token of remembrance this tarrying perswades me rather the cōtrary hee is my enemy that thus eates vp my meate and Time without any cause that perswadeth his stay Truly the name of a good fellow is so deare a title that I had rather traffick with courser stuffe and be called parsimonious yea miserable if they will It smartes not halfe so ill as the phrase Euery Bodies friend but his owne I knowe some whom modestie restraineth from telling Impudency theyr faultes Alas good Vertue that thou art growne a coward and darest not discouer thy selfe Well I haue a medicine for these people I will not be consumed liuing by these wormes what 's your pleasure this is my answere farewell These wordes haue an excellent vertue in them they deliuer you to Solitarinesse the mother of Contemplation they keepe your house sweete and at dinner if you like a dish it is your owne faulte if you haue it not cold When my occasions grow so desperatly mad as in despight of me they will hale me abroad into throngs and great assemblies he that entertains me I will him speake to all reserue a straunge familiaritie for the best and my good word and courtesie generally I haue knowne some affecting Courtesie ouerthrowe their labours with not hauing choyse of Complements but confounding a Gentleman and a Peasant with the likenesse of salutation and farewell they were too blame to set vp shop so ill furnished As men differ so must their vsages and respectes not to all I am the seruaunt of your seruaunts seruant In truth I am naturally kind and pittiful and would gladly giue euery man a testimony that I neither hate nor contemne them I will speake and pittie and lament with all and to some giue my time without a fee but not destroy my selfe for their sakes they are no Gods I need not sacrifice my selfe there is crueltie in this courtesie I must not do thus marry any kindnesse that shortens not in the spēding that makes not the purse empty and the houshold-booke rich in Items I am readie to be their Hoste and to entertaine all but to keepe open house vntil I shall be compelled to shut vp my doores must be pardoned mee I haue a purse and a life and all that I am for some fewe but they are indeed but a fewe Non omnibus Dormio Essay 10. Of Ambition WE are all in darkenesse the Sunne and our eyes helpe vs not for we see by them trees and woods mountaines and mē but the light of reason is clowded so doth our discerning but beget Opiniō when we haue said we think thus our knowledge is at the farthest My steps are the steps of mortallity I do stumble and stagger for company and crawle rather then goe yet I desire to get further and to discouer the land of light To this end I reade write and by them would faine catch an vnderstanding more thē I broght with mee before decrepitenesse and death catch me Cicero exacteth an extraordinary knowledge from his sonne because of his hearing and conuersing with Cratippus Mee thinkes more shuld be expected from me who haue had and carried about with mee the excellent Philosophy of a soule I am now come frō conuersing with Princes great spirits and high fliers History hath possessed mee last a knowledge meetest for vs since most of the rest are supernaturall and not of so ready vse our thoughts heere runne leuell and may ouertake for they are earth we are earth the
shortnesse and the others eternitie life being but like a Prentises holy-day but more neere when we thinke of our knowledges which are here impotent and defectiue but are there complete and full all things appearing there vnmasked and the borrowed coulours and vaine apparitions of Affection beeing withdrawne those vnlimmtied and rich lights of the minde beholde euerie thing in the right proportion all the deformities and misdemeanors of the world are the children of affection which bindes vp our sight in darkenesse and leads vs blindfolded from hence Opinion which is the destinated censure of Affection as Iudgement is the Soules from hence proceedes the irresolution of our thoughts and our wauerings and changings from one thing to another for Affection likes his present satisfaction and iudgeth that best which if in Opinion bettered he changeth his sentence and so not able to penetrate into the depth of things is euery day ready for a new impression All that I haue heard all that I haue read all that by any meanes hath come to my knowledge performed well hath beene where Reason hath made Affection his seruant contrariwise destructions dishonours dangers haue beene inforced by the tyrannie of Pride Disdaine Hate Selfe-loue or some other of those Affections vnrestrained so can I fetch Calamitie from none other originall but this not happinesse but from the depriuation of this frailtie Euen that honest harmlesse Affection which possesseth Parents towards their children me thinkes whiles they are yet but lumpes of flesh and things without all merit should not be so ardent and vehement pitty and commiseration fits them better then Loue of which they are no way worthy for howsoeuer we abuse loue with casting it away vpon trifles yet it is the pretiousnesse of Loue appointed onely to attend deserts and to ioyne no peeces together that are not of this kinde but it is well that Nature hath cast the extremitie of this disease vpon mothers it becomes them not so ill to be fond as men besides these little ones being their charges Affection makes them more carefull and so it is for those first yeares neuer the worse for the childe whatsoeuer it is for the mother Iustice being for example and no more destroying a common-wealth then the husbandman the trees with executing the water boughes which he dooth as well in respect of their vnprofitablenesse as also to shew malefactors in a glasse their owne state while they beholde the guiltie vnder-going the seueritie of the lawe but yet the creatures bound to profit others with their owne destruction should bee picked out monsters whose natures might be seene incorrigible and those of whom mercy may coniecture amendment to be spared thus in the ambiguitie of things which doubt will not haue resolued mercy may haue a hand Thus commiseration and a charitable eye to the distrested all which though they leaue more to affection then to the strictnesse of iustice yet must we so farre tolerate them for so God lookes vpon vs and so should we vpon our bretheren being all borne lame which fault of ours if it were punished with death none should liue yet I go not with Montangnia who in his Essay of Crueltie bribes wit to take part with commiseration so extreamly and so womanish as not to indure the death of Birdes and Beasts alas this gentlenesse of nature is a plaine weaknesse wee may safely see the deaths of these yea of men without motion it belongs to vs to looke into the cause of their deaths not into the manner onely but fetching it from the desert wee shall see plainely it is not the Iudge nor the executionner that committes this abhorred spectacle but them-selues them-selues doe execution vppon them-selues Might there bee that vnspeakable blessing giuen to the imprisoned soule that she might here view things in sincere trueth how would vice and sinne flie light when vnmasked light might discouer their deformities how profoundly should we be able to censure things how would we scorne lawes and compulsion when the most ragged-vnderstanding should flye farre aboue them Lastly all the enemies of wealth and pouerty should be banished for we should not know want and so should want them and the laborious life of Studye should end whose trauels ayme at no other end but an ability to knowe euery thing in his propper kinde this is not because Affection is who dayly ouercomes reason not by strength but flattery and sometimes makes the weapons of Reason treacherously turne head vpon Reason with corrupting his taste and making him fortifie pleasure with arguments I would be glad to looke vpon my brother with the same eye that I behould a stranger and may the strangers worthe excell