and specious but which he esteemed less firm he turns off to the Person of Greek Rhetoricians whom he no where over-values e They are wont in Disputations to produce the Judgments of the immortal Gods When any doubt ariseth which affords matter of Debate if a Divine Determination come once to be understood all dispute ceaseth the Case is over-rul'd without further appeal mans Reason must acquiesce in the Will of God as in a peremptory Sentence against which to oppose our private Conceptions were intolerable Impiety Nevertheless it is injoyn'd our prudence with all due caution to examine the Testimony before it be admitted as such lest in our own wrong we pay the Homage of Divine Faith to humane Inventions The Stoicks were not forward in giving credit to Oracles or any sort of Prognostication suspected South-sayers Fortune-tellers and Interpreters of Dreams Those Ages which have most hearkened to Apparitions and Visions have brought in the greatest Errors Strong Affections joyned with weak Judgments are apt to betray to Fanaticism Nay it is indulged our frailty to consider upon what grounds we receive the Holy Scriptures the Word of God is tryed and will abide the Test The Sun at noon day shines not brighter than the moral Evidences which verifie the Parts and the Whole but the Eyes of our Understandings are dim and further darkened by the Interest of our inordinate Affections S. Augustin in his Confessions acknowledges his backwardness in assenting to revealed Truths but with all humble modesty purgeth himself from a resolved suppressing its Convictions or undervaluing its Author There is a further caution necessary in the admission of such a Divine Testimony to take it in its right Sense and therefore to use all due means to be well informed of that Our Souls are staked not only against Faith but the True Faith Now the greater the Sum charged is the wise Merchant will take the better advice before he allow the Bill of Exchange f Nor do they devise them themselves but report them upon the Authority of Herodotus and diverse others The following Stories carry the name of great Authorities but their Tradition is uncertain in a matter not self-evident nor is Herodotus a responsible Voucher his Narrations resembling the Ionick Fables sweet and delightful sometimes strange even to Admiration not with that plainness which is the usual Companion of Credibility The like may be said of Homer nor are Pindar and other Poets or Mythologers sufficient Evidences in these Cases SECT XLVIII Those of Demigods Oracles and in Panegyrical Commemorations of such as have dy'd for their Country THERE is told us a fine Tale about Silenus who having been caught by Midas is written to have given him this recompence for his release that he taught the King g For man not to be born is far the best but next to that to dye speedily to which Sense Euripides in his Cresphantes alluded 'T were fit at the same House we met to mourn Where any Child into the World is born But who by death his painful days should end Friends would his Obsequies with mirth attend Somewhat to the same effect is found in Crantors Book of Consolation for he saith that one Elisius a Terinese being greatly afflicted at the death of his Son came into an Oratory to enquire what might be the Cause of so great a Calamity and that three Verses to this purport were given him in a Table-Book Here men in darkness stray without a guide A natural death thy Son Enthynous dy'd Thus best for him and thee did Fates provide Upon these and like Authorities they prove that the cause hath been decided by a Divine Sentence One Alcidamas an ancient Rhetorician of the highest Rank for eminency hath gone so far as to pen an Encomium of Death which consists in a rehearsal of the Miseries which accompany mans Life The Reasons which are more accurately collected by Philosophers he wanted copiousness of Language he wanted not Now h Deaths for their Country embrac'd with eminent Resolution are wont to seem not only glorious to Rhetoricians but also blessed They go back as far as Erechtheus whose very Daughters were zealous to dye to save the Lives of their Citizens descend to Codrus who charg'd up to the midst of his Enemies in the disguise of a Servant lest if he had worn his Royal Robes he might have been discover'd because the Oracle had foretold that Athens should bear away the Victory if their King were slain Nor is Menaeceus past in silence who upon a like Prediction sacrific'd his Life for his Country Iphigenia at Aulis bid them lead her up to the Altar that so the Enemies Blood might be drain'd by the Effusion of her own g For Man not to be born is far the best but next to that to dye speedily In consideration of the manifold Vanities which mans Corruption hath brought upon the World this Assertion hypothetically taken carrieth truth in it but simply delivered is not agreeable to right Reason therefore our Author judiciously separates from his sober enquiry after the means of well living these Encomiums of Death and Invectives against Life which favour of discontent give indication of the Hypochondriacks and tempt us to ingratitude against God and our Parents h Deaths for their Country embrac'd with eminent Resolution are wont to seem not only glorious to Rhetoriciaus but also blessed It was a custom among the Greeks one day in the year to make a solemn Commemoration-speech at the Tombs of those who had dyed Champions of the Liberty of Greece as at Marathon against Darius and elsewhere Here the Orators strain'd all the Power of their Eloquence by extolling the Bravery of those Warriers to incite their Auditors to gallant Resolution in like honourable Undertakings Tully so words this Sentence as if the Rhetoricians affected Praise of their own Wit in the Commendation of the others Valour intimates also that they carried it too far when they went about to perswade that there were happiness in loosing Life upon such accounts he had prov'd above that as death should not be terrible when the circumstance requires it so neither is it amiable It suffices to our reward that we cheerfully submit to the necessity though we make it not matter of choice SECT XLIX The Close of all applys that Substance of the present Debate to the Readers benefit THEY come thence to latter times Harmodius is in vogue and Aristogiton the Lacedemonian Leonidas Theban Epaminondas flourish with our Patriots they are not acquainted and but to recount them would be a hard task there are so many who we see have made it their choice to dye in the Bed of Honor. Which things being so yet must we use great Eloquence and speak as with Authority that men may be brought either to wish for death or at least may forbear fearing it for if that last day do not bring with it an utter Annihilation but only change of abode what were
