be abolished and the same substance indued with a more glorious condition To which accordeth that of Dauid Psa 102. They shall perish but thou shalt indure they shall all wax old as doth a garment as a vesture shalt thou change them and they shall bee changed plainely signifying that the perishing of the creatures shall be onely an alteration which God shall bring vpon them Now to that fruitlesse question of the heauens motion or rest we may answer probably that they shall haue an end of moouing for their motion being ordained onely for ordering things below especially for continuance of their generation seeing all propagation of the species in liuing creatures as also mutuall procreation in the elementish liuelesse bodies being ended to what purpose should the heauens mouing longer indure Which may also semblably be answered touching the action and passion of the elements as also for the being of things compounded of their mixture as plants and sensible creatures being things ordained onely for mans helpe and sustenance who in that blessed state of immortality without the least defect shall neede no such supply of his wants which quiet restfull estate of these vnder-bodies is not as some haue fondly imagined to be attributed onely vnto the quiet rest of the heauens for when at the praiers of Ioshua the Sunne stood still and with it the rest of the celestiall bodies vnlesse we imagine the whole course of them to haue beene peruerted yet ceased not the naturall actions of things below for euen at that time did Ioshua fight But the true cause of their rest from motion is the will of the first cause without whose adiuuant-fellow-working the secundary causes are quite disabled to performe their functions From hence therefore namely from the certainety of the worlds dissolution we thus reason for our maine position For if the world vncapable of eternity haue a limited time of endurance which it cannot passe then hath man also his continuance bounded at least within compasse of the worlds lasting For location being a thing inseparable from existence the world mans habitation and mansion house being dissolued man the principall inhabitant must haue aioynt and fellow dissolution But for the more through-handling of this vndoubted truth our purpose is more particularly to treat thereof therefore to leaue this farre fetched though not impertinent reason taken from the worlds ineuitable destruction we will come to a neerer and more proper disquisition holding our selues within the compasse of mans owne nature I haue read of a late liuing learned Physitian Paracelsus by name who had such confidence in the absolute perfection of his skill that he doubted not to professe himselfe able by Physicke to preserue a man in so perfect a temperature that he should neuer die by sicknesse but his owne hastie leauing of his life was confutation sufficient of his either false ostentation or extreme madnesse For himselfe either not able which bewraied his vnskilfull impotencie or els vnwilling which shewed his wilfull folly ere he came to the prime of his age before he was thirtie yeeres old ended his daies learning at length by his owne experience that arte can neuer ouercome the necessitie of nature nor mans cunning preuent or preuert the decrees of the destinies But to the matter in hand the question is whether man by nature is subiect vnto death the end of nature To which we answer that mans nature hath a double consideration first in the incorrupt stare and puritie of creation secondly in the degenerated condition of corruption which although it were altogether vnknowen vnto the Gentilish Philosophers yet is its consideration in part Philosophicall therefore not wholly to bee omitted Now in the first cōsideration of nature we answer negatiuely forasmuch as vndefiled nature was vncapable of the soules separation from the bodie betweene which there was so absolute and perfect an harmony and consent that as the vnderfaculties of the soule were in subiection to the reasonable and most principall part thereof without the least iarre and disagreement so fared it in the bodie though compounded of the contrarie natures of the foure elements yet so wel tempered by proportion that there could bee no obseruance of the least discord But after that mans pride set abroch by the diuels suggestion ventred to taste of the forbidden fruite for desire of knowledge the light of reason being the life of the soule ouercast by the vnauoidable cloudes of ignorance there grew a disagreement and quarrell among the subiect inferior parts of the soule from whence followed the warre of the elements in the bodie neuer to bee ended till the field were lost by blood and therefore excellent was the speech of the Frier Ferus The diseases of the bodie came from sinne the soules sicknesse the death of the body from the death of the soule and who dares say the dealing is vnequall that hee should incurre the death of the body who wilfully reiected the life of the soule or who marueils that the diuell by Gods sufferance tormenteth the bodie with diseases that gaue the diuell a place of dwelling in his soule so that the death of the bodie being the separation of the soule from the bodie was a punishment inflicted for mans wilfull sequestration of himselfe from God and it is a good collection more then coniecturall that the bodie had neuer beene subiect to the corruption of destruction had not the soule beene tainted with the corruption of defiling Man therefore in his primarie state of creation was not naturally subiect vnto death but in the defiled condition of corrupted nature death is become ineuitable and therefore Thales Milesius one of the seuen wise men was wont to say that there was no difference betweene a mans life and his death being both things agreeable vnto nature and thence proceeded their resolute contempt of death because they thought it was ineuitable whereupon the Epicure himselfe considering the ineuitablenesse of deaths comming was as Maximus