of a well-refined and polished Wit But let vs proceed to that which toucheth and concernes vs more neerely and let vs enforce our selues to pull out this Thorne which incessantly trauerseth and troubleth our repose and giues vs so many disturbances It is that which we call paine which by the inequalitie of her sence and feeling sufficiently witnesseth that wee foment and cherish it beyond her worth and naturall being and that at the very entrance of our Euills and Afflictions it remaines in vs to giue them what composition we please Some haue beene more afflicted at the feare of paine then of paine it selfe and more tormented at its absence then presence All things are proportioned if the afflictions which assaile vs bee violent they are not lasting nor permanent and difficultlie can wee feele it because the suddainenesse takes away the sence thereof if it bee moderate it is the easier to bee supported if Pouertie Griefe Death bee such as they are figured and depainted vs why then did Socrates laugh at Pouertie mocke at Griefe and contemne Death were the senses of his body insensible No but he iudged otherwise thereof then we doe hee lodged them in himselfe according to their iust esteeme and valew and not as we doe who know them not but by the fearefull markes and countenance of those who haue approoued and experienced them and who had prepared such faint courages to withstand them that it was easie enough for Death and Griefe to make themselues victoriously felt and feared The feare of some who are carried to their execution hath it not made them in a manner to meete with death halfe way the sight of the preparatiues of death doe as it were make death flie into his brest and depriue him of his sense and life before hee haue felt any of the torments that are prepared for him Hee who on the Scaffold attended the blow of the Sword to cut off his Head being but touched with a wet Table-napkin his very apprehension and feare made him to deuance Death and so died immediately And then let vs take assurance from such spies to know whence it is but farre was that Philosopher from this vniust and base feare who at the very point and instant that the Executioner was to giue him the blow of Death being demanded by one of his friendes whereon hee thought answered that hee imployed all the powers of his minde to consider how his Soule would separate her selfe from his body If many like him had beene sent to know and affront Death it may bee they would depaint him to vs not so obscure as Sleepe and Slumber Death did not much preiudice him he would silently treate and reason with himselfe till the end and till the very last-gaspe and period of his life he would manage the vnderstanding which Nature had giuen him so wee iudge of all things either by the semblances or euents of things which of themselues haue nothing sure or certaine Our Imaginations thoughts and manners may well bee corrupted sith this contagion hath not excused nor spared Vertue her selfe which could not comport her selfe so well passing through our hands but that shee felt our corruption Wee more willingly embrace her for the glory which shee drawes after her as her shadow then for her selfe The Markes and Armes whereby shee makes her selfe seene knowne yea desired doe they not sufficiently declare and testifie that they are the fruites of our opinion whosoeuer should see her alone by her selfe all naked and without Artifice although indeede this bee her richesâ— dresse and attire I know not if hee would desire or loue her A Soule must be wonderfully powerfull not to affect and cherish her but because she is amiable and makes as little esteeme of contempt as of glory for if wee performe any vertuous action it is rather for the content which wee hope for to sow and spread our name in many mouthes then for our owne satisfaction So wee are pleasing to the World we care not what we are within our selues the World is extreamely obliged and bound to vs to affect and cherish her more then we do our selues some are seene in the front of a Battaile who feele themselues more animated and egged on by their owne Vanitie then by their courage in the execution of a generous exploite so as it seemes that in these our times there is nothing so cleane or pure but this Vice hath thereunto added and applied her rust Also it is very difficult how so euer wee resolue so to vnwinde and free our selues from popular opinions that wee still remaine not some where engaged Vlisses had to defend himselfe but against the charming voyce of the Syrenes but it was not against the voyce of the People That which wee ought to feare comes not from one Rocke but from all the corners of the World A voyce neuerthelesse of so small importance and consequence that it can neither eleuate nor deiect the merits of a wise man no more then shadowes being great or little doe diminish the true proportion and greatnesse of the body at least because a wise man cannot wholly disingage and exempt himselfe from this presse and croude of people let him leaue his body his goods his legges among them for it matters not much prouided that he retire his minde wholly to himselfe and that as the Sunne despight his dayly motion leaues not to obserue and follow a particular way and course contrary to his first mooueable So a wise man in the course of worldly affaires although hee bee tyed to the custome and dependance of popular opinions vnder the conduct of Reason yet hee findes and followes a particular way whereby to entertaine himselfe in a perpetuall health and tranquillitie of minde The end of the third Discourse