that Souls abide after they are gone out of the Body but not always The Stoicks held the Soul to be a hot Breath that is a Body compounded of Air and Fire so consequently subject to Dissolution but not suddenly upon expiring The Souls of the loose and debauched they fancied to abide a time accordingly shorter but those of the just and resolute to the next Conflagration of the World n The Homer of the Philosophers Not only because as Homer led and excelled in Poetry so Plato in Philosophy but also more because as the continued Epique Poem of Homer was that rich Spring from whence the following Poets drew the partial Arguments of their Poetry so the Dialogues of Plato are that well-stored Repertory of Wisdom from whence the succeeding Philosophers have set up their several Sects with their respective Opinions So that what the one furnished in gross the others deal out by retail SECT XXXIII The Arguments of Panaetius answered THESE Reasons may be disprov'd for they proceed from ignorance that when there is speech about the Eternity of Souls it is meant of the Understanding which is always free from any turbulent Motion not of those parts wherein Passions Wrath and Lusts inhabit which o he against whom these Objections are raised supposeth remov'd from the Understanding and lodg'd in distinct Apartments For likeness more appeareth in Beasts whose Souls have no reason But the likeness of men is more visible in the shape of their Bodies and the Souls themselves it much imports in what kind of Body they be lodg'd for there proceed many Impressions from the Body which quicken the understanding many which dull it p Aristotle indeed saith that all ingenious men are of a melancholly Complexion so that I have the less reason to be troubled that I am none of the quickest And as if the Problem were agreed upon subjoyns a reason why it cometh to be so Now if there be such great influence see the Production in the Body upon the habit of the Mind and these whatever they be are all that maketh the likeness the likeness of Soul infers no necessity why it should be born To pass likeness would Panaetius could be present he liv'd with Africanus I would enquire of him whom of all his Kindred was Africanus's Brother's Grandson like In shape his very Father in life so like any Villain that he was by far the basest of all Like to whom too was the Grandchild of P. Crassus both a wise and eloquent man as also the Sons and Grandsons of many other excellent Personages whom it is no ways material to name on this occasion But what drive we at have we forgot that this is the Scope of our present discourse after we had spoken sufficiently upon Eternity further to prove that there is no evil in death though Souls were also to be extinct S. True I minded it but all the while you were discoursing upon Eternity was willing you should run on wide of the Point in hand o He against whom these Objections are raised Plato p Aristotle indeed saith that all ingenious men are of a melancholy Temper In his Problems Sect. 30. Choler adust hath the predominancy in them and they are upon the confines of madness SECT XXXIV Upon Supposition of the Souls mortality death is not evil being a departure from evils M. YOU look high I see and would fain be removing to Heaven I hope that will be our portion but suppose as those Gentlemen would have it to be that Souls do not remain after death I see we are cut off from the hopes of a more blessed Life but what evil doth that opinion import Suppose the Soul so to perish as the Body is there then any pain or indeed any sense at all in the Body after death No body saith so although Epicurus chargeth that on Democritus his Followers deny it neither is there any sense therefore left in the Soul for that it self is no where where then is the Evil for there is no third Subject is it because the parting of the Soul from the Body passeth not without pain Should I believe it to be so how small a business is that and I take it to be untrue for it happens frequently without Sense nay sometimes with Pleasure And that whole concern make the most of it is of small import for it indureth but a Moment That consideration perplexeth or rather torments a departure from all those things which are good in this Life Look whether it may not more truly be said from the Evils thereof Why should I now bewail mans Life I might truly and have title to do so but what needs it when I am labouring to take off the opinion that we shall be miserable after death to make even Life more miserable by bemoaning it We have done this in that Book wherein we comforted our selves as much as we could Therefore to state the question aright Death withdraws us from Evils not from Goods This Point was so largely debated by Hegesias the Cyrenaick that he is reported to have been prohibited by King Ptolomy to dispute publickly on that Subject because many upon the hearing it made themselves away Callimachus hath an Epigram upon Cleombrotus the Ambraciote who saith he had no misfortune befell him but upon reading Plato's Dialogue threw himself from the Wall into the Sea And that Hegesias whom I mention'd left a Book entitled The resolv'd Passenger because one departing out of Life by forbearing to eat is disswaded by his Friends whom he answers by reckoning up the Miseries of man's Life I could do the like though not to that degree as he who thinks it expedient for none at all to live Others I wave Is it expedient for us to do so who being strip'd of the Comforts and Ornaments both of Family and Court had we dy'd before Death had most assuredly remov'd us from Evils and not from Goods SECT XXXV Or from uncertain Goods SUppose we then one that has no Evil hath met with some misfortune q Metellus the Honourable had four Sons Ay but Priam had fifty and seventeen of them born of his lawful Wife Fortune had the same power over both though she made use of it only upon one for many Sons Daughters Grandsons Grand-daughters laid Metellus in the Grave but the hand of an Enemy slew Priam before the Altar where he had taken Sanctuary after the loss of so numerous a Progeny Had he been deceas'd whilst his Children surviv'd the State of the Empire continu'd firm By Barbary Guards attended In Palace carv'd and vaulted Resolve me whither he had departed from Goods or Evils from Goods he would at that time have thought But in truth it had fallen out better for him nor had that Ditty been sung to so lamentable a Tune All these I saw in Ashes lay'n Priam by the proud Victor slain Joves sacred Altar blood profane As if at that time any thing could have befallen him better