witnesseth wont to say that against other things we must finde some defence and remedie onely death was vnresistable our bodie the vndefenced citie of our soule being all vnsufficient to withstand the violent assaults of death But to leaue the infinite testimonies of the learned grounded vpon so long experience let vs deale with reasons more artificiall and shew this trueth first in particular that euery man hath his endurance dated which he cannot passe afterward goe vnto the species to declare it also in the whole kinde The principall and maine reason is taken from his composition for man consisting of a matter and a forme as doe also the other bodily liuing creatures though the spirituall substance of his soule be immortall yet his body being made of the first matter whose inseparable companion is a desire of change there must of necessitie follow dissolution for God and nature according to our presupposition doing nothing in vaine this insatiable appetite of receiuing newe formes shall
manifold turmoiles and dangers of our fore-spent life the good giftes and indowments of our minde as we see it fall out in the fruites of Nature receiue a kind of seasonable and timely ripenesse Our old age hee resembleth vnto the colde and troublesome winter season very fitly thereby expressing the cumbersome coldnesse of the latter end of our life Aristotle setteth downe onely three distinct ages child-hood floursshing man-age and old-age the first plentifully abounding with heat and moisture the middle age hauing the same two qualities of life aswell tempered as their nature possibly can be old age declining and swaruing from that good and moderate temper and by little and little decaying in both these qualities till at length they be both of them consumed Now that our life is thus often and thus in order changed in the temperature it will easily appeare if we consider the matter whereof we are all made and that is semen sanguis parentum both abounding with heat and moisture whereout ariseth this consequence that in the first entrance into life wee haue groatest store of those two liuely qualities which decay not but by length of time and that in our infancie wee are fullest of moisture our experience and sense teacheth vs for so we see infants flesh most fluid and almost of a waxen disposition ready to receiue impression of any light touch and as for heat Galen and Hippocrates both consent that man is most hot in the first day of his birth though by reason of the great store of moisture the heats power doth not so euidently appeere and because the heat without any the least intermission or pause worketh vpon our moisture and by little and little consumeth it it selfe also in time decaying who seeth not that the best part of our life euen necessarily is most cold and drie whence also this may be inferred that the space between the two extremes is most temperate forasmuch as Nature neuer passeth from one extreme vnto the other but by the meane and this is the warrant of Aristotles tripartite diuision of ages the seuerals are thus briefly defined Childhood is the first part and age of a mans life wherein their generation and growth is perfected and this lasteth for the most part vntill wee be fiue and twentie yeeres old and this age is proportionable vnto the Spring hot and moist for in this time our naturall heat supplieth greater store of vitall aerie moisture from the nourishment receiued than was spent of that our naturall store thence it is that within compasse of this time our bodies grow bigger and taller But according to the successiue decay and diminution of our heat and moisture it hath pleased antiquitie to point out certaine degrees of this first age the first is our infancie and that lasteth vntil the third or fourth yeere of our life and is alwaies best stored with moisture the next is our boy hood and that lasteth other fiue yeeres the third our budding and blossoming age when our cheekes and other more hidden parts begin to be clothed with that mossie exerement of haire which is proroged vntill the eighteenth yeere the last our youth lasting vntill we be fiue and twentie yeeres old and these are the parts of our growing age The next is our flourishing and middle age and this is when a man is come to the highest degree of perfection in the temper of his body continueth in that flourishing liuelinesse without any notorious decay or impairing his heat supplying the iust quantity of moisture from the nourishment which in the former action of it was consumed and this is compared to the Summer hot and drie or rather moderately moist drie onely in comparison of the former age not simplie lest the heat should too soone dissolue the body and this also hath it parts the first is our youth for so the penurie of our English toong warranteth me to call it when our growth is staied and our naturall heat beginneth to be most flourishing you may call it our Prime for then indeed are wee in our prime and most flourishing estate it lasteth from the fiue and twentieth to the fiue and thirtieth or fortieth yeere of our life the second part of our middle age is our Manhood the most constant and setled part of our life as hauing our lifequalities most firme and in greatest mediocritie wherein notwithstanding our naturall heat beginnes a little to decay and decline from its vigour yet so as it cannot by sense be perceiued and this lasteth oftentimes till we be fiftie yeeres old The last is old age when not onely the augmentatiue facultie of the soule ceaseth to increase the quantitie of our bodies but also by reason of our heats and moistures decay there is a manifest declining from our former lustinesse and liuelihood our bodily strength together with the weake and feeble operations of our soule in her functions sensiblie impaired And this last part of our life is resembled vnto Winter for that although it be in it self hot and moist as life consisteth wholly in these two qualities yet in comparison of the former ages and in