veines swollen the tongue stammering the teeth gnashing the voice loud and hoarse the speech imperfect and to be briefe it puts the whole body into a fire and a feuer Some haue broken their veines supprest their vrine whereby present death hath ensued What then can the estate of the spirit be within when it causeth so great a disorder without Choler at the first blow driueth away and banisheth reason and iudgement to the end it may wholly possesse the place afterwards it filles all with fire and smoake and darknesse and noise like vnto him that puts the master out of the house and then sets fire and burnes himselfe aliue within or like vnto a ship that hath neither sterne nor Pilot nor sailes nor oares which commits it fortune to the mercie of the waues windes and tempest in the middest of a furious sea The effects thereof are great many times miserable and lamentable Choler first enforceth vs to iniustice for it is kindled 4 The effects and sharpned by a iust opposition and by the knowledge that a man hath of the little reason he hath to be angry Hee that is moued to anger vpon a false occasion if a man yeeld him any good reason why he should not be angry he is presently more incensed euen against the truth and innocency it selfe Pertinaciores nos facit iniquitas irae quasi argumentū sit iustè irascendigrauiter irasci The example of Piso is very notable and prooues this true who excelling otherwise in vertue the history is very well knowen being mooued to choler did vniustly put three to death and by a subtile accusation caused them to be found guilty only because they acquited one as vnguilty whom hee by his former sentence had condemned It is likewise sharpned by silence and cold replie as gathering thereby that it proceedeth out of a contempt both of him and his choler which is proper vnto women who many times are angrie to the end they may stirre vp that passion in another and increase their choler euen to fury when they see that a man vouchsafeth not to nourish that humour in them by chiding with them So that Choler sheweth it selfe to bee more sauage than a beast since neither by defence or excuse nor by silence and patience without defence it will not bee woon nor pacified The iniustice thereof is likewise in this that it wil be both a iudge and a party that it will that all take part with it and growes to defiance with as many as will seeme to contradict it Secondly forasmuch as it is inconsiderate and heady it casteth vs headlong into great mischiefs and sometimes euen into those which most flie and doe wish and would willingly procure another man dat poenas dum exigit or farre worse This passion is fitly compared to great ruines which burst themselues in pieces vpon that which they fall it pursueth with such violence the ill of another that it heeds not the auoiding of it owne It intrappeth and intangleth vs makes vs to speake and to do things shamefull vncomely vnworthy our selues Lastly it carrieth vs so beyond our selues that it makes vs to doe things scandalous dangerous and irreuocable murders poisonings treasons whereby follow great and too late repentances witnesse Alexander the great after he had slaine Clytus and therefore Pythagoras was wont to say that the end of Choler was the beginning of repentance This passion feedes vpon it selfe flattereth and tickleth it selfe with a perswasion that it hath reason that it is iust excusing it selfe vpon the malice and indiscretion of another but the iniustice of another cannot make that iust nor the losse that wee receiue by another make that profitable vnto vs it is too rash and inconsiderat to do any thing that is good it would cure an euill with an euill for to yeeld the correction of an offence to Choler is to correct a vice by it selfe Reason which should haue the command ouer vs needs no such officers as of their owne heads execute lawes not attending her ordinance she would haue all things done according to nature by measure and therefore violence doth no way befit it But what shall vertue see the insolencie of vice and not be angry with it shall the libertie therof be so bridled as not to dare to bee moued against the wicked vertue desires no indecent libertie it needes not turne it owne strength against it selfe nor that the wickednesse of another should trouble it a wise man must as well beare the vices of a wicked man without choler as his prosperitie without enuie Hee must endure the indiscretions of rash and inconsiderate men with the selfe same patience that Physitians do the iniuries of mad men There is no greater wisedome nor more profitable in the world than to endure the follie of another for otherwise by not suffering it with patience we make it our owne That which hath heeretofore beene spoken touching Choler may likewise