his I would preferre him He is deceiued that thinkes vertue respects bloud and aliaunces she is not so bodely hauing commerce with vs whiles we haue bodyes not because we hauing bodyes should loue our bodyes but because we should with the ordering and subiecting them win her It is Affection that hath skil of colours and hath set vp the estimation of White and Red. I verely beleeue Vertue was neuer Paynter nor Armorist all those choyses and allowances that come from tall and fatte or slender and well bodied are all Affections choise the minde sees the minde and giues the body leaue to looke how it will for she loues the abilities and graces of the mind whose neuer fading beauties makes their imbracements blessed Here is the choise of all things made sure thus friends are to bee entertained whose perfection may be better discoursed of then it is possible to finde it actually the reason because Affection beares so great sway our causes of combination being commonly more beholding to Affection then Reason which makes vs so often complaine of the vnstablenesse of friends friendships incōstancie No other are those leauges which looke into the fortune rather then vertue of friends that cunningly make Loue the broker to supply their wants how can these hould since the hould of their hould blinde Dame Fortune is brittle and flitting But amongst all I finde no body hath so iust cause to complaine of this as Iustice which being the very soule and life of gouernment is oft time compelled to help the lightest scoale with her finger whiles Partialities burden makes the other heauie I can pittie the distresse of no vertue so much as this since no vertue carryes with her a greater maiestie and in that maiestie knowledge the life of life the ioy of man his surest euidence of participating with the deuine nature Surely were it not for the orderly working of this vertue we should make the world in a worse state thē the Chaos where was a confusion but it was innocent though deformed but now it would be turned into a guilty deformity the picture of which though not fully are those sick states that are continually letting blood where the sweet wisdom of laws are turned into those doubtful arbitrators blowes and where Iustice
be rich to be noble to be any of these outward things are but apparitions things without all hold or continuance time must doe his office populate depopulate nations giue take Empires and so downward from the plough to the speare and from the speare to the plough Fuimus Troes fuit Ilium ingens Gloria Teucroum How many thousands of states are gone and vanquished and hardly so much as that they were is left how many millions of examples haue we of things finished as full of terror and terriblenesse as feare can possibly imagine certaynely the payne of things rest not in the execution but in the conceiued opinion for it is too short to be greeuous we make no account of the cramp because it stayes not yet for the time questionlesse it assaulteth the body more sharpely then the Ague death is but a crampe therefore knowledge an Ague looking into the state of feare I finde she liues by two meanes by ignorance and by knowledge by ignorance as the feare of children by knowledge when malice compelles knowledge to goe agaynst her knowledge the first we are borne with and many mittigate with industrie the second vertue expelles Of the first I haue alreadie spoken something of which I say agayne the industrious search of letters vncaceth al these terrible apparitions that seeme terrible to the vulgar Vvlgi quâ— vox vt venit ad aurâ—s Obst-puere animiâ— geâ—â—dusque per ima cucurrit Ossa trimor Vppon the first buckling of Caesar with the Heluetians a cowardly commaunder of his lost him a fayre attempt through the false perswasion of feare that the enemie had possessed a hill that was possessed with his owne forces but himselfe neuer sped better then when he drew his valure to the aduenturing his owne person exercising his handes as well as his heade The examples of the auncient honest Philosophers as well as their speaches are ful of coÌ„tempt of feare they seemd to make warres continually with this opinion we are most of them as it is said of Zeno rebutters of that Sympathizing delicacie with heate colde and sicknes and the rest of the vulgar misleaders Hunc non aeris hyems domuit non frigidus imber Non solâ—s radii non vis teterriâ— a morbi Non quicquid vulgo pretiosum inuictus at vnus Instabat graâ—â—bus studiis noctesque diesque Fewe men in health and prosperitie can promise themselues this constancie but to doe a mans good will is well to performe which the meditation of fortunes foulest playe is good imagine the woorst of misery and goe to fence to these olde Phisophers to learne the warding blow mee thinkes the certaine beliefe of the pricelesse value of things in the worlde should doe much with a man these things of reckening with the worlde are onely good in opinion estimation giues them grace and value they haue nothing in themselues but men giues them what they are from whom if he will respect his owne pouerty most and take them away againe hee shall leaue them beggerlie and naked and then see they are things neither good nor ill but indifferently made good or ill by our vse Huc tandem concede haec Ara tuebitur omnes There is no good to be done vpon these things but by contempt and scorne and withall knowing the things contrary to feare are no more riche nor solid in contentment then these are procurers dangerous and painefull we haue no trueth that our reaches can sticke vpon that wee haue wee haue by faith and beliefe our reason cannot graspe it beeing too little and too shorte there is a mortall vnderstanding destinated to our vse and in the vse of things is our cunning and in this running the best lesson is not to be apprehensiue of the stormes of the world he that cries for his losses must necessarily laugh at his gaines do now not rebuke dayes and women for this qualitie and shall men crye them mercie and say they mistooke my sorrow calamitie Those things that are necessitated ther 's an end of theÌ„ they must be done those things that may be resisted and resisted gallantly incounter danger and you shall soone know his pleasure either he will make an end of you or become a quiet fellow shortly runne away he is more then at your heeles for he is in your selfe As Liâ—sius in his Constantia handsomly sheweth the cure of the mindes maladie is not by the phisicke of trauayle for all griefes must be cured like the wound that was incurable but by the meanes of the wounding weapon by it selfe loking into the cause of the griefe and finding sorrowe a fellow that keepes an vnprofitable stirre I hope you will holde your peace Mee thinks Virgil makes Aeneas speake too like a nurse or a waiting maide when commanded the repetition of his fortune he saith quilâ— altâ— fâ—ndâ— Mirmidonum Delopumue aut duri milâ—â— Vlysis tempâ—ret a lachrymes and after Seâ— si tontus amor casus cognoscere nostros Et breuiter Troia supremâ—m â—â—dâ—re laborem Quanquam animuâ— meminisso horret luctuqâ—â— resugit Incipâ—â—m Well if Aeneas were of this minde it was not Dame Venus but Dame Feare that wished him to flye from Troy and it was not a clowd but cowardise that incompassed him There is a great deale of weakenesse and too much moysture in these heads that cannot stir their memories but straight it will raine Saint Augustine remembers in his confession the expence of teares that he was at when he read Didoes end verily it became his condition well for teares are onely due when we fall short in our reckenings with God then teares and repentance is behouefull but in any other case it is vnnecessarie nay more it is vndecent I haue not yet spoken of those far fetched feares that are drawne not from any apparencie of danger that is eyther felt or seene but from dreames incountring with Hares and the Salte spilling other that go by the signes or by Prognostications prophecies and auguries times past were much gouerned by these It is said Augustus was verye inquisitiue about his owne dreames and his friends it was great pitie for he was otherwise a very wise Prince but he had a great fortune and a mortall body which are still at variance and blind-foldes the true discerning in which time feare creepes in ouer-valuing life drawes preseruation from wrong places For these auguries and fetching things from the intrayles of beasts it was not amisse then 〈◊〉 no state can be vpholden without religion no people are well gouerned or succesfull in their attempts without the annexion of diuine hopes to their earthly strength but now when that is done by the true meanes when men may fetch hope from a cleere possibilitie these things are to be discarded to trust to the soundnesse of religion For the signes I remember a speach of Cassius to a South-sayer that wished him not to fight with the Parthians vntill the