regard of death vnto which it leadeth vs is accounted cold and this hath also its degrees or parts the first wherein our strength and heat are euidently impaired yet not so much but that there remaineth a will and readinesse to bee doing and this lasteth vsually from our fiftieth yeere vnto our three-score and fiue The second part of this last part of our life which they call decrepit old age is when our strength and heat is so farre decaied that not onely all abilitie is taken away but euen all willingnesse to the least strength and motion of our bodie and this is the conclusion and end of our life resembling death it selfe whose harbinger and fore-runner it is and so haue we seuen seuerall parts of our life comprising our Pubertatem and adolescentiam vnder one accordingly whereto the Astrologers haue assigned to euerie of them their peculiar predominant Planet our Infant age is allotted to the Moones milde and moist dominion cherishing vs with her sweet influence which she hath especially vpon moist bodies our Boy-hood Mercury hath charge ouer inclining vs to sportfulnesse talke and learning Venus guides our blossomming lustfull age our youthfull prime by the Sunnes liuely operation is lifted vp from base delights to a loftier and more man like resolution and liuelinesse Mars the sterne god of warre hath the precincts of his dominion limited within compasse of our man-age adding courage to our liuelihood and whetting our otherwise dull spirits vnto a more ventrous boldnesse in quarrelling combats Old age from Iupiter receiueth granitie and staiednesse Decrepit crooked age from the angrie aspect of drie Saturne sucketh the poisonous infirmities of crasie sicknesse and waiward pettishnesse and this is briefly the summarie explication of the differences of mans ages and the causes of this distinction together with those
facility of their sciences For as Apelles said well vnto a Painter that bragged of his speedy workmanship when shewing his picture he said This I drew euen now Surely said Apelles though thou hadst saied nothing yet should I easily haue guessed by the workemanship that it was done in haste So may we well say to these quicke-witted mechanicall tradesmen a man that hath but a little insight into their trade may well thinke their craftes are soone learned and I rather maruell as Apelles said that they learned no more in the same quantitie and length of time But it fareth with their grosse phantasie as it doth with our eie-sight in an vnequall distance from the obiect for as being far off we conceiue of the vnmeasurable greatnesse of the most huge hilles to bee but as a point so the infinite excellencies of the heauenly Artes being too farre remooued from their grosse or rather narrow capacity come into their conceite as things of lesse moment which if their dimme or rather weake eie sight were able to beholde in their diuine nature they would soone confesse their surpassing excellency and exceeeding difficulty But to leaue them to their pleasing opinions and to come to our purpose which is in briefe to handle the differences of the Ages of Mans life as also the causes thereof together with the incident qualities to euery of them which being in some sort auaileable to the knowledge of our selues the highest point of knowledge which can be attained vnto by the iudgement of the wise Apollo as also either altogether omitted or very slightly handled by others I hope my small paines and lesse ability shall be accepted in good worth and accounted of rather according to the good intent of the author than the worthinesse of the worke In which hope of acceptation for my good indeuors and fauourable pardon of my manifold errors I come without any longer Preface to the substance of the Treatise THE DIFFERENCES of the Ages of mans Life Together with the originall causes progresse and end thereof MAN the Epitome of the whole world Lord of the creatures in regard of that perfect analogie and resemblance betweene him the great worlds frame is not vnfitly by the Learned both Diuines and Philosophers termed The Lesser world for there is nothing in the vaste compasse of this vniuersall circumference whose likenesse and liuely representation we haue not summarily comprised in man as in a most perfect compendium and abridgement For as the first-moued-sphere carieth with its motion the subiect inferiour circles so the seruile vnderfaculties as the sensuall desire appetite are by nature subdued to the dominion and guidance of the more principall and mistris-power of the soule which wee call reason And as in the middest of heauen there is situated the Sunne that enlightneth all things with his raies and cherisheth the world and the things therein contained with his life-keeping heat so the heart of man the fountaine of life and heat hath assigned to it by nature the middle part of our body for his habitation from whence proceedeth life and heat vnto all the parts of the bodie as it were vnto riuers whereby they be preserued and inabled to performe their naturall and proper functions But not to be infinite in prosecuting the particulars of this well knowen comparison as in other things we see a perfect proportion so also beside the analogie we may obserue a mutuall coexistence For as the world at the beginning was created for man so with man it shall also be abolished for it is an vndeniable principle in Philosophy that God and Nature or rather the God of Nature neither effectually worketh nor permissiuely suffereth any thing but vnto some good end For being infinitely wise nay wisedome it selfe how can we imagine so high a point of folly resident in his Godhead as to allow of vanities things so hatefull and so abhorring from all mediocrity of wisedome Wherefore man hauing a determinate date of endurance which hee cannot passe the world also which is only for mans vse and seruice must of necessity haue an end of being Now because there is as we said a mutuall coexistence of the world and man as the world is not but for