than Death Now had he been taken away before he had escap'd those Evils but being so at this time he lost the Sense of them Our Friend Pompey after a sore Sickness at Naples was pretty well recover'd the Neapolitans put on Garlands so did the Burgers of Puteoli no doubt The adjacent Towns deputed Members of their own to congratulate him in the Name of their Corporations a formal piece of insignificant Courtship to say truth and like the Greeks but yet successful Pray then inform me if he had at that time dy'd would he have been taken away from good or evil things To be sure he had from unhappy ones for then would he not have been engag'd in a War with his Father-in-law he would not have taken up Arms without any Preparation he would not have left home not fled out of Italy he had not after the loss of his Army fallen naked into the hands and Poignard of Slaves his Children had not been left in a deplorable condition and all his Fortunes possess'd by the Conqueror He that by departing then had dy'd in a most honourable Estate by prolonging his Life how many great and incredible Calamities did he suffer q Metellus the Honourable had four Sons Qu. Caecilius Metellus Macedonicus had been himself Consul Censor Augur and had triumph'd over Andriscus the Mock Philip Usurper of the Kingdom of Macedon he saw three Sons Consuls whereof one Censor and Triumphal also a fourth Pretor These he left all in good Estate and three Daughters Married by whom and his numerous Progeny he was accompanied at his Funeral having liv'd the Favourite of Fortune indulgent to the last SECT XXXVI Such as we shall not miss THESE accidents are escap'd by dying although they never actually befall us yet because of their possibility But men do not consider themselves liable to these chances every one hopes for Metellus's Fortune As though either there were more fortunate than unhappy or there were any certainty in man's Estate or it were more prudent to hope than fear But be this granted that men are depriv'd of their good things by death is it therefore consequent that the Dead lack the Conveniencies of Life and that it is a miserable thing so to do To be sure they must say so Can he that hath no Being be in want of any thing the very name of want is sad because it imports thus much The man had something hath it not desireth looketh after needeth it These are I take it the Inconveniencies of want One wants Eyes to be blind is discomfortable Another Children so is it to be Childless This holds in the Living but none of the Dead want any comforts of Life no nor Life it self I speak of the Dead which have no Being we who have a Being though we are without Horns or Wings would any one of us say he wanted them None I trow For if one have not that which is neither for his use nor agreeable to his Nature he doth not want it though he is sensible he hath it not This Argument is to be urged over and over when that is made out which is unquestionable upon supposition of the Souls mortality but that there is so total an Abolition in death as that there is not left the least Suspition of any Sense This therefore being fully resolv'd it must be strictly search'd to find what it is to want that so there be no ambiguity left in the Term. Want therefore is the being without that which one desireth to have for desire is imply'd in missing unless in such case as when we speak of having miss'd the Fit of an Ague in a more restrain'd notion of the word The term of wanting is farther used in another Sense when one is without a thing and sensible that he is without it and yet not much concern'd about it but to want any evil is not properly spoken for that would import no sorrow for it The opposite is properly said to want good which is evil but neither doth the Living want what he doth not need Yet it may be understood of a living man that he wants a Kingdom now this cannot with any Logical Truth be said of you it might of Tarquin when he was depos'd and banish'd from his Kingdom but the term can by no means be understood of a dead man for want is proper to one that hath Sense but the Dead have no Sense therefore neither do the Dead want Though what need we syllogize on this Point since we see the matter stands in no such great need of Logic SECT XXXVII Since it hath not appear'd dreadful even to common Soldiers HOW often have not only our Commanders but whole Armies also charg'd the Enemy without any probability of coming back alive Had death been to be fear'd r L. Brutus would never have hindered the return of that Tyrant which himself had expell'd by losing his Life in the Engagement Nor would Decius the Father in Battle with the Latins the Son of the Hetrurians and Grandson with Pyrrhus have run upon the Point of the Enemies Sword Spain had not seen the two Scipio's in one War fall for their Country Cannae Paulus Aemilius Venusia Marcellus the Latins Albinus the Lucanians Gracchus is any one of these at this day miserable No nor immediately after they had expir'd for none can be miserable who is insensible But that very thing is grievous to be without Sense grievous indeed if one were to miss it But it being notorious that he can be nothing who hath himself no Being what can be grivous to him who is without any thing and hath no Sense that he is so Although we have inculcated this Argument too often already but for this purpose because all that distress of mind which ariseth from the apprehension of death is grounded on this For whosoever shall sufficiently perceive what is clearer than the light that upon perishing of Body and Soul together and the whole living Creature being destroy'd and an utter Abolition made of the entire compound that Animal which was before is annihilated he will clearly discern that there is no difference between a flying Horse which never was and King Agamemnon And that M. Camillus doth now no more regard this Civil War than I did the taking of Rome when he was alive Why then would both Camillus have griev'd had he thought these things would have come to pass about three hundred and fifty years after and should I grieve if I thought any Foreign Nation would be Masters of our City ten thousand years hence Because the dearness of our Country is so great that we measure it not by our Sense but it s own safety r L. Brutus L. Junius Brutus the first Roman Consul after the expulsion of Tarquin in a Battle for the reducing him charg'd Aruns the Son of Tarquin so furiously that they gave each the other his deaths wound Decius Mus the Father in the War with the