then I can doe which I must confesse the fault of my braine for I neither lispe stutt nor speake in the throate nature hath made the cariadge of my wordes large and swift enough but I wante marchandize and stuffe the Italian ciuilitie would well fitte mee where the ouerthrowe of an Appositor is counted discourtesie and they call him in disgrace Vince guerra The reason of this exordium is the view of the workes of Nature and our varietie vpon them fewe men receiue any thing with the like vse but occasions or things represeÌ„ted begets in one feare in another furie in a third feares harbinger amazement in a fourth desperation some of these differ much yet shall one occasion beget all these at one instant which makes me thinke our discourse findes out more vses of things then our senses qualities yet am I not of Empericus minde who holdes the quallities of things to be more in number then our sences and that we recken our knowledge to see all as Alexander conquered the world because in his time there was no more knowne I am not of his opinion for all things being made for man and his sences being fit for both life knowledge his seruants sure which are all things sensible haue no more trickes then he knowes of But thus new am I in opinion that the receptacle of our sences intelligence with ioyning quartering and mixing things imploye them farre from their accustomed properties which my subiect here will plainly exemplifie Man being the most substanciall and most canning peece accompanied with a head that masters and is Lord of all things How hath he fallen this second time more vainely deceiued and more miserably punished then in the first He fell then with a baite pleasing to one sence and when he fell fell vpon a good substanciall body where there was good footing and hope to of rising but here he is fallen into smoake where he may be choaked but cannot liue nor walke he is fallen into fame to entertaine which I know no sence destinated vpon a thing not to be haÌ„dled not to be riddeÌ„ not to be seene children would not haue doted thus not to be eaten gluttons would not haue so miscaried not to be touched an amorist would not haue beene in loue with it not to be heard by himselfe a light headed musition would haue shunned it not to be seene a Faulconer would not haue lured it yet all these that are able to make so good an election of their delights sacrifice to fame and flatterie is their priest There is certainly but one end whereto the intendments of man are destinated which prosecuted rightly is eternall happinesse this is not fame for she dyeth often in her birthe commonly ouercome by time and sometime men famous haue had their memories dispatcht eyther by obliuion or detraction before death hath made an end of their liues all these working where the bodyes growes couetous and would haue the gaines alone are vicious he must not determine any thing particulerly for he is none other then a hired seruant and his wages is life the proffit must be giuen to the soule whose predominant power is also compelled to vse the body for the soules performances without the body are not vnderstood contemplation being a good vnprofitable naked life Both working together and both agreeing in their purpose questionlesse they would determine vpon some more lasting rewarde then fame They would lay for vertue for eternitie for the fruition of a neuer dying happinesse but this Essay must speake like it selfe not what should be but what is theÌ„ to the baites for fame The actions of these differ not froÌ„ the prouocations of vertue for as much as appeares outwardly for they professe valour temperance liberalitie and the rest of the lims of honor and honestie but in the minde that works these motions is the disagreemeÌ„t the one being spurred by vertue th' other importuned by the tickling of applause This same those ancieÌ„t Philosophers that so much enueighed against fame well knowing the tyrannie of such thoughts which where they get entrance ouerthrowe all that rest in the place more modestly humored Infinite are the baites that are laide to catch this nothing farre surmounting the number which curious Fishers haue found out and yet in one thing they well agree for they fit the couerer of their deceit to the time Fishers hauing flies for the spring the fall and the winter fame catchers countenance seemings and aspects for a state good or bad or indifferent both their baites go downe the streame both purchase not by force but deceipt both looke pleasing but swallowed are dangerous and to conclude both labour for their bodies not their mindes To speake of those petty fishers that nip their bodies and cast them into more mowldes then their mothers bellyes that neuer read any thing but how their ruffes stand in a glasse or of those that growe olde in the obtaining the name of a good Fencer dauncer vaulter or wrastler were to no purpose These are but trifles and indeed though not vertuous yet plaine dealers for a ietting behauiour or an action with their hands or the curiositie of their clothes discouers them no I will speake of those that Painte so in oyle as the examination of a sharpe raine will hardly discouer them of those that carry the worlde about by the nose of those that keepe their mindes more hid in then women their limmes how many of these masked creatures haue mine eyes beheld laden with the honors of the world and set in the highest top of estimation who were the world inquisitiue any further then the outward sight they should haue found not vertuous but betrayers of vertue Rogues with counterfait pasports and coyners of false money inwardly though they be idle yet they baite their hooke with a profession of which they continually talke and acte their partes like Nero his Philosophers whose wisdome laye in their vnkembde hayre and rugged beards and ill cloathing and counterfeite grauitie Nec deâ—rant qui voce vultuque suo tristi inter oblectamenta regia spectare cuperent Thus contrary are they to the time when their singularitie may puachase admiration without danger The valiantest of these will be souldiers but vnwillingly feele eyther danger or hardnesse But no profession nourisheth them worse then this for at sometimes this gallant actiue life will bring him vpon triall in spighte of his hart when these gilded spirits will be known for the couerers of rotteÌ„ bodies this life of armes hath almost discouered the whole worlde of famemongers for it is a receiued axiom Honor once acquired is not to bee ventured Montania in his obseruations vpon Caesar deales somewhat to indifferently with his taxers for this alleadging a prouerbe that the ould souldiers of Italy vse to mocke their young aduenturers with calling them Bijognioâ—iâ—de Honore in which mocke they discouer their owne actions let the world thinke of them what they