man so neither is man but in and by the world For as in Nauigation those that are in the shippe haue rest and motion with the mouing cessation of the ship so we that are tossed in the rough sea of this world in our voiage vnto heauen our safest hauen when our vessell of carriage once perisheth we also perish together For as Aristotle said truely that whatsoeuer hath being hath of necessity being in some place so from thence ariseth this necessary illation that when there is once left no place to be in then shall there remaine no longer being So that intending to shew this truth as very pertinent to our purpose viz. that man hath an appointed time of being which hee cannot passe the Question of the worlds eternity is fitly incident especially seeing as is aforesaid the world is for mans sake and man by meanes of the world Now if any man shall call into question the pertinency of this question for his satisfaction and resolution in that behalfe let him consider how necessarily vpon the variation of our temperature whence the distinction of ages proceedeth a finall destructition by an vnperceiueable lingring decay of purity in our substance doth depend For as in the violent motion of things naturall we see it comes to passe that the virtue or power of mouing imprinted by the vnnaturall mouer by little and little decaying at length by continuance of mouing or rather by the resistance of the bodies about it is cleane extinguished So in the naturall proceeding toward the enemie and end of nature death the preseruing meanes of life either by the toilesomenesse of their neuer-ceasing operation or by the corruption and mixture of impure moisture infecbled and disabled to the sufficient performance of their functions more and more euery day at length of force yeelds to the oppressing violence of their resisting aduersaries not able any longer to maintaine their conquering action so that the discussing of this contronersie is very homogeneous to the series of this treatise For till there be granted an end of mans life the mutation of the temperature by decay of nature may well be doubted of forasmuch as a successiuc impairing alway importeth a finall dissolution First therefore touching the continuance of the world whether as it had a beginning so it shall haue an end or rather whether it euer had beginning or shall haue an end of being Dionysius in his booke de Diuinis nominibus distinguisheth things that are according to the difference of their indurance the distinction is after this sort The whole number of things how many and diuers soeuer may be summarily comprised vnder these three seuerall heads There are some things or rather there is one thing
formes of the sublunary bodies may be separated from their matter but the heauens forme is vnseparable when in my iudgement they proue rather a distinction of formes than any diuerfity of the matter Or if they thence prooue a diuersity of matter because the formes incident are of greater and lesse excellency one in respect of an other we may as well say that the body of a man is of distinct matter from that of the other more base creatures because his form is so passing excellent Or if they restraine their comparison onely to the power of separation that because the matter of the heauens is ioyned inseparably to the forme when contrariwise the elementish matter hath often separation therefore there is not the same matter of both wee answer that the same matter in kinde may so inseparably bee vnited to its forme as that it can neuer be seioyned not that we deny a power of future separation of the heauens matter from the present forme but that this may bee a sufficient reason of their hitherto inseparable vnion A second argument is that of Aristotle saith he whatsoeuer things participate the same matter are capable of mutable transmutation but the heauens can neuer bee changed into the inferior bodies for somuch as the elements are altogether passiuely disposed for receit of the heauens action without any reaction vpon the heauens therefore there is not the same matter of both To which we answer that the proposition or first sentence must be vnderstood of a potentiall transmutation and that with this exception vnlesse the matters imperfectiō be perfected by the formes inherent excellency or resistance be made of some superiour forme to turne away the violence of the oppugning agent We say that the forme now being in the heauens is of so powerfull and vnconquerable a nature as that no naturall contrary agent is able to compasie any the least new impression Thirdly thus they reason Were the heauens of the same matter with the bodies of the elements then in like fort should they at least by nature be corruptible but the corruption is altogether abhorrent from the heauens nature To which assumption Damascen answers by a flat deniall for euen the heauens in his Philosophie are naturally subiect to corruption To which accordeth that of Plato in his Timaeus that attributes the heauens incorruptiblenes to a superior more powerfull cause For so hee brings in the maker of the world speaking vnto the celestiall bodies By nature you are dissoluble but through my will preserued from dissolution Nor shall the destintes of death preuaile ouer you to destroy you because my will is a bond of more power to keepe you from corruption than that wherewith at your first making you were holden together And thus haue we hastily runne ouer the difficult question of the heauens matter Touching the certainty and meanes of their dissolution we will briefly speake by and by after the resolution of the other ar-arguments for the non-dissolution of the world Simon Magus as it is recorded lib. 3. Recog Beati Petri. cap. 3. if the records be true thus replied vpon the learned Apostle for the worlds immortalitie If God be infinitely and only good and the world also good how shall God in the end destroy the world If hee destroy that which is good how shall himselfe continue good If hee pull it downe because