The fourth Discourse Of Passions SECTION I. Stormes raise not so many surges on the Sea as Passions engender tempests in the hearts of men HIppocrates saith There is no worse or more dangerous sicknesse then that which disfigureth a mans face But I say that those which at one and the same time disfigure the beauty both of his body and soule are yet by many degrees farre worse There is no passion which ariseth in man that leaues not on his face some visible signe of his agitation but the soule within altogether confused beares more singular and remarkable markes Shee sometimes loseth the knowledge of her selfe in misknowing her own proper misery Or if shee flatter her selfe so farre as to think to know it shee holdes it for a good signe or signe of health and so coloureth her most dangerous sicknesse with the title of a recouery thereof Choler with her passeth for valour and cowardise for wisedome and thâ—s she palliates and couereth her proper vices with the cloake of Vertue This defect proceedes for that our vices touch vs too neerely and that the eye of our reason disturb'd by the power of our passions hath not the requisite
that which cannot offend vs despight our selues Nature hath caused vs to be all borne equally rich esteemes so little of the goods she giues vs which we tearme riches as of our passions and the feare to lose them Seneca sayes that the Gods were more propitious and fauourable when they were but of earth then since when they were made of Gold or Siluer meaning thereby that the rest and tranquillity of the mind was more frequently found in the life of our fore-fathers who sought no other riches then the fruites of their labours then it hath done since when men being curious to open the bosome and rip vp the bowells of the earth haue therein found Mines of Gold and Siluer which shee hath dispersed and sowen among vs as seed of discord and diuision The meanest estate and condition and those steps which are neerest the earth are still the firmest and surest as the highest are the most dangerous And if Pouertie bee any way harsh or distastfull it is onely because she can throw vs into the armes of Hunger Thirst Heate Cold or other discommodities So in Pouertie it is not she which is to be feared but rather Griefe and Paine whereof we will hereafter speake in its proper place But some one will say who is he that apprehends and feares not Death There is no pouerty so poore which findes not wherewith to liue The body is easily accustomed and hardned to endure Heate or Cold but what remedy is there against Death who with his sharpe sithe cuts and reapes away so many pleasures yea the very threed of our life which can neuer be regained for although old men approach Death in despight of themselues and that their distast of worldly pleasures the forerunner thereof should yet giue them resolution to aduance boldly neuerthelesse they retire backe they tremble at the ghastly sight and shadow of Death yea they are affraide sincke downe in their beds and wrap themselues vp in their couerlets and to vse but one word they dye euery moment at the onely feare and thought of Death And I who am in the Spring-time of my age cherished of the Muses and beloued of Fortune in the very hight of all pleasures and voluptuousnesse shall not I yet feare Death So many Griefes and Sorrowes so many conuulsions and gnashing of our teeth are they not to be apprehended and feared can the linkes of that marriage of the Body and Soule be dissolued and broken but by some violent effect and power those who are insensible feare their dissolution Flowers and Trees seeme to mourne at the edge of the Knife and shall not then our sense and feeling bee sensible thereof yea and remarke and see it in our feare I answere It is true that of all things which Nature representeth vnto vs most terrible there is nothing which shee hath depainted in such fearefull colours as the figure and image of Death Euery thing tendes to the conseruaâ—ion of its being and generously oppose and fight against those who seeke to destroy it But the feare which wee entermixe with it is not of the match oâ— party but is onely of our owne proper beliefe and inuention Paine which seemes to be the iustest cause to make vs apprehend it is excluded and hath nothing to doe with it because the seperation of the soule and body is done in so sodaine a moment and instanâ— that our Vnderstanding hardly perceiuing it it iâ— very difficult for our sense to doe it Those gastly lookes which deuance it or the rewâ—rd of good or euill which followes it are no appurtenances â—or dependancies of this instant or moment But I will say more For as there is no time in this instant so likewise there is no paine because the senses cannot operate or agitate according to the opinion of Philosophers but with some certaine Interim of time and which is more that those last panges are passed away without any sense or feeling thereof And contrariwise if in this seperation the paine should be either in the body or soule or both First the body feeles it not because there is nothing but the senses which can perceiue it who being in disorder and confusion by the disturbance of the vitall spirits which they oppresse and restraine their disposition is thereby vitiated The function of the senses being interrupted they cease to operate and therefore of feeling the effect of paine but more especially when the spirits abandon them and retire and withdrawe themselues from the heart The which wee perceiue and see in those who fall in a swoone whose eyes remaine yet open without seeing and without operation