ill It must be God that in these and all other things must helpe vs wee are no other then his instrumentes when we vndertake to bee handes we sin in presumption vnder his conduct things come to a conclusion Those that prosper for a while without his counsaile and direction they are but the Instruments of his scourge and prosper no longer then while they are in their executioners office we go blind fold without the Sunne can we then go without his licence that made the Sunne Wee are to impotent to stand without a supporter our actions rest in doubt and our discourse cannot resolue them but euer wee shall thinke La tardita noi toglie L'occasione la celerita â—e forâ—e I account in this list all that account their countrey vngratefull or that repine at her commaundementes shee cannot bee for thou art for her vse and if thou bee'st vnprofitable with iustice shee may put thee awaye Wee must not thinke shee can doe vniustlye it is Arrogancy and partiality to compare thy knowledge with hers our soules are for heauen our bodyes for our Countrey and that excellent Issue of heauen is destinated to no worke vpon the earth but to vphould this our common mother How may wee blush that are ouercome by heathens and yet haue the oddes of diuinity by them that knew vertues preciousnesse onely in fame when wee know shee is curraunt in the worlde of worldes this hath come from an opinion that their ignoraunce produced valour but this opinion is as full of sinne as follye Is valour prohibited because murder and selfe murther is prohibited the building cannot stand where the foundation is falseâ— they faile in the definition of fortitude which is as all other single vertues are but the colour of the substanciall body of vertue which when cast-vpon another substaunce is not vertue though like vertue These hold that fortitude hath runne her perfectest course when shee hath passed the gates of death no fortitude indures stronger assaults then death But were it so Is he that comes neare death valiaunt why then hang Tropheys ouer the gallowes the cause the cause must in all things tell whose child the effect is He that fights with fury is not valiant but he that lendes iustice force Cato dyed in as fit a time to make his death looke nobly as could be and at the fittest course of naturall reason it will seeme good reason not to out liue his countries liberty but had it not beene more compassionately done of him to haue accompanied his country in misery had it not beene more wisely done to haue repriued hope and to haue watch'd time when happily by opportunity hee might haue ransomed his country I account not his valour no more then he that winkes at the blow of death the one hiding his eyes because he would not see death the other seeking death because he would not feele misery Cato is not held by mee a paterne of fortitude hee helped not his country by his death if to dare dye you thinke so excellent the women among the Romans could doe it aswell as he because it is prohibited we like it because contrary to our selfe-louing mindes we admire it in that respect were it not against diuinity I should allowe of it for he comes nerest vertue that throwes against the bias of his affections Camillus whom I once mentioned was a patterne of fortitude so was among the Graecians Pelopidas and his companions who plotted and effected the ouerthrow of tiranny with the aduenture of their liues yet killed not themselues because their country was oppressed by a tirant Fortitude take her in her vttermost boundes incircleth the ouercomming Passions the bearing the assaults of the world she goeth euen into the confines of temperaunce for to curbe appetite mee thinkes is fortitude but bind her now to her managing peril and to the seruing her common wealth to make her herselfe there must be in her pretence reason profit and iustice Reason in the plotting profit in the obtaining iustice in the vse for without these it is a bestiall daring not fortitude Now to my comparison of the valour of those times with this of Christianity can his reason be so exact that knowes not from whence his reason comes for their wisest did but gesse at the immortality of the soule as his that doth continually coÌ„uerse with his soule for so ought Christians Or shall his profit that lookes no farther then the body bee compared to him that profits both soule and body Bud for iustice what vnderderstanding wil prefer humane lawes whose end is but proffit to diuine iustice whose end is vertue who seeth not now that will see times past had not the way of fortitude for their best were but shaddowes neither had they that cause for fortitude at that time was not known They durst die but wee know how to vse death they durst aduenture but we know how to profit by aduenturing then it is Idlenes that hath fouÌ„ded this opinion for if we wil do wel none euer knew better how neuer had any better cause for we are certaine of our reward Of the repinings vpbraidings of a man reiected by his countrie I should speake a little more how contrary it is to right and vertue for thy body is thy countries and thy soule ought to follow vertue dooth thy soule consent to thy bodies rebellious thoughtes both body and soule forsake right and vertue for thy soule maintaines wrong so looseth vertue thy body doth wrong and so looseth right In this both the Graecian and Romane common wealthes brought forth many more faithull the repetition of whome those eyes that haue seene historye can as redily produce as I whom I will therefore omit and saue that labour Onely thus to vpbraide our country with our good desertes is to aske reward at the worldes handes not at vertues out all is not all wee are bound to doe for it but our best shall be called well because our vttermost Not to professe much but to vse it well is the way of felicitie and then doth our body not hurt our soule when it is content to imploy his force to blowe the fire while shee is extracting the quintessence of things For the lighter performaunce of men how drunkenly doth vanity make euery thing that comes from them looke one gildes himselfe with hauing much lookes big doubtes not of himselfe speakes peremptorily when asked for his warrant he throwes out the big-swolne wordes of a 1000 pound a yeare not from his wit but reuenew drawes he the strength of his ability it is seene allowed by custome to the terrour of wisdome that from that 1000 pound a yeare are fetch'd all vertues he shall bee honest temperate wise valiant learned for he hath a thousand pound a yeare who seeth not here a conspiracie betweene ignorance and adulation to confound knowledge and vertue for neuer was there yet so vnchast and poore a vertue as
he did not this more for his owne sake then for theirs hee made them a glasse to behold their inconstant follies in It was well done softnesse in these cases nourisheth vices and giues the giddie multitude winges insteed of legges to flye to mutinies and dissentions When a place of authoritie giues vs authoritie and trueth allowes vs to speake well of ourselues it is lawfull to make the subiectes of our gouernement confident of our vertue like Nestor Quippe viris ego cum longè melioribus olim Versatus sum quam vos estis nee tamen illi Concilium spreuere meum It is common in the whetstone of the souldiers swordes the oration of a generall before a battaile to racke their memory and to make her confesse all the exploites which at any time they haue done It is common to tell them how often haue you beene victorious ouer these people your enemies though a simple Arithmetician might bring them within number Plutarche avowes it to be the manner of Cyrus in warres though in peace there was no man more modest The custome of our Attyres in those times seemes to allowe it wee weare glorious colours and our heades and Horses feathers beautifying this bloody occupation and giuing the eye leaue to Iudge of a Iollye magnificence and courage I like Ansigonus well whoe in a sea battaile being aduertised that his aduersaries exceeded him in number of Gallies he asked the reporter against how many he reckened him It was brauely said and illustrated a bold spirite it was no matter though it wanted modestie she fittes