it is euill how shall he then be free from euill that made it euill To which wee answer with S. Peter in the same place That the world in its first originall state was good yet so as it was foreordeined to dissolution nor doe wee thereby detract from Gods goodnesse for the heauens the most excellent part of the world being not made for themselues but for some end after to be reuealed how good soeuer yet were to be dissolued that that for which they were ordeined might appeare which also Peter thus familiarlie sheweth Who seeth not how cunningly an egshell is framed yet for manifestation of the end of its making it must be broken of necessitie So must the present estate of the world of necessitie be destroyed that the more excellent condition of the kingdome of heauen may be made manifest at which time also this degenerated euill state of corruption shall be done away that a more glorious estate of incorruption may be restored So then that the world shall haue an end I take it it is manifest and that not an end of annihilation but of corruption which indeed shall be a way vnto its perfection Now concerning the times and seasons of the worlds dissolution we will not take vpon vs curiously to determine seeing God the beginning and end of all things hath left the time vnreuealed vnto vs. Touching the means and maner of the dissolution the Stoicks glanced at it a farre off being of opinion that the world should by fire be dissolued For thinking the starres and the skies fire to haue a wasting action vpon the inferiour elements their nourishing moisture by little and little decaying when neither the earth can haue refection by the water nor the aire procreation after its absolute consumption there shall-remaine nothing but fire to consume both the heauens and the earth of which afterward a new world should be made whose opinion is very consonant vnto that of Peter saue onely that they thought this destruction should come of a natural necessity for Peter also taugnt it should be by fire wherewith God withdrawing his hand of preseruation should consume this world and of the ashes heereof create a new yet so as neither the seate of the blessed souls in heauen nor the dungeon of the damned in hell should be destroied that neither the iotes of the Saints nor the torments of the wicked should be interrupted As for the firmament and the other inferiour spheres together with the elements they shal be indued with another that a far more excellent cnodition putting off these accidents and affections of corruption fit for the continuall generation and corruption of the naturall bodies and receiuing other qualities agreeable to the incorruptible estate of the world to come so that their substance shall be all one howsoeuer they alter their qualities As in the resurrection mens bodies shall bee of the same substance but of a different disposition For this corruption must put on incorruption and this mortall must put on immortality So that as Saint Paul said our imperfect knowledge which we haue in this life shall in the after-world be abolished because then we shall haue a morefull and perfect knowledge of God and his Christ So may we well say this world shall be destroied because it shall lose this present estate of imperfection and put on a more glorious condition fit for the world to come And so as I take it are those places of scripture to bee vnderstood where niention is made of the worlds perishing that is the present estate of this world shall
two touching the diuers consideration of this difference according to the diuersity of that subiect vnto which they are incident For in these tearms of length and shortnesse of life we may compare either things of the same kinde as man with man or things of diuers kinds as reasonable creatures with liuelesse sensible things for there are some vnreasonable creatures longer liued then man for so Hesiodus reporteth of the Crow that he liueth out nine mens liues measuring euerie 〈◊〉 to be 100 yeeres the Hart by the same autâ—ors witnesse thrise as many the Rauen trebleth the Harts endurance and thence was that plaint of dying Theophrastus and complaint of natures inequality as it were blindfolded disposition of her benefits especially in this kinde that to Harts and Crowes so thanklesly had giuen so long time of continuance which was denied vnto man that could and would haue better imploied that benefit Which complaint was personally renewed and aggrauated by Bewaldus an old Grammarian for the sticks not in the person of some captious Atheist to expostulate the matter with God why our life in these times is so curtalled that for the many hundreds of yeeres which in the first age of the world men liued wee haue our stint and limits within the compasse of little more than halfe an hundred But Iosephus in his first booke of Antiquties giueth these reasons and first of all the wholesome goodnesse of their nourishment and the outward compassing elements which they inhabited For their corrupted nature was not greedily caried with desire of their corruptions increase as headlongly on the sudden to engulfe it selfe into all extremity but by degrees and lingringly as vpon constraint by little and little descendeth from that top perfection of corruption And as euery thing was neerest vnto that beginning so was it cleerest and lesse tainted with corruption We therfore in the last age and exteremity of the world are in a more extreame degree of corruption by reason of that frequent alteration in the elements when euery mutation addeth somewhat to the begun impurity A second reason was Gods wil bountifulnes the benefit whereof was not bounded in that small compasse and limit of time but extended also vnto vs and to our posterity For God therfore granted them a longer continuance for reuealing of many hidden mysteries especially in Astrologie for the course of many of the celestiall bodies could neuer haue bene learned no not so much as in any mediocrity had not God giuen some of them at least