which happeneth and comes to passe because the spirits which should make the wheeles of the sight to moue and operate haue abandoned their places and functions The Soule of her selfe cannot remedy it no more then a Fountainer can cause his water-workes to play when there is no water the which by reason thereof is then meerely out of his power And as the eye by the defect hereof performes not her function and without perceiuing thereof ceaseth to operate so all the other senses by the same rule and reason doe faile vs. When our Soule will take her last farewell of our body shee flyes to the regions of the Liuer and Heart as to her publique places all the spirits being dispierced and bending here and there in the body to take her last fare-well of them which retire without that the parts or members farther off doe feele any paine of this seperation but because henceforth they can no more feele it for that they carie away with them the heat and strength of feeling If therefore there be any paine it must be in the noble parts who profer their last farewell and thankes to the Soule for the care labour and paine which shee hath had to giue them life and motion The Husband cannot lâ—aue or goe from his Wife without a great sense and feeling of sorrowe for his sighes griefes and teares testifie how bitter and displeasing this seperation is to him Can therefore this seperation of the soule from the body bee performed with lesse griefe and paine Some will say that the most remote parts and members shall be insensible thereof and endure and suffer nothing in this reluctation and conflict which is onely because they haue giuen this charge and conferred this commission to the noble parts to performe it As in the seperation of one whom we deerely affect and loue all the whole body which suffereth in this farewell to make his griefe and sorrowes the more apparent commits the charge thereof to the eyes by their teares and to his breast by her sighes to expresse his sense and feeling thereof I answere that there is no paine because the spirits who withdrawe themselues by the defects and failing of others in these interiour parts are either in good and perfect order and their function is common and therefore without paine or else
feeling thereof as the Poets fiction made miserable Niobe to approue and feele who afflicted her selfe with the murther of her children although they departed out of most extreame sorrow and melancholly Wee must diuert and attract the spirits to Hearing as the most subtill and industrious sense for this cure and remedy especially those who are preualent and delicate in this sense So Dauid by the sweet melody of his Harpe charmed and expelled the deuill out of Saul So Orpheus hauing enchanted his sorrow and lull'd a sleepe his griefe for the remembrance of his losse by the sweet tunes and harmony of his Lute Hee thought hee had againe drawne his deare Euridice from her Tombe hauing for a small time calmed the stormes and tempests in his soule of his violent griefes and sorrowes And if we may beleeue the Masters of this Art and Mysterie of Loue they haue practised no more assured remedy to cut off and appease the violence of their passion then by the diuerting and diuiding of their hearts and thoughts as it were into two riuers which they leaue to streame and slide away to the discretion and seruice of their Mistresses Or if they yet feele them selues too much oppressed and afflicted with this halfe diuided Empire they can then enlarge themselues and breathe more at their ease vnder the gouernment of many by changing if they can so please the Monarchie of Loue into an Aristocratie or Democratie And time which we see proues the sweetest Physitian of afflicted hearts and soules what hearbs doth it not imploy in their cure which the vse and practise of diuers iests and replies that mannage and surprise our imagination doe in their turnes thereby cast into a slumbering Lethargie or obliuion the remembrance of these our afflictions as some sweet and sense-pleasing Nepenthe or drinke of obliuion Yea the change of ayre contributes something to the cure of our spirituall afflictions and diseases And briefely as poysons are profitably vsed and employed in our Physicke So passions the true poysons of the soule serue to the cure of her troubles and perturbations which cannot bee so speedily or easily appeased as by applying the power of some different and contrary passion And these are the weapons and armour wherwiâ—h our Vertue couereth her selfe hauing not any other sufficient force and courage to appeare in the face of her Enemie vnarmed and vncouered SECTION II. The life of a Wise man is a circle whereof Temporance is the center whereunto all the lines I meane all his actions should conduce and ayme STormes doe not much hurt or endomage Ships which are in harbours and the tempest of humane actions doth not much disturbe the tranquillity of that minde which rides at an anchor in the harbour of Temperance If man in his infirmities will yet preuaile ouer any perdurable felicity hee muâ—t with full sayles and top and top gallant striue to ariue there although the rockes and shelues are so frequent in his way that he can difficultly secure himselfe from shipwrack And yet he is likewise happy who sauing himselfe vpon the broken ribbes or plankes of his Ship can yet steare and conduct the rest of his life to this place of secuâ—rity and safety Some wise men haue approued the excesse of intemperancie and the distast of an extreame satiety before they could resolue to containe themselues within the bounds and limits of