more ciuill and and more silent actions Thus did Vlisses in courage the fainting spirites of his companions O socii Iguari certe baud sumus ante malorum Porro malum hoc maius non est quam quod Poliphemus Nos inspelunca cepit violenter opaca Consilio inde meo tamen et vertute animoque Elapsisumus Gonsaluo the braue purchaser of the kingdome of Naples to the crowne of Aragon spake brauely in a time of daunger Desider aua piu tosto d'hauere â—d pirsente la sua sepoltura vn pâ—lmo diterreno piu avanti ehe co'l ritirarsi indietropoche braccia allungare la vita cento anni He did wel at that time to cleare himselfe from the suspition of feare which commonly attendes daunger and to his souldiers he gaue new life for their heads being vnable to iudge they are directed by their eyes whom they send to discouer the behauiour of their commaunder which from thence come fraught either with hope or dispaire I thinke it was neither enuy nor vaine glory that made Agesilaus examine whether the title of Great belonged more to the king of Persia then to himselfe Non ille me maior est nisi et 〈◊〉 He was a Philosopher as well as a king acquainted with his owne soule as well as with greatnesse which dilated to him that outwarde greatnes differed not from gay clothes which are worne out by time and in that time subiect to casualty but vertue he saw to be the foundation and the true iudge of greatnesse At death it is tollerable for then the best wee can doe is but to bee an example to the liuing and to showe our best pointes to the worlde and our worste to God wrapt in repentance is honest and religious that done to showe a gladnesse of our new guest like Phocion to a fellow that wept at his death Heus tu inquit quidâ—dicis non amas mori cum Phocione or like the Milanois conspiratour Mors acerba fama perpetua stabit vetus memoria facti It is a colde thing this same Death and must haue some such warme meditation to comforte the stomacke of the minde or else it will confound and distemper the soule for the bodies sake But in an high state and a state of tranquillitie neither Morall vertue nor discreete pollicie allowes it not vertue which will tell vs wee come shorte of the hyre of commendations not Pollicie for it layes vs open to Enuie and demostrates a minde ouer-burthened with his Fortune Not our actions performed with wisedome and successe may we chalenge at this time for their glorie vpbraides the state as if vnrecompenced and ouerdrepes our countrymen both aduersaries to potent to bee dispised both losses beyond the gaine of commendations God is the giuer of victory the performer of all well succeeding enterprises giue it to him to whome giuen it produceth safetie and accordeth with truth from thence let vs share it attributing parte to the direction of the state parte to the valour of our Souldiours or others nearest to the imployment to our selfe allaying praise with fortune or destinie thus it is safe and good and not without Fame which growes by being suppressed Of Essayes Bookes I Hould neither Plutarches nor none of these auncient short manner of writings nor Montaignes nor such of this latter time to be rightly termed Essayes for though they be short yet they are strong and able to endure the sharpest triall but mine are Essayes who am but newly bound Prentice to the inquisition of knowledge and vse these papers as a Painters boy a board that is trying to bring his hand and his fancie acquainted It is a manner of writing well befitting vndigested motioÌ„s or a head not knowing his streÌ„gth like a circumspect runner trying for astarte or prouidence that tastes before she buyes for it is easier to thinke wel then to do well and no triall to haue handsome dapper conceites runne inuisibly in a braine but to put them out and then looke vppon them If they proue nothing but wordes yet they breake not promise with the world for they say but an Essay like a Scriuenour trying his Pen before he ingrosseth his worke nor to speake plainely are they more to blame then many other that promise more for the most that I haue yet touched haue millions of wordes to the bringing forth one reason and when a reason is gotten there is such borrowing it one of another that in a multitude of Bookes still that conceit or some issued out of that appeares so be laboured and worne as in the ende it is good for nothing but for a Prouerbe When I thinke of the abilities of man I promise myselfe much out of my reading but it prooues not so Time goeth and I turne leaues yet still finde my selfe in the state of ignorance wherefore I haue thought better of honesty then of knowledge what I may knowe I will conuerte to that vse and what I write I meane so for I will choose rather to be an honest man then a good Logitian There was neuer art yet that layd so fast hold on me that she might iustly call mee her seruant I neuer knew them but superficially nor indeed will not though I might for they swallow their subiect and make him as Ouid saied of him selfe Quicquid câ—nabar dicere versus erat I would earne none of these so dearely as
these the affections are according to their possessor for a cowards feare is in a wise man prouidence lauish ioy solid contentment appetite made choise wishes intentes making hope fruition Thus certaine doth wisdomes resolution performe his iourney without halting tiring or straying E par lieto morir No doubt but to a minde that can inwardly relate a well-runne course it cannot but be ioy to be taken vp for with glory he ends and remaining longer he could not end better therefore longer life could haue beene but superfluous perhaps dangerous for many yeares well followed haue doted before their ends and so corrupted their worke fairely begun E saluo il caroscudo In this shield I holde the preseruation of honour care of his countrie an honest life for detraction cannot be kept out without such a triple-leaued shield but this shield imbraced enuie it selfe cannot wound but death appeares like a gratefull maister releasing his seruant from trauell E tempo è ben che qualche nobil opra De la nostra virtude homai si scopra So lazie and fluggish are our naturall inclinations that I wish these verses the perpetuall obiect of my eyes if I should wish all men the same medicine being sick of the same disease I should do them no harme Who thinks of the infinite capacity of mā of his admirable inuentiō of his immortalizing the whole volume of abstract most formes of the fertilenesse of his braine where things are continually in conceiuing and bringing forth new and they new I cannot thinke of any thing which hee hath done that might not be excelled considering his abilities his workes are meane and slight and their perfections so imperfect as they are not worthy to bee called the children of his loynes E tempo ben It is time so soone as our breathing hath set a scotch vpon Time what can I speake of this time but as of the light giuen vs to liue by which who spendeth idlely or as ill luxuriouslic is worthy to go to bed darkling which is to die without being able to produce any matter worthy of his life which vacuitie of vertue at that time will breede more terrour to him then darknesse to children It is time to do that we came for for those imployed to be vigilant to the flourishing of their country to those priuate to be an example to others and safety to themselues in taking the direct way of right che qualche nobil opra I am not so precise to call no Actions noble that carty not with them a rumour or a glittering to my meaning nobility and honesty meane all one thus may a painfull Artisan be noble if he follow his vocation painefully and constantly he is honest and so noble being a Iimmer of a state though no maine Organ and his beeing in right temper so farre as his strength goeth a preseruatiue to the whole To knowe this he ought to temper the hotnes of ambition for it is not the greatnes but the goodnesse of an action that makes it worthy which who so knoweth and yet prosecuteth the