time who hath compleatly discharg'd the Office of an accomplish'd Vertue Many things have occurred to render death seasonable to my self which I wish had succeeded for nothing of new Acquisition was afterwards made the Duties of my Life were fully discharg'd there remain'd only Combats with Fortune wherefore if single reason cannot be prevalent enough to make us neglect Death yet let our past Life so far prevail with us as that we should think we have liv'd enough and too long For though Sense be gone yet the dead do not want the highest and most durable Goods of Praise and Glory however they perceive them not for though Glory have nothing in it self why it should be pursu'd yet it follows Vertue as its shadow The true judgment of the multitude concerning good men if at any time it be such is more to be commended than that those men should be happy for that reason b So loathsom The Massagetes and Dervices counted their Friends miserable if they dyed a natural Death so when they grew Aged first sacrificed them and then feasted on their Flesh SECT XLVI Glory after Death should abate the fear of dying in Prosperity NOW I cannot say in whatever Sense it be taken that Lycurgus Solon do want the Glory of their Laws and good Government of their Countries that Themistocles Epaminondas want that of Martial Valor and sooner shall Neptune swallow up Salamina it self than the Memory of the Salaminian Trophy and Leuctra shall be rais'd out of Boeotia before the Glory of the Leuctrian Fight Nay much longer shall it be before Fame shall forget Curius Fabricius Calatinus the two Scipios the two Africans Maximus Marcellus Paulus Cato Laelius innumerable others whose Copy whosoever shall have transcrib'd measuring it not by popular Fame so much as the true Commendation of good Patriots That man if occasion shall so require will with unshaken Resolution advance towards Death wherein we know there is either the greatest Good or no Evil. Nay he will choose to dye whil'st he is still in a prosperous State for the accession of superfluities which might be cast in cannot be so pleasing as the diminution of those just measures of good already attain'd will be grievous To which purpose seemeth that word of the Lacedemonian when Diagoras the Rhodian a noble Master in the Olympian Games had seen two Sons in one day win the Prize in the same Games he came up to the old man and gave him joy in these words Dye Diagoras for you would not mount up to Heaven and be immortal c The Greeks value that occasion highly and perhaps overvalue it or at least in those days did so and he that spoke thus to Diagoras looking upon it as an extraordinary Priviledge that three Victors in the Olympian exercises should come out of one Family thought it disadvantageous to him to tarry longer in this World expos'd to the vicissitudes of Fortune Now have I in short as I thought sufficiently answered you for you had granted me that the Dead were under no evil But I have been earnest the more to enlarge hereupon because this is the greatest comfort in Mourning and the loss of Friends for we ought with patience to bear our own sorrow and what is by choice brought upon us for our own concern lest we be found guilty of self-love That other surmise creates us intollerable disquiet to think that those dear Friends whose lost Society we lament are in a State of feeling those miseries which men commonly conceive This conceit I was desirous utterly to remove from my self and thereupon have been perhaps somewhat of the longest c The Greeks value that occasion highly Nothing is so renown'd as the Olympick Games amongst the Greeks for Jumping Running Wrestling Hurling Pitching for Horse-matches and Chariot-Races it was the Academy of all Greece The Victors at those Games were in that general Assembly of the Greeks as in a Theater of Glory proclaim'd crown'd and returning home receiv'd in Triumph into their respective Cities where all their Life-times after they enjoy'd exceeding great Immunities These Masteries in bodily exercise Tully doth not magnifie nor did Socrates before him approve the fondness of his Country-men in deferring that parrade of Pomp on them or their complacency in it who valued themselves at that rate upon such account but these prefer the University Learning and those Studies which improve the Mind better the Man and promote good order in the Governvernment SECT XLVII An Epilogue after the Mode of the Greek Rhetoricians who would perswade us that Death is the greatest good that can befall man upon Divine Testimonies S. YOU of the longest not in my judgment I assure you for the former part of your Discourse wrought in me a desire to dye The latter sometimes no unwillingness other times an indifferency but upon the whole Tenor of the Debate there hath been effected a Conviction in me not to account death among things evil M. Do we therefore still lack a Conclusion d after the manner of Rhetoricians or is it now time for us quite to abandon that practice S. Nay but do not you desert that Art which you have always advanc'd and that with good reason for That to speak the truth hath advanc'd you But what is this Epilogue for I would fain hear it whatever it be M. e They are wont in Disputations to produce the Judgment of the immortal Gods in the case concerning Death f nor do they devise them themselves but report them upon the Authority of Herodotus and diverse others First of all Cleobis and Biton Sons of the Argive Priestess are magnified The Story is well known it being the received Ceremony that she must ride in a Coach to a solemn and anniversary Sacrifice at the Temple some good distance out of Town and the Mules not being brought time enough then the young men before named stripping of their Garments annointed their Bodies with Oyl put themselves into the Traces so the Priestess lighting at the Temple having had her Chariot drawn by her Sons is said to have pray'd the Goddess to bestow upon them a reward of their Piety the greatest that could be given man by God Afterwards the young men having feasted with their Mother went to sleep and were found dead in the Morning A like Prayer Trophonius and Agamedes are said to have made these having built the Temple to Apollo at Delphi and coming to worship him requested no small reward of their work and pains specified nothing but what were best for man Apollo declared he would give it them the third day after which day was no sooner come but they were found dead Here they say that God hath determin'd the Question and that God too unto whom all the other Gods have deser'd above the rest the power of Divination d After the manner of Rhetoricians Tully having premised those Reasons upon which he grounds the immortality or removes the danger of death other instances florid