this Vertue imagining that her grauity contained some hard and anxious thing vntill experience had taught them that Temperance is the seasoning and ordering of pleasure as intemperancie is the only plague and scourge therof Or if you will tearme intemperancie to bee the daughter of pleasure and voluptuousnes say then withall that shee is cruell and a Parricide because by her life she giues vs death and doth hugge and embrace vs so fast that shee strangles vs Contrariwise Temperance sharpens her desire and caries vs into the very bosome of true pleasure yet not to engage our soule there but to please her and not to lose her but to finde her Considering this vertue mee thinkes it may be said of her as of Bacchus that shee is twice borne Her first birth shee deriues from Vice as he doth his from a simple woman because to ariue to this point and this mid way where shee is situated she must necessarily proceed from the one or other of these vitious extreames which are neighbours to this Vertue For hee which is not yet liberall or bountifull before he be he must either be a niggard or a prodigall But afterwards shee ripeneth and perfecteth his being in the power and vigour of the Wise mans minde and opinion as the Sonne of Semele in the thighes of Iupiter Strange effects of a corrupted nature which from the infected wombe of Vice snatcheth Vertue and from that of Vertue likewise drawes Vice Choler giues weapons to valour valour lends them to rashnesse and yet all three neuerthelesse hold themselues so close together and are vnited with so naturall a cyment that it is extreamely difficult to obserue their bounds so much they are intermixed and confounded on their confines Wee must haue wonderfull strong reynes to keepe our temperance firme in this passage for if shee passe or slide neuer so little beyond these fixed and appointed limits shee shall presently finde her selfe to bee in the way and tracke of vice Two enemies are still at her sides and elbowes who watch for her ruine and destruction If shee recoyle or aduance neuer so little shee is instantly endomaged either by the one or the other either by excesse or defectuosity But as to strike the white there is but one way but many yea an infinite number to misse it So for vs to walke to this perfect felicity there is but this only way whereas to misse it and to fall into the one or the other of these vitious extreames wee may doe it by infinite wayes and courses This tranquillity of the Soule which Philosophie represents vnto vs is it any other thing then the obedience of the inferiour part which wee call sensuall appetite to the superiour which we tearme reasonable But how can they remaine of one minde and accord if wee grant and passe not some thing to the desire and will of the law which we feele in our members wholly opposite and contrary to that of our reason This perpetuall Warre and ascending tyrannie which wee will maintaine betweene them Doth it not approue and testifie vnto vs how farre distant we are from this tranquillity There is no peace but is to be preferred to Warre prouided that it can maintaine it selfe Mans life on earth is nothing but a perpetuall warre and it sufficeth that it be a forraigne one without that wee should againe foment a ciuill and intestine one A Souldiour holdes himselfe vnfortunate who in time of peace cannot safely enioy the spoyles and pillage which hee hath wonne in warre and yet farre more he who hauing fought with
them more curiously and attentiuely then we would doe a Statue of Gold or Siluer which we our selues haue seene made although it were farre more inriched by the art and labour of an excellent workeman and this onely because we haue seene a deformed massie piece thereof whereon he hath began to labour Let him hencefoorth doe what he can he cannot remooue this thought from our minde where as the other hath neuer appeared to vs but in his lustre So those whom we haue seene to play the men like our selues their Oracles and Prophets haue not beene approoued or esteemed among vs as those antient Philosophers whom it seemes that we cannot otherwise imagine then with their eyes and thoughts tyed fast to the bosome of the Diuinity and in a perpetuall re-search of the dependance and vniting together of second causes to this first sacred spring and fountaine we haue neuer seene them in their bed table or family If one and the same Age had made them our time-fellowes I know not if the familiarity of their life had not distasted vs of the familiaritie of their wits That Medales are not prised but for their rust and age and that Man so weake and wretched he is deserues no honour or praise but of those to whom he is vnknowne if his memory be too recent and fresh if the fame of his vertues be as yet but in his Orient he aduanceth with much difficulty For as at the rising of the Sunne we see a great thicke fogge of grosse vapours which seemes to arise but onely purposely to ecclipse and darken his light vntill with a bold and resolute pace he trample vnder his feete the pride of this malignant fogge who is so ielous and enuious of his brightnesse But in the middest of his course hauing attained the point of our Zenith then he seemes to Triumph ouer his Enemies as antiently vnder the Image of Apollo he quelled the arrogancy of that infamous Serpent of the Earth So I say the fame and glory of all those Illustrious personages hath commonly found its death in its cradle and in her very birth is still found obscured yea almost defaced by the hot vapours of a thousand enuious Spirits vntill that after the tract of many yeeres it in the