six hundred yeeres to liue in in which time the great yeere as they call it is fulfilled and perfected To which wee may adde the fewnesse of the earths inhabitants in the beginning of the world God preuenting the dispeopling of the new world and prouiding for its store and replenishing And yet if we beleeue Anacroon I know not how credible a witnesse being a Poet within these few ages last past Arganthonius king of the Tartessians liued an hundred and fiftie yeeres Cinyras of Cyprus an hundred and sixtie yeeres Eginus two hundred and as Alexander and Cornelius report there was one in Illyrium called Dodon that liued the full and complet terme of six hundred yeeres and Xenophon writeth of one who in the I le of the Latines liued eight hundred yeeres But I am of opinion with Pliny that it is very vnlikely seeing it may bee that they erred in their computation not knowing how according to diuersitie of nations in former ages there were manifold and sundry measures of the yeares for the old Arcadians made foure yeeres of one of ours allotting vnto euerie yeere three moneths The Egyptians made as many yeeres as moneths according to the Moones finished and renewed course and according vnto this reckoning it will be no strange thing that a man should euen in these daies liue a thousand yeeres But not to prosecute the diuers continuance of things in diuers kindes as also to let passe the farther examination of the decaied estate of mans life lest wee againe reuiue the now quenched fire of godlesse indignation at the shortnesse of our life we wil come to the most pertinent comparison of man with man in this kinde if first we shall onely remember what was Plinies opinion of the shortning our liues namely that God herein did greatly gratifie vs by cutting off these daies of miserie agreeable to which Silemus being demanded what was the greatest happinesse and good that God could doe a man made answer Neuer to be borne and the next vnto that to die quickly But touching the causes of long life wee may thus brieflie dichotomise them for they are either inward or outward the inward causes are such as either we haue naturally ingrafted or els gotten by arte industrie wisdome that of nature is the good temperature and proportionate mixture of the foure first qualities in the body for moderate heat that is vnproportionate to the quantitie of moisture rather hastneth death by the too speedie consumption of its moist food than any way prolongeth life as we see in men of cholericke constitution So also too great colde that is ouerswaying the quantity or vertue of our natural heat shortneth our life and thence it is that old men the neerer they draw vnto their ends haue their bodies ouergrowen with cold whereupon all the Astrologians haue obserued Saturne to be a Planet enemie vnto life as hauing a vertue of cold and drought accordingly as some imagine was he painted with a sithe in his hand cutting downe as it were and killing men with the operation and infusion of these two deadly qualities which may also be said of the excesse of the other two contrarie qualities moisture and drought for too much moisture oppresseth the naturall heat as wee see greene-wood quench an vnequall quantitie of fire and thence it is that willowes and such like whose almost naturall place is the riuers side are of short continuance because their too much too waterish moisture drowneth their heat So that hereby as I take it it is manifest that none of these qualities singly and by themselues are true causes of long life but iointly all in a good and iust proportion Now if any man shall out of Aristotle obiect that the two qualities of life namely heat and moisture are onely causes of long life we may answer that these two by themselues procure not length of life but in a certain measure proportion Now the rebater of the heats too too actiue qualitie is his contrarie cold and the moderatour temperer of the moistures accesse is drought so that in euery man the foure first qualities are requisite yet were two onely mentioned by Aristotle as being those onely which directly cause long life the other two onely inclusiuely set downe as being no otherwise effectually profitable for life than as they temper and abate the excesse of the two principall But because euery moisture is not
spirits whereby the heat was as it were with smoke chaoked The like is reported of Diodorus a logician who for shame that he could not at the first answer the trifling question which Stilpo put out suddenly ended his daies Which is also written of Homer who in the I le Ios sitting on the sea shore demanded of the fisher-men if they had taken any thing they thus obscurely in riddle-wise made ananswer Those that we tooke we left behind those that we could not catch we bring with us For in the sun-shine as they say it is shipmens fashions they made inquisition for their backbiting familiars and some they tooke and cruelly pressed vnto death leauing their liuelesse carcases to bee deuoured of the fishes those that craftily had insinuated themselues either into their flesh or into the inside of their apparrell they were faine to bring away with them But quicke witted Homer not able on the sudden to expound this probleme for shame as Plutarch and Herodotus write of him gaue vp the ghost For the spirits and blood as in all kinde of feare it falleth out retiring to the inward parts as to a tower of defence by their sudden retrait and reuerberation redouble the heate and so inflaming the heart not able to be cooled againe by respiration stifles the patient Concerning Venery deaths best harbinger I shall not neede to recite the infinite examples of them that by meanes therof haue hastened their deaths nor indeed is it possible to number those innumerable troops that through lust either before the actuall accomplishment or after the too frequent satisfying the same haue ended their youthfull daies It was well said of one that Venus prouideth not for those that are already borne but for those