have none Another Property of Vertue that it is uniform The inward Man hath an entireness of Parts o If you be fenced with Armour of Vulcan 's making A third Property of true Vertue known by the Author not of Humane Forge it is an whole Armour of Gods making He alludes to the Panoply or Suit of Armour in Homer related to have been made for Achilles by Vulcan p Make resistance The first direction to Patience is an early habit of Courage q Or Minos agreeable to Jove 's will Minos the Law-giver of the Cretans is said for nine years to have held Correspondence with Jupiter The first Example that Pain is superable and both Soul and Body are hardened by Patience r And those also of Lycurgus Lycurgus living about the middle time between the destruction of Troy and building of Rome travelled into Creet then Egypt afterwards consulted the Delphick Oracle so gave Laws to his Country wherein he tramed up Youth to all hardship Active and Passive Valour Archery with other bodily Exercise A further Example of the Power of being bred to Hardship in disposing to Courage s Children at Sparta are so disciplin'd at the Altar On a certain day of the year Children were scourg'd at the Temple of Diana Orthia whose Image was conveyed away from the Taurick Chersâ—nese by Orestes and Iphigenia and there plac'd In this Exercise he who held out longest was called Victor at the Altar and some were beaten even to death Thus did that Idol still delight in humane blood what Cicero saith he heard when he was at Sparta of some Boys there whip'd to death that Plutarch an Age after confirms that he had seen so much is the World engag'd to that Religion which hath freed it from those inhumane Superstitions SECT XV. Inuring to labour disposeth the Mind to a patient enduring of Pain THERE is some difference between Labour and Pain they border indeed but yet somewhat differ Labour is an employment of Body or Mind in the discharge of some toilsom Work or Office But Pain is a rough motion in the Body ungrateful to the Senses The Greeks whose Language is more copious than ours call both by one Name For industrious men they call Pains-takingmen we more properly Laborious for it is one thing to labour another thing to be pain'd Greece sometimes at a loss for words though thou thinkest thy self always to abound in them It is one thing I say to be in Pain another to take Pains C. Marius was in Pain when his swellings in the Veins of his Feet were cut He took Pains when he march'd in sweltry weather yet there is also some likeness between them for t the being accustom'd to labour renders the enduring of Pain less difficult Upon this ground they who made the Platforms of Commonwealths in Greece provided that the Bodies of young men should be hardened by Labour u These the Spartans extended to Women also which in other States are treated with all tenderness and kept within doors to save their Beauties Now after the Ordinance of their Law-giver The Spartan Lasses such nice Breeding slight Who in Sun Dust and Toil take more delight To Run Swim the Eurotas Foes o'recome Than in Barbarians Pride a fruitful Womb. Therefore with these laborious Exercises Pain doth also sometimes intermingle They are thrust smitten flung and they fall So that the very labour doth bring a callous insensibility over the Pain t The being accustomed to labour renders the enduring of Pain less difficult A second direction for the acquiring Patience under Pain is an early habit of Pains taking u This the Spartans extended to Women also Lycurgus ordained that Boys and Girls should promiscuously wrestle in their Courts for Exercise Plato in his Politicks much inclinable to the Spartans allows the same upon Supposition that the Vertues both of Men and Women are the same which notwithstanding the Offices of both Sexes are different and so should be their Education SECT XVI The Power of Exercise w NOw for Souldiery I mean our own not that of the Spartans whose March is in Tune to the sound of the Pipe and who use no incentive to Engagement x without Anapaests Our Train'd-Bands it is manifest first whence they receive their Denomination then what labour do they undergo how great in their March to carry more than a Fortnights Provision to carry their necessary Baggage to carry Palisado's for Buckler Sword Helmet our men count no more a burden than Breast Armes and Hands For they say that the pieces of Armour are a Souldiers Limbs which are all carried so titely that if occasion offers they can fling away their Baggage and stand to their Arms as though they were ready with their bare Limbs to make opposition What means the training of Legions what means the running the shouting at the onset how laborious is it from hence cometh that Spirit in Battails prepared to receive Wounds Bring me a Souldier of like Courage that hath not been exercised he will seem a Woman Such difference is there between a fresh and veteran Army as we have found by experience the Age of new-listed Souldiers is ordinarily better but to endure labour despise Wounds custom teacheth Nay we often see men carried out of the Battle wounded and then this raw and unpractis'd Souldier at never so slight a Wound to make most lamentable out-crys but the experienc'd and old-beaten one and for that reason more Valiant looking for a Chirurgion to dress him saith Patroclus I here your helping hands require Least I through Wounds by insulting Foes expire Nor can my bleeding any ways be staid Unless by your better skill death be delaid For numerous maim'd all Chirurgions hands forest all Nor is there room in any Hospital w Now for Souldiery A third direction to the acquiring Patience is Exercise this is exemplified in Souldiers x Without Anapaests As Taratant taratant taratantara SECT XVII y THIS must be Eurypylus an old beaten Souldier when he continueth so long under Pain see how far he is from giving a mean spirited pittiful answer that he alledgeth a Reason why he should bear it patiently Who another doth a mortal blow intend Must know like hand lift up him to offend Patroclus will I trow carry him in and rest him on a Pallate that he may dress his Wound if he had any Humanity But I see no such matter for he is asking news of the Fight P. Tell me how do the Greeks the Field maintain The Day goeth harder than words can explain P. Cease then and dress your Wound Though Eurypylus should have been able yet Aesopus could not When by Hector 's Fortune our fierce Battle forc'd And what follows he relateth being all the while in Pain So ungovernable is Military Glory in a man of Honour Shall therefore an old Soldier be able to do this and shall not a Scholar and Wise man be able so to do Nay this may better and that not a little