violēce of that humor ought to be cut off for nothing is more fatall to a state then innouation neither is there any thing so fast drawing to innouatiō as ambitions it being innouations minority like a pumple the childes age of a sore De la nostra virtude homai si scopra Here is the whole power of man taught the right vse which we haue a cōmon speach no lesse illustrates whē we call the quality of things their vertue by which we inforce the strength of each thing to worke by the line of vertue to this center should all the diametricall parts of man tend for they are but like the rayes of the sun which borrow their beauty from the sun for without vertue all the abilities of man are in darknesse performing all things doubtfully and perniciously si scopra I do not thinke there can be concealed vertues for though I hate ostentation yet vertue ayming at nothing but the transforming her selfe into goodnesse and the excellencie of goodnesse resting in her communicating power vertue is not come to her perfection vntil come to the perfectiō of goodnes Duce sei tu non simplice Guerriero Publico fora e non priuato il lullo Here doth he showe the office of a generall whose iudgement not bodye ought to bee imployed Nature hath taught this to euery man for shee hath made his armes to giue blowes defend his head to teach his armes and to be sure we should not vse it out of the right kinde shee hath giuen it neither nimblenesse nor strength but directiō to teach the other parts that vse More neede not be said of this for common experience makes it euery mans I will speake now of no more Poets though there be more of vse onely thus much of the auncient Satyrists I holde them not meete for euery mans reading for they chide vice show it both togither besides their darknes personall meanings take vp more time thē knowne they are worth of other books though I haue already commended Plato yet speaking of bookes I must againe mentiō him for his commentors sake who doth excellently illustrate him which he performes with as little delaye and as fewe idle speeches as the vnderstanding receiues knowledge from the sight of things which deliuer themselues truely and simply vnto her I knowe not whither I should speake of Philosophicall bookes more since if the reader be not a Phisitian or an Herbarist they breed in him curiositie rather then vse◠for I account these words of Plato Peritia efficit vt vita nostra per Artem incedat imperitia vero vt per fortunam temere circumuagetur to tend rather to the knowledges pertinēt to an intended life then to her vniuersall body for should a Iudge talke of the obseruations of an vrine when he is about matters of life and death who would not determine his skil vnnecessarie and ridiculous since his Arte cures the minde Phisick the body nā medici curant corpora Paenae Animam What Bookes or art medles with a doctrine remote from the vse of life is a busie idlenesse a couer of an vnprofitable minde like fidlers vndertaking the vse of an Instrument to keepe them from a more laborious trade Lesse Astronomy then will make a Calender will serue my turne onely so much is sufficient in a gentleman as seeing the reuolutions of the heauens hee may see them without disinaidnesse and vse his knowledge to the comfort of his ignoraunt charge As Dion going against Dyonisius the tirant an Eclipse hapned which astonished the multitude but he conuerted it to the Eclipse of their enemies heigth which fortified and perswaded the feare and blindnesse of his souldiours the Eclipse I thinke would haue fallen out though Dion had bin at home quietly in his chamber and I doubt not but this friend of Plato thought so to but yet the
homines dum se falso terrore coâ—cti Refugisse volunt longe longeque recesse Sanguine ciuili rem constant diuitiasque CoÌ„duplicant auidi caedeÌ„ caedi accumulaÌ„tes Thus intermixt and intangled with all horrors are those liues that are content to entertaine the desires of vndirect aspiring these hopes neuer goe without feares and they neuer without ill effects thus doth hee outwardlye heape vpon himselfe the detestation of the worlde and his owne thoughts make him detest himselfe Le dubbie spenix il pianto e'l van dolore I pensier folli et le delire imprese Et le querele in darno a'l vento spese M'hanno a me tolio et posto in luÌ„go errore To auoide this I know no way but vertue which so filles as where she is nothing else is sought take from or adde to her shee is still her selfe like a circle whose bignesse or lightnesse alters not his forme but his space Besides where as the defects of men in times past to vphold their reputations were faine to perswade the world falsely of their communication with the Gods and to belye their mothers with the adultery of Iupiter her estimation shall not need these deceits for the life of her Possessor will show he is diuinely discended and her counsels shall bee held so sincere as they shall be accepted without the subornation of the nimph Egeria Esay 48. Of Wordes I Like no Relation so well as what mine eye telleth me for there is in speach as in suÌ„ptuous building many entries landing places and Lucomes commaunded more for formalities sake then for conueniency so ands and ifs and many sounding words stuffe vp empty periods with winde Naturally we carry matter better then wordes in which nature tells vs shee vseth words but for an interpretour because our ignorance vnderstandes not her Language which puttes vs to a great deale of paine and makes vs go a great way about in our inquisition of knowledge for there is lesse drosse in the letters of nature then in words the substaÌ„ce of Bookes for the apparition of naturall obiectes carries not such a coÌ„pany of circumstaunces for the eare is more deceiued with soundes then the eye with colours That same Euphoniae gratia the maintainer of pratling what is it but to feed the auditory with Dishes dressed by the painter not the cooke for they may say they are satisfied when examined what they had it proues a painted shoulder of mutton sulciae solue multum mali sub illis latet It may proue ill but if not so Anatomize the wordes of these adorers of wordes and they proue nothing which is the next degree to ill Seneca commendes his friende that he heares nothing of him Quod plerique ex his quos interrogo nesciunt quid agas To my friend I would say that they know not what thou thinkest because seldome speaking for my thoughtes are dearer to me then any actions performing any thing it is the giuing thoughtes bodies and sending them into the world There was a knight of Rome put to death for translating a dreame of his into wordes had hee not better haue suppressed his daungerous imagination and taught another thought to haue killed this then to haue throwne it out of his breast by the violence of his tongue I dare be bound his mother if she were aliue at that day wished he could neuer haue spoke for mothers like nothing in their children so wel as life but his punishment was to seueare his tongue had beene losse enough for that had beene the capitall Traitour Is not this a dangerous iudgment that betraies the whole life for the trespasse of one lim had it not bin better for him to haue vsed the tonge for a taster then a distributour yes questionlesse For speach lesse daungerous then this is good for nothing but to pull speach from others for willingly were the company fit most of my wordes should be interrogation but when I were at this charge I would be glad to meete with those whose expence of matter should equall their number of wordes Truth hath fallen vpon it so often so commonly that it is a receiued precept not to trust a great talker with your secrets for they haue such a disease of wordes that like fier they will feede vppon themselues if they want sustenaunce so that you must feede him continuallie like a Woolfe or else hee deuours you and after himselfe for he loues nothing so well as wordes If he had performed it without diuulging I should haue liked