that shal be borne and therefore Auicenna a learned Philosopher Physitian doubted not to say that the emission of a little seed more than the body could well beare was a great deale more hurtfull than the losse of fortie times so much blood For it wasteth the spirits weakeneth the stomack enfeebleth and drieth vp the braine and marrow whereby especially it hastneth death And the truth heereof Aristotle prooueth by his experimentall obseruation for so hath he noted the cocke-sparow by immoderate and too frequent vse of Venery very seldome to liue out the tearme of two yeeres and the same reason hee giueth why the Mule a mixt creature begotten betweene an horse an asse is longer liued thā either of them for his insting in that kinde is but once only through the whole course of his life To which we may adde the diuersity of the sex for the male according vnto Aristotle in euerie kinde almost is by nature better fitted for long life than the female hauing greater force of heat and the moisture more firm better able to resist than the fluid substance of the female and thence it is that women for the most part are sooner perfected than men being sooner fit for generation sooner in the flower and prime of their age and finally sooner old for their heat though little yet sooner preuaileth ouer that fluid thinne substance and moisture of theirs than it possibly can ouer that solid and compact humiditie which is in man But lest our Treatise grow too big we wil proceed to those other outward causes of long life such as bee the influences of the Stars either in our conception and birth or in the country soile wherin we liue as also the goodnesse of the soile it selfe both of the earth aire For though it be true that the celestiall bodies haue no direct action either of inclination or constraint vpon the reasonable soule of man which is immateriall yet is it as true that they haue singular and especiall operations vpon our bodies for so wee see the fruitfulnesse and barrennesse of the earth depends vpon the heauens good and bad aspect the sea followes the motion and alteration of the Moone the yeere distinguished into its foure parts according to the accesse or farther absence of the Sun and therefore Galen the father of Physitians counselled his scholers to haue especiall respect vnto the coniunction of the Planets in their signes whensoeuer they vndertake any cure and which is more fit for the present purpose the Astrologers haue assigned vnto euery Planet a monthly dominion ouer the childe conceiued in the wombe according to their order and situation The first moneth is allotted vnto Saturne the second vnto Iupiter and so foorth in order vntill they haue all finished their dominion and then they begin againe which is the especiall reason alleaged by some why the childe that is borne in the eight moneth for the most part dieth when as oftentimes those that are brought foorth a moneth sooner or later liue in verie good health for Saturne is a planet whose influence causeth colde and drinesse which both are qualities enemies vnto life Now followeth the last though not the least cause of long life and that is the goodnesse of the soile and wholesomnesse of the aire for it is so recorded in Histories and approoued by the testimonie of our late trauellers that in that part of India which is called Oner the inhabitants are very long liued and for the most part very healthfull insomuch that many of them liue vntill they bee aboue an hundred yeeres old and wee see by experience in our country how perilous not onely pestilent aire is but euen the vnholesomnes of the fennie countries that are often anoied with stinking and vnsauorie fogges Aristotle in his treatise of the length and shortnesse of life maketh choice of a hot countrey as fittest for preseruation and maintenance of life for so he obserueth it that serpents bred and brought vp in hot countries are generally bigger bodied then those that are found in colder climets and those fishes that breed in the red sea are also longer than those in the seas which are not so hot and that though they bee of the same kinde which is a manifest proofe of their longer continuance els how commeth it to passe that they haue greater growth and againe those creatures that liue in cold climets haue a more waterish kinde of humour and fitter for congelation whence followeth the speedier destruction of the inhabitants but the trueth is that neither hot countries nor colder climets are of themselues any furtherance vnto long life for those that are of a cholericke fierie constitution liue longer in cold countries and such as be of colder complexion liue best and longest in hot regions but according to the diuersitie of mens complexions so liue they better or worse in diuers countries Those that are too hot of cōstitution by my counsell shall make choice of a country in some measure and degrees cold lest the outward heat of the circumiacent aire increase the fire within and make it more vehement and thence is it that those in the hottest part of Ethiopia are shortest liued hauing that
naturall excesse of heat set on fire with the accesse of the externall heat of the aire Now for such as abound with too much moisture their best habitation in my iudgement is in hot and drie regions that the heat and drought of the soile may abate the superfluity of the humor But there are some of a moderate and well proportioned constitution and if any man shall aske what country is best for them to dwel in I answer that there are two sorts of men thus tempered some are of a more weake and lesse hardy disposition and to them I would prescribe a dwelling in countries rather hot then cold that the heat of the place may comfort and strengthen the heate of their bodies Others againe are more hardy better able to indure any not extreame violence of cold and for them it is best to liue in colder climates for so is their heat better inabled to performe it functions of digestion and such like and therefore Aristotle