But hitherto I speak but of the Custom of Exercise I am not yet come to Reason and Wisdom z Weak old Women oftentimes go without eating two or three days together do but with-hold Meat one day from a Wrastler he will cry out upon Olympian Jupiter the same to whose Honor he shall exercise himself He will cry he cannot bear it Great is the Power of Custom Hunters keep all night abroad in Frost and Snow endure the being starv'd on the top of bleak Mountains from the same Custom is it that those who Cuff with Whorlebats though batter'd black and blew never fetch'd a groan But why do I mention these Masters of Exercise who esteem'd a Prize won at the Olympian Games as honourable as was the Roman Consulship of old Fencers men either Bank-routs or Barbarians what gashes do they put up how do they that are taught true Play choose rather to receive a slash than unhandsomly to decline it how often is it apparent that they desire nothing more than to content either their Patron or the People when they are even flash'd all over they send to their Lords to enquire their Pleasures whether they have given them content that they were willing to fight it out to the last What Fencer of any Courage groan'd in the Combat who ever chang'd his colour who not only stood but even fell indecently who after he had laid himself down when he was bidden to lye fair for his deaths-wound shrunk his Neck in Such Power hath Exercise Training Custom Shall therefore this Ability be attainable by A Bully Slave fit to be hack'd and hew'd And shall a man born to Glory have any part of his Soul so nesh as that he cannot confirm it wth Exercising and with Reason a The looking upon Fencers playing a Prize is wont to be accounted by some Cruel and Inhumane and I know not but it may be so as it is now used But when Malefactors sought it out at the Swords point perhaps the Ear might find many braver Lectures but the Eyes could never receive any Instruction more sortifying against Pain and Death y This must be Eurypylus Eurypylus the Son of Euaemon a Commander of the Greeks was shot by Alexander that is Paris into the Thigh so that the Arrow broke in the Wound he comes limping out of the Battle and meets Parocles between whom this Discourse is made to pass the ground of it is taken from the eleventh Iliad of Homer z Weak old Women Farther Instances of the Power of Exercise also in Hunters Cuffers with Whorlebats Fencers a The looking upon Fencers playing a Prize is wont to be accounted by some Cruel and Inhumane To take pleasure in Bear and Bull-baiting in Cock-fighting in setting Dogs one upon another are no Indications of a moderate and gentle Temper However it may gratifie the irascible part wherein we nearest approach to the wild-beast but to purchase the pleasure of showing or seeing men slash and mangle men is little better than a Subornation of Murther The Art of Defence is noble but not in a procur'd Assault nor in turning it on the Offensive The old Romans were so transported with foundness for this Recreation as they judg'd it that they built stately Amphitheaters in diverse parts of the Empire to accommodate the Spectators they exhibited many Matches of Fencers at their entrance upon Offices at Funerals and at extraordinary Shows This daily Carnage pamper'd the Humour of that Martial People but the Practice was condemn'd by the sober Heathen forbid by the Church to her Followers reproved by the Fathers and at last condemned by the Christian Emperors SECT XVIII of Reason I Have spoken to Exercise Custom and Practice come now let us consider as to Reason unless you have any thing to offer against what hath been delivered S. Do you think I would interrupt you I would not have had you made this doubt your Speech doth so powerfully induce me to believe M. Whether therefore Pain be evil or not let the Stoicks look to that who by certain captious and nice Arguments such as no ways reach home to the Senses would seem to demonstrate that Pain is not evil Be it what it will for Quality I think it is not for quantity so great as it seems to be and I do affirm that men are more vehemently struck with the false appearance and conception of it than they reasonably ought to be and b that its whole smart is tolerable Where then should I take the beginning should I touch briefly upon the Matters which I have already spoken that so my Discourse may proceed more intelligibly This therefore is agreed upon among all not only the learned but unlearned too that it is the part of men Valiant and Gallant and Patient and conquering the World to bear Pain patiently Nor was there ever any who did not esteem him who did thus bear it worthy of Praise What therefore is both requir'd of the Valiant and commended in them when it is perform'd either to fear that when it is coming or to faint under it when it is come how can that otherwise chose than be base and dishonourable Now consider when all right Dispositions of the mind be called Vertues whether that be not a name improperly appliable to all but whether all be not nam'd from that one disposition which excells the rest For manliness is call'd from man but fortitude is the most manly Vertue whose two principal Offices are a contempt of Death and Pain let us therefore put these in Practice if we would be vertuous or rather Men for Manliness which denominateth the other Vertues hath borrowed its name from man b That its whole smart is tolerable He induces to Patience because Pain is not so grievous as is conceited it is the object of Fortitude and matter of Praise SECT XIX The direction of Epicurus impracticable YOU will enquire perhaps but how should we come to despise Pain and a good question it is for Philosophy pretends to prescribe Remedies in such case Here cometh Epicurus he no cunning Fellow but rather very honest man advised to the best of his Skill slight Pain saith he Now who is it that saith this Why he that affirms Pain to be the greatest Evil not very consistently let us hear on If Pain be at the highest saith he it must needs be short Say me those words over again for I do not understand what you mean by the highest nor what by being short The highest than which nothing is higher short than which nothing is shorter I despise the greatness of that Pain from which the shortness of time will release me almost as soon as it shall come but if the Pain be so great as was that of Philoctetes it seems to me considerably great but yet not at the highest for nothing aketh but the Feet the Head the Sides the Lungs might all the Parts might Therefore it is far from the highest Pain Therefore