the custome of Pallas the manumized slaue of Claudius who protested Nihil vnquam se domi nisi nutu aut manu significasse It was a good course for wordes to inferiours and seruants draw on familiaritie and familiarity robbes masters and Lordes of their dominion rule If we were now as wee were once though speach should bee superfluous for all should haue beene good and I thinke then all knowledges should haue seene trueth in a like quantitie yet it had not beene so daungerous for our vices are the Ocean our wordes the Barkes transporting and trafficking sin with him and imperfection with imperfection so that multitudes and Assemblies where talke turnes the minde outward are as perillous to an honest minde as to receiue education in a Bordello Heardly shall a man meete with a tongue in these places speaking either honestly or temperatly for either speaking ill or too well takes vp all meÌ„ flattery or slauÌ„der ingrossing the whole body of speach either he is a worthie fellow for I am much beholding to him or very vnworthy because I am not beholding to him what an impudency of the worlde is this where men dare protest the summe of vertues or vices rests in mens conforming them selues to their humours what is this but the confounding of all goodnesse benefit of societies with including in themselues the estimation of all and allowing nothing that workes not for their priuate satisfaction me thinkes other creatures wanting this are as happy as a licentious disposition wanting wealth for by this meanes they knowe but their owne infirmities and goe no farther then natures infusioÌ„ giues them leaue but men by the helpe of speach draw the corruption oâ— others into themselues ad to their naturall infirmities millions of imperfections I heare men speake daily but not a day in a month finde myselfe bettered by their speach but contrarily haue euery day such a company of ragges throwen into my braine that I wish my selfe deafe all the weeke long but on Sundayes for then deuotion and the Booke in a diuines hand and his being a diuine drawe me to worke somewhat out of my hearing bee he neuer so lame in his function How often haue I seene occasion offer company a vse of their tongue that might haue bettered their mindes but as often almost respected and inforced vnderstandinges able to haue mounted heigher to goe with them in the durt and made the weather the season
their vertues knowledge teacheth direction how to commaund direction giueth knowledge maiesty and power These order the sences and makes their effects come to the determined period teaching those belonging to the schoole to gather wisedome for the soule which two destinated seruantes though they present the minde sometime with allurments yet the execution of all vice belongs to the other three the assistants of the body What ariseth from these sences are affections what affection thinketh but opinion affection like the parents medleth with single obiects the minde graspeth vniuersalities the mindes imploiment is about things firme the affections momentary and sading Who seeth not then to bee led by our affections is vaiue and beastiall who seeing this will neglect the minde whose ample territory stretcheth eueÌ„ to the heauens Mens cernit et mens audit caeca caetera et sur da sunt I account our sences and their affections like Phisicke drugges which are one waye poyson another waye preseruatiues when they worke onely in the bodye they preserue the body but if ouercharged with excesse the fumes smother the soule and makes her aguish distasting what she ought to taste furring her mouth with superâ—â—uities and making her not know true pleasure and vanitie by the taste What blessings or cursses can I thinke of in the world but are deriued from these two heads these were the two wayes that Hercules was led vnto these are the two wayes that leades to knowledge and ignorance these are the two wayes that part light and darkenesse in a worde these are the two waies that make mans life either happy or vnfortunate Quisquis profunda mente vestigat verum Cupit que nullis ille deuijs falli In sereuoluaâ— intimi lucem visus Longosque in orbem cogat inflectens motus Animuque doceat quicquid extra molitur Suis retrusum possidere thesauris Thus haue I anatomized the partes of life of which if Phisicke be so carefull as to anatomize bodyes for bodilie diseases in these where minde and body are to be both inquired into care cannot be called curiositie To meddle with effects without the causes is to tell him that is sicke he is sicke not to remedy his sicknesse I will nowe speake more feelingly and speake of euents and actions which in the pettigree of knowledge is knowledges last discent Contemplation thinkes well action ought to do well of contemplation it is too vnsensible to dilate so contrary to custome and nature as it would be hard like Poetry the touch of the phansie But action is euery bodies case he that can but wipe his nose is his acquaintance of which I will speake my opinion concluding all in the managing these three Prosperitie Aduersitie and Danger If I should exempt knowledge from all things but the happinesse of vnderstanding it were well but it is not taken thus by the world no sildome it meetes with the worlds diffinition whose maine is riches and eyther pompe or pleasure luxurie or power of these what one is there whose gaine hath not beene knowledge that the waight of them hath not pressed downe and been like a Milstone tyed about the neeke of a swimmer Is it wealth and is it giuen thee thinkest thou onely to nourish thy sensualitie foole that thou art which hast thirsted after thy destruction how much would pouertie haue become thee better since wealth prooues but an instrument of thy destruction I accompt wealth and wante the touch-stones of dispositions euen in their vttermost extremities they agree in this wealth melting substances not throughly substanciall and wante vndooing their powers with his chilnesse and stormes of immoderate colde and heate man is impatient so of prosperitie and want which are not so vnlike as not to fitte a resemblance There is vertue in wealth as there is in any manuall instrument handsome and proâ—itable if in a skilfull hand that fearefull Simile of the sacred bookes that sayeth It shall be as possible for a ritche man to enter into the kingdome of heauen as a Cammell to passe through the eye of a Needle is meant as I hould not by any propriated course incident to wealth but incident to the disposers of wealth because commonly disposing it to their owne ruines for charitie is a commaundement to whose performance wealth is a visible testimonie It is the vse that carryes the cursse the thing is innocent it is a newter for can we seperate it from vayne glorye and prodigallitie it is a steppe to eternall felicitie and hapipinesse To come to this iourneyes end wee must passe by two daungers not bestowing too much vpon our selues not bestowing where it may bring foorth pride rather then defend want I neuer sawe it yet though I should be happy to see it a man curbing his owne disease of excesse to bestowe it vpon others needie we are content to starue our selues to wante handsomnesse to depriue our selues euen of the necessaries of the worlde to feede the vnsatisfied appetite of couetousnesse in the which we suffer so much as not to thinke of our owne vsing this store during our life we need do no more to do vertuously alter but the person and loue not another better then thy selfe and thou art in the waye of heauen put in thine owne name for thy sonnes or heires and thou hast purchased a diuine inheritance I for them giuing from them thou augmentest their state purchasing a blessing vpon their house and life I know not the thoughts of wealth for I was neuer wealthy but as I am I neuer see excesse that my memory laments not the want of penury How vnequallie nay how foolishly mannage we our states that neglect heauen and buye damnation with surfets and excesses A particuler