in his Politicks saith that Northren men and generally such as dwell in colder countries are stronger and bigger bodied and most an end better couraged and longer liued for the coldnesse of the compassing aire reflects the heat into the inward parts and by that reflexion the heats force is increased and the parts gathered better and closer together which both further the performance of its duties And that is the reason why men in Winter are more hungry and deuouring than in Summer as experience teacheth vs all for the stomacke is strengthned by the heats compression to the better concocting of the receiued nourishment Thus therefore may wee conclude with the exposition of Aristotle his opinion in this case when he saith that hot places are fittest for long life in his booke of the Length and shortnesse of mans life and in his Politicks The inhabitants of colder climates are stronger and longer liued for thus may we reconcile this apparent contradiction that for men of more cold complexions hot places are most preseruatiue and healthfull and for the contrary complexioned men contrary affected places so that if two of the same constitution imagine them both to be hot liue the one in a cold the other in an hot region if their heat was not accordingly proportioned to their moisture but vnequally in the excesse he that made choise of the colder habitation prouided best for his life And thus haue we briefelie set downe the common-receiued causes of long life where-out by the consequence of contraries wee may deduce the causes of short life And they are first the small quantity and watrishnesse of the moisture Secondly the superfluous abundance of excrements Thirdly the badnesse and vnholesomenesse of the soile Fourthly the vngentle aspects of the Starres that ruled either in our conception or birth Fiftly want of good nourishment Sixtly intemperance either in our diet or exercise or obeying of our affections To which some adde the fewnesse or tendernesse of teeth for that is a signe of thickenesse in the bone of the head the matter allotted to the teeths generation being turned into the substance of the scull which also importeth the weakenesse of the braine which is by meanes thereof vnfit for breathing and therefore being of a moist disposition the more fit for putrefaction as standing-waters soonest putrefie and gather filth but this I take rather for a signe then a cause of short life Now come we to that we first and principally intended to shew the differences of mens ages and the causes thereof together with their seuerall and singular properties wherein we will deale so much the more sparingly by reason of those doubtes and difficulties remooued in the former part of the treatise so that we shall not neede to digresse into any by-controuersies but keepe a direct and a straight course And to begin with the Definition for more orderly proceeding it may thus briefely be described An age is a period and tearme of mans life wherein his naturall complexion and temperature naturally and of its owne accord is euidently changed For such is the disposition and nature of our bodie that by the continuall combat and interchangable dominion of the euer-iarring elements it often changeth its primary constitution so that though there were no outward cause of transmutation which notwithstanding are many and manifold yet haue wee that home-bred cause within vs that would in time alter our temperature for our naturall heat vncessantly working vpon our natural moisture doth though not suddenly change the proportion into extreames yet by degrees perceiuably preuaileth more and more ouer the humidity For so see wee the same body in our youth and child-hood diuersly tempered our infancy ful of moisture as the fluid soft substance of our flesh manifestly declareth our youth bringeth a farther degree of solidity our riper age euer tēperate thence still declineth our body vnto colde and drinesse till at length death ceaseth vpon our bodies being the last end and period of our life But euery slight change of the foure qualities proportion changeth not our temperature for then we shuld euery day haue a diuers complexion our bodies eftsoones with wine and exercise changed from cold to heat and by the contrary from heat to cold yet by reason of the short indurance of these distemperatures the body returning to its former constitution we cannot say there is a new complexion wrought in the body for a temperature or complextion is a firme and standing habit of the body Nor yet must wee imagine the talnesse and growing of the body or the new budding of haires to be causes sufficient to procure this distinction but the variation of our originall constitution is the true and proper cause of this diuersity and difference And yet not euery change of the complexion but that onely which proceedeth from that inwardly ingendred cause of destructions for many times by the vnseasonable and immoderate heat of the aire as also by intemperate and riotous liuing men euen in the most milde temperat countries alter their complexions and with the Aethiopian become euen decrepit old men if we respect their constitutions and those other incident qualities of old age before they haue finished the full tearme of thirty yeeres and therefore was it added in the description that it must be a naturall and a selfe-alteration Now according to these naturall and euident alterations of heat and moistures proportion so may we best most properly diuide the ages Pythagoras diuides thē into four kinds or rather setteth downe their number which be according to his reckoning foure in number Child-hood youth man-hood old age proportioning our life to the foure parts of the yeere our Child-hood to the spring wherein all things together with a pleasant verdour and greenenesse flourish and by a plentifull supply of moisture continually increase in growth Our youth vnto Summer for that growen strength of the body and minde Our man-age vnto the Autumne or Haruest when after the