our dead and ne're repine But all our Mourning to one day confine Therefore it is in our Power to abandon Grief at our pleasure in compliance with our occasions Now since the matter is in our Power is there any occasion of such moment to be comply'd with as a present riddance of Discontent It was observ'd that those who saw Cn. Pompey assassin'd being put in fear for their own Lives at that most deplorable and dismal Spectacle because they saw themselves surrounded with the Enemies Fleet did at that time nothing else but hearten the Rowers and further their escape but when they had gain'd Tide then began to break out into Grief and Lamentations Fear therefore could give time of trouble to them and cannot Reason and true Wisdom repell it SECT XXVIII Rectify'd by consideration that our Sorrow availeth nothing NOW what can be of more importance to the laying down Sorrow than a Sense that there is no advantage by it and that it is admitted upon a pure mistake And if it can be laid down it can also not be admitted It must therefore be confess'd that Discontent is admitted by Will and upon Choice Now this is evident by their Patience who having often gone thorough many Adventures bear more patiently whatever befalls them and suppose they are harden'd against all Sense of Fortune as he in Euripides Had this day first arisen in a Cloud Had I not long the dangerous Ocean Plow'd Cause were of Grief as when shy Colts admit Into their tender mouths the curbed Bit. Habit of Woes now makes me dedolent Since then the being tir'd out with Miseries alleviates our Sorrows it must necessarily be perceiv'd that the object of our Sufferings is not the real Cause and Fountain of our Grief the greatest Philosophers who yet have not attain'd to perfect Wisdom e do they not understand that they are under the greatest Evil for they want Wisdom Nor is there any greater Evil than want of Wisdom yet they do not Mourn Why so because Evils of this sort have not annex'd to them that it is fit and reasonable our Duty to be troubled for ones not being wise which yet we do annex to that trouble of mind which implys Mourning and is the greatest of all Therefore Aristotle accusing the Ancient Philosophers who thought that Philosophy through their Wits was perfected saith They were either great Fools or very Vain but that he saw within few years there was made a great Accession so that in short time it would come to be compleat Theophrastus also lying on his Death-bed is said to have accus'd Nature for giving f Rooks and Ravens a long life who have no occasion for it when men whom it most imported were so short-liv'd whose Age if it might have been of a longer Duration the Consequence would have been that through the Complement of all Arts mens life would have been polish'd in every part of Learning Therefore he complain'd that he must be taken away as soon as he had but begun to have sight of this What among the other Philosophers do not the best and gravest confess their ignorance in many things and that after the greatest proficiency they have still more to learn and yet are not discontented at the Sense of that Folly which remaineth in them though nothing be more Evil for there is no opinion mingled of an officious Grief What say we of them g who do not think it suitable for men to mourn Such was Q. Maximus at the burial of his Son a man that had borne the Consulship L. Paulus after the loss of two Sons within few days Such M. Cato at the death of his Son Praetor Elect. Such the rest whom we have collected in our Book of Consolation What else pacify'd them but only a Sense that Sorrow and Lamentation were not proper for men Therefore what some having taken for Duty are wont to abandon themselves to Melancholly that these men judging dishonourable have repell'd Sorrow from whence is evident that Discontent is not in the Nature of the thing but from our own opinion e Do they not understand that they are under the greatest Evil Tully doth not speak it positively that imperfection is the greatest Evil but by way of Interrogation as according to the Stoical Paradox doubtless insincerity is worse and it is hard to determine that he who hath not reach'd the Top in gradual attainments must therefore lye at the bottom but if the question had been ask'd in general why men are not so much affected with the wants of their Soul as Bodily or outward Damages the Resolution had been obvious because we cannot want or desire what we do not know therefore he makes instance in the greatest Philosophers Do they not understand Some active dissatisfaction they had in their present Estate which put them upon further pursuit after Wisdom but they were still much under the Power of an intellectual Lithargy Deficiency in Morals was less than their burthen because they were unacquainted with the indispensable Sanction of the Divine Law Had not those Direction Motives and Assistances to work in them a Spiritual Sorrow which might engage them to be restless till they had obtain'd such degrees of integrity as this our frail condition admits f Rooks and Ravens It is a fabulous Tradition from Hesiod but Aristotle affirms no other Creature lives longer than Man but the Elephant g Who do not think it suitable for men to mourn It hath been observ'd that the old Roman Laws prescribe Women a just time of Mourning are silent of Men whence hath also been infer'd that they look'd upon Mourning as not very suitable for them SECT XXIX That our Sorrows are by misapprehensions aggravated beyond their own Natures ON the opposite part these things are alledged Who is so senseless as to mourn on his own Choice Nature brings Grief which say they h your Crantor owns must be given way to for it pusheth on and follows hard nor can be any ways resisted therefore that Oileus in Sophocles who had but a little before comforted Telamon upon the death of his Ajax when he came to hear i of his own broke forth into Passion upon whose change of mind is this said None to such perfect Wisdom can pretend Having with Counsel staid his sinking Friend But that he when inconstant Fortunes course Shall against his concerns direct his Force To the surprizing Blow renders his Wits All his grave Rules and sage Advice forgets They who dispute thus endeavour to prove that Nature can be no ways resisted yet they confess that greater Resentments are assum'd than Nature imposeth What madness is it therefore for us to exact the same of others But there are several Causes of admitting grief First that opinion of Evil upon the sight of which and a perswasion that it is such trouble of the mind is a necessary consequent Then again men suppose they gratifie the Dead the more heavily they Mourn