faith serues a seculer fortune in these holy misteries my knowledge aspires no higher then the saluation of one soule in morallitie common to all men I may speake as well as any man because it is mine as well as an others So strong is my proposition as I neede not the valure of diuinitie morrall reasons will shewe how excellentlie Liberallitie becomes Plentie and Plentie without Knowledge is not Liberallitie but a chest that vnnecessarily maketh much of his store without vse or els prodigallitie which in confuming is no lesse vitious then couetousnesse is in sparing what haue we that the vse makes not precious dominion pallaces riches what els if not vsed lies without any more contentment then the things take in themselues which haue none other but a sencelesse being me thinks contentment can be bestowed vppon nothing more rich then to see creatures by nature neglected by thy good nature maintayned wherein thou surpassest common nature for she gaue them a life but thou giuest more a contentment of life for she gaue them life which ending there would haue proued misery and vnhappinesse but thou giuest him life and from his life remouest those torments which are worse and death How beautifull doe these actions looke vpon vs
so truely are these belonging to the soule as liâ—e two lutes meeting in pitch and nearnes the striking of the one makes the other sound so these thoughts stâ—ooken by the memory maketh the soule rebound a sound of ioy and contentment Solon to Craesus telling him the frailty and vnstablenes of wealth sinkes so deepe in my thoughts as I wonder it hath not beene aduise to all such fortunes those plenties left him in his greatest neede but then Solons counsel shewed him how like flatterers these outward glitterings are he then cryed out of Solon and vnderstood his wisedome which before hee could not see through his magnificence and power which lay betweene him and wisdom Who would not then buy liberallity with temperance and sparing from himselfe that which is to much to giue his brother that hath too little body and soule are preserued and glorified in this for the body neuer sendeth the stomacke to tell vs we haue eaten too much but the soule feeles it too when the stomacke riseth against the meate the conscience dooth against intemperaunce and as one feeles the meate the other dooth the sinne of the surffetting it is not the destinie of euerye man to bee ritch but euery man is destinated to be a man and if thou remembrest from whence thou camst hee came from the same place wee estimate pictures that can but counterfaite the life but this hath life hath flesh and bloud is thy brother wilt thou be so partiall to thy sight and so vnnaturall to him to preferre a sence before thy selfe the barke of a thing before the thing substantiall this lookes but like a man but this is a man hath reason hath speach and all things else with thee but what thou knowest not how to vse Omne hominùm genus in terris simili surgit ab orin Vnus enim rerum Pater est vnus cuncta ministrat Thus staggereth ignorance in the disposing of wealth but knowledge makes them steppes to ascend the throne of glory he wauers not hee playes not fortune dispersing blinde-fould nor sinckes with couetousnesse whose nurse is a minde vnsatisfied that doth starue himselfe to weaken himselfe for his wealth is a baite to the world and his miserie leaues him destitute of defence Nam priuata dolore omni priuat a periclis Ipsa suis pollens opibus No knowledge sees these things to be fading his strength is in himselfe if he haue these he betters not impaires himselfe by them and ends Inueni portum spes et fortuna ualete I need not say much of prodigallitie since it speakes as ill for it selfe as his vttermost enemie can onely it is worth the noting how couetousnesse prayes vpon vnthriftinesse which shewes the wisedome of the eternall goodnesse who hath giuen one sinne leaue to lashe another to death In priuate fortunes it ends with beggerie in high with infamie in both with repentance Habit hoc voluptas omnie Stimulis agit fruentes Apium que par volantium Vbigratia mella fudit Fugit nimis renaci Ferit icta corda morsu I neuer see prodigallitie but accompanied with troopes of vices and their end is coÌ„monly a yong vnthrift an old cheator I will speake no more of these priuate of princes prodigallity a little it is necessary princes reward seruants it is necessary they supply vertues need but neither to much it is good to keepe them in appetite for performance coÌ„meth of more roundly when the soule and body both hope of reward then when the soule alone for then the bodye waxeth lazy and becomes sluggish Much more dangerous was Demetrius taxation vpon the Athenians which being so much as hardly in their powers to contribute at the receipt he gaue it his concubine to buy soape with this smarted doubly vpon the taxed people for it stroake them with shame and losse which had they had power they had reueÌ„ged did with the power of their tongs questionles sting him with infamie Where publike actions inforceth the vse of the publike purse princes must shewe an extraordinarie temperancie demonstrate those coÌ„mon contributions are spent for the coÌ„mon profit vpon no priuate I hold aduersitie neerer a kin to vertue theÌ„ prosperitie I haue heard great men complaine they haue no leasure to performe their best businesses and this is prosperities powers fault so busie are their liues about their coÌ„mings in and layings out as their liues knowledges are not far different froÌ„ a marchaÌ„ts couÌ„ting house wher the bils are IteÌ„ for the body about the body but the soule hath nothing no not her windowes glased that she might looke abroade but stopped they are with rags durt so dispised and forlorne doth fortuâ—â— make this creature borne to eternall light so vngratefull are we to her that gaue vs life not to returne her light Aduersitie needes not Phillips boye to wake him with the clamor of mortallitie no aduersitie seeth cleerly the mists of adulation are not cast before her sight she heares with her owne eares with her owne eyes she seeth with her owne head shee iudgeth Plentie flatters the sences and the affections but she wanteth this therfore them she can tell that it must be death without the custome of the Easterne Monarches who were crownde and modeld their sepulcher in a day Si vis vacare animo aut pauper esse oâ—ortet aut pauperi similis pouerty is ready for this not needing the conflicts of reason and affection and so happy shee is as to make wealth counterfeit her when she would be let into the house of knowledge though we be riche if we will be wise we must not let riches cleaue to our mindes nor ingrosse our loue Pouerty is the way Res quibus occultas penitus conuisere possis Against this and all other aduersities the way to withstand them is knowledge loue them not and thou shalt not be shipwracked with their losse that thou shalt not loue them knowledge will shew thee that they are vnworthy to be beloued since there hangs about them vncertainty in that certaine perill of distraction they nourish wishings and longings before whom goeth doubt and griefe after whom commeth repentaunce and shame in our lightest matters who hath consideration paizeth the commodities or discommodities attending them and casts them away if belonging to discommodities in our profoundest matters let vs not be more light but examine them and then doubtlesse we shall dertermine Aduersity the man of glory Beware of beleeuing the resister of these for they are affections whose lightnesse not able to pierce the profunditie of these things likes better what they know what should I say more of danger then that knowledge knowes her vttermost and therefore cannot be dismaide or afraide that this is true see children more fearefull then olde folkes fooles then wisemen ignorance breedes feare knowledge resolution Re cognita statem cessat timer saith a Philosopher Feare then is gone if Knowledge comes If it be still