end remaines Victorious of their life and likewise prooues so of their callumnie And then ariued to the point of the Zenith their merits haue found no farther hinderance to oreshadowe their glory and the length of time hauing transported them from our sight hath then likewise transported and secured them from the darts of enuie and scandall If Truth were borne or resided in the tongue of our neighbour it should be vndervalued yea contemned whereas we receiue it as an Oracle from that of a Stranger I admire not if those of elder times were so ambiguous in their answeres for the difficulty and intricacie thereof brought them more admiration We haue too bad an opinion of our selues in this onely and too good in all other things If hee who by the iudgement hee makes of man in generall would yet vse him with more contempt so as it were equally we then should haue nothing to gaine-say prouided I say That a Stranger which comes not to vs but by his writings and by that which is best in him could not hope for more particular fauour and applause then another among vs. But because it seemes that the glory which wee giue and conferre to this last diminish our owne we will therefore giue it farre cheaper and for lesse interest to him whom wee haue not seene and hauing nothing to intermeddle or doe with him But for an end to all it is alwayes man who giues and man who receiues As long as Art aad learning is found in him it shall still be to him a reproach of incertainty and ignorance O that the life of man is farre different from his Writings yea from himselfe Our Pen rules and gouernes the thoughts which we commit to paper and inconstancie those which wee permit to runne vpon the waues of our imagination but whosoeuer could see them in grosse and in their ordinary demarch and pace shall finde little lesse cause to laugh at the vanity and inanity of one then the other and at the fantasie of a Philosopher then wee doe at the May-games of a childe For despight of the order and polishing which we vse in the dependance and connexion of our discourse wee cannot for the most part auoide or preuent that our reasons doe not contend and assaile one the other as well as their effects In this small and short discourse there are contradictions enough but it matters not Reason contradicts her selfe and my opinion can turne it selfe no way whatsoeuer that shee meete not with some of her owne party and who will maintaine her in the point of her reasons so much humane knowledge hath of auerse and different faces Wee incessantly turne round about obiects and we can neither seize nor apprehend them but by strange qualities and outward apparances But the apparance and the subiect it selfe are different things If then our iudgement stop onely to apparances or outward shewes hee iudgeth of some thing which is not the subiect What certaintie in this incertaintie What light amidst so much darknesse What truth I say can result or arriue to vs if the matter or subiect according to the opinion of Pythagoras be in perpetuall changes and reuolution If wee haue no participation of a true being If all humane nature be still in the midst betweene birth and death the time present betwixt the past and the future and if it be true that Reason receiues nothing but which is brought him from without by the meanes and interuention of the senses which cast great mists betweene the true and false and betweene the obiect and the thought She can very difficultly come to the knowledge of Truth a-thwart so many cloudes of lusts Loues feares and hopes and of an infinity of false formes which frequently arise from our body to ouer-vaile and shadow our minde and to trouble the power of our imagination That if our soule doe not estrange her selfe from the contagion of the body and from his fantasies and frenzies it is in vaine that she attempt to reason or consult so certainly without the assistance of particular grace or speciall priuiledge which may descend to him from aboue She ought to know that shee is shut vp and confined in our body as in a strange place True it is shee beares about her this diuine desire of knowledge but it is a coyne or money which doth nothing else but vnprofitably load and charge her because it hath no currant course in that Country where she is The senses vnderstand not her language so that vnder their pleasure and mercy shee is enforced and constrained to content her selfe with what portion it pleaseth them to giue her Her morsels are cut if shee thinke to escape this
in confusion and then the function and organes of the spirits are changed and consequently their effect which is the sense and feeling thereof Which is seene by those who fall into a trance or swooning They feele nothing lesse then paine in those parts which with farre more reason should betide them because the force and power of the spirits dispierced throwe all the body is in one instant assembled and gathered together in this place whereas contrariwise Death hapneth and comes to vs by the extinguishing of the spirits who by their extreame weakenesse cannot furnish power enough to moue the wheeles and organes of our feeling and as without paine they haue abandoned the remotest parts and members they faile in them without any perceiuing thereof The body depriued of Knowledge and therefore ignorant of his losses supports it without any paine or griefe So that if there be any paine or bitternesse in this seperation it should be in the soule who touched with the remembrance of fore-past pleasures which she hath enioyed and tasted in her commerce and traffique with the body shee