Latins made a solemn Vow to take no Quarter that he might purchase the Romans Victory the like did Decius Mus the Son being a fourth time Consul in the Tuscan War and Decius Mus the Grandson at that time Consul in the Engagement with Pyrrhus King of Epirus fell in the desperate Encounter a third Sacrifice for the deliverance of his Country out of the same Line successively In the second Punick War P. Scipio Father of the elder Africanus commanding in Spain was run thorough with a Lance and nine and twenty days after Cn. Scipio his Brother was killed and all his Soldiers with him the Tower being set on fire into which they had fled At Cannae Fight Paulus Aemilius the Consul with 45000 Romans were slain Marcellus sirnam'd the Sword of Rome having first beaten Hannibal at Nola where he slew the Captain in chief hand to hand was intercepted in a March between Venusia and Bautia where he was cut off with his Party Sempronius Gracchus having routed the Carthaginians at Beneventum through the Treachery of Flavius a Lucanian with whom he quarter'd was kill'd by Mago in Lucania Aulus Albinus encountred the Latins so vigorously as that he fell in the Charge SECT XXXVIII Much less to hinder promoting the publick good But as Death is not terrible so neither is it amiable THerefore Death which by reason of uncertain Casualties is daily imminent and because Life so is short can never be far off doth not yet deter a wise man from providing for the State and his own Family for all future Ages and from thinking that Posterity though he shall have no Sense of it is his concern Upon which ground he that is of the judgment that the Soul is mortal may yet lay designs for Eternity not out of desire of glory whereof he shall have no Sense but of Vertue which Glory necessarily follows though you make it not your aime Now this is natural that as our Birth giveth us an entrance into the business of this World so Death should give our Exit from it Which as before our Birth it nothing concern'd us so neither shall it after Death Herein what Evil can there be since Death is the concern neither of the Living nor the Dead the latter cease to be it attaches not the former Those who speak in a slighting way of it would have it nearest resemble a dead Sleep as though any one would choose so to live to ninety years as that when he had arriv'd at sixty he should sleep the rest Swine would not make such option much less any man But Endymion if we will hearken to Fables fell I cannot tell when a sleep in Latmos which is a Mountain of Caria and is not I suppose yet awake Do you judge therefore that he regards when the Moon is eclips'd for he is reputed to have been cast into a deep trance by her that she might kiss him as he sleeps regard it how should he when he is not sensible of it You have sleep the Image of Death every day it cometh upon you and do you make question whether there be Sense in Death when you experience there is none in its resemblance SECT XXXIX The opinion of untimely Death examin'd AWAY then with these Sayings little better than fit for old Wives that it is miserable to dye before ones time What time I pray that of Nature Now she hath lent Life as Cash at no day certain of payment prefix'd what reason then have you to murmur if she calls in her own when she pleaseth since you receiv'd it upon that condition The same Persons if a Child dye young think it ought to be born patiently and if in the Cradle without any complaint Yet nature hath more rigorously exacted of him her Loan He had not as yet say they tasted the sweets of Life but this other had entertain'd great expectations and had already begun the enjoyment of them Now in all other benefits the very having get some share is counted better than to get none at all Why should it be otherwise in Life However Callimachus say not unhandsomly that Priam wept much oftner than Troilus But their fortune is commended who dye of Age. Why because I warrant had their life been longer it could not have been so pleasant Certainly nothing is so sweet to man as Wisdom Now though old Age impair us in other things yet it improves us in that But what Age is long or indeed what can man long have lately Children and presently after Youths doth not old Age pursuing close behind in the Race overtake us e're we are aware But we count this long because we have nothing further to proceed to All these accounts pass for long or short according to the proportion they bear with the space allotted to each kind By the mouth of the Hypanis which on the side of Europe falleth into the Black-Sea Aristotle reports certain Insects to be bred that live but one day Such therefore of these as dye at two in the Afternoon dye elderly but such as at Sunset very aged and the more if it be on the longest day in Summer Compare our life at longest with Eternity we shall be found in a manner as short-liv'd as are these Insects SECT XL. We must live in our places undaunted and when our time is come dye contented after the example of Theramenes DEspise we therefore all Fooleries for what slighter name can I give this weakness And let us place the whole stress of living well in constancy and bravery of Spirit and contempt of the World and in the exercise of all Vertue But now we break our Hearts with most unmanly thoughts so that if Death come upon us before we have met with the good luck read us by Fortune-tellers we look upon our selves as mock'd abus'd and rob'd of some great Advantages Whereas if we are held in suspense tormented and fretted with lingering Expectations Good God! How chearfully should we enter upon that Journey which being perform'd there will be no further disquiet nor anxiety of mind How taking and of what gallant Spirit is Theramenes for though we cannot choose but cry when we read the Story yet a brave man never dyeth pittifully When he had been imprison'd by order of the Council of State consisting of thirty Tyrants and had taken of the Poyson in a hearty draught as though he had been adry the small remainder he so flung out of the Cup as that it dash'd against the ground then smiling said Here is to Critias the fair who had been his most mortal Enemy For it is the Grecian Mode in their Feasts to name whom they would have pledge them This excellent Person broke a Jest with his parting breath s and was a true Prophet of that death which soon after overtook him who had been the occasion of his suffering by Poyson Who could commend this indifferency of mind at the very point of Death if he judg'd