cannot depart or estrange her selfe without paine and lamentation But I affirme and say that paine hath no power but ore the Body and that the Soule being wholly simple pure and spirituall is exempt of its iurisdiction and it hath no hold or power ouer her That if the knowledge which she hath bee capable to giue him any sense or feeling of paine it should bee for his good But there is nothing which the Soule embraceth with more passion nor desireth so eagerly then her rest and tranquillity I meane the enioyance and possession of her obiect for then chiefely when she is detained in the prison of the body she findes nothing pleasing in this strange Countrie which can content her appetite Iudge then if she gâ—ieue to depart and dislodge from the body and whether a Prisoner detained by the Turkes when we take off the chaines from his hands and feete pay his Ransome to reconduct him into his natiue country so restore him to the free possession of his goods and liberty haue any great cause to afflict himselfe for this separation I confesse you will answere me that I no more feare Death for its paine sith there is none so sharpe which we will not willingly endure and suffer and which is not entermixed with some sweetnesse if we flaâ—ter our selues with the hope of a remedy But who is he who ought not to apprehend the losse of goods which are common to the one and the other to the minde and the body which being diuided and separated their sweet enioyance can no more be recouered I say that if this losse be a griefe or euill this euill ought to concurre and meet either in the enioying thereof or then when you possesse and enioy it no longer As for the present should you not iniustly complaine because you enioy it quietly and that you attribute the good which they bring vs to the possessing of them But it is no euill no more then when you enioy them not because the euill is the feeling which we haue of a thing that afflicts vs but Death depriues vs of all sense and feeling and therefore of this paine and affliction that if you afflict your selfe because death depriues you of the remembrance thereof by the same reason euery night before you sleepe you ought to bewaile and lament it and to take your farewell because you goe to lose the memory thereof Those who haue iudged most sollidly and pertinently of Death and who haue most curiously depainted it at Nature and Life haue compared it to sleepe But if we will aske the opinion of Trophonius and Agamedes they will teach vs what is the most Soueraigne of our Riches and contents because after they had built and consecrated a stately Temple to the honour of Apollo they besought him in requitall that he would eternally grant them the best thing and it was answered them by the Oracle that their demand should be satisfied within three dayes but before the expiration thereof they both died He who is in the worst estate and condition beginnes to hope when he hath no more to feare whereof he is not presently afflicted Man being then so miserable in his life hath he not reason to aime and aspire to some better thing To feare Death saith Socrates is the part of a Wise man because all the World ignores it in not knowing whether it be our good or our euill But what should we not feare if we feare that which cowardise her selfe hath sought for her retraite and shelter and for the speediest and most soueraigne remedy of all afflictions and miseries The Egyptians had still in their Bankets the Image of Death neuerthelesse it was not feare who had the charge to represent them this picture but it was Constancy and Vertue who had that commission and who would not permit that in the middest of their Delights and Ioyes they should be interrupted by any vnexpected accident But if Death then befell them that he should be of their company that the ceremony might not be troubled in regard they kept him his place and dish and briefely that the ioy of the company mought not be disturbed for because they neither knew the certaine place or time where they should attend Death they therefore attended him in all times and places Aristotle tells vs that there is no feare but of doubtfull things it is then in vaine for vs to apprehend it or that our feare prepares him such base and cowardly courages in regard there is nothing more ceâ—taine then Death How many are there found who suruiue their glory and whose languishing life hath not serued but for a Tombe to bury their reputation It was said by a Philosopher that the sweete pleasures of life was but a slauery if the libertie to die were to be said so why then should we feare that which the wisest of the World held the surest harbour and sanctuary of our tranquillity It now rests that we fight against the feare of paine which serues but to afflict vs with a present griefe of that which it may be will nâ—uer befall vs or at least farre otherwise then we feare The Painter Parhasius exposed his Slaues to the Racke thereby the more naturally to represent the feigned tortures of Prometheus We are Slaues to feare who of an imaginary euill delights to cast on vs the gall and bitternesse of a thousand true vexations and afflictions For how often haue we shaked and trembled with feare at those things which haue produced vs no greater damage then the bare apprehension thereof Haue we euer feared or expected any thing with extreame impatiency but that we haue still found it altered and changed with the beliefe and hope thereof Hath not paine many sharpe points and throes of it selfe without it be any way needfull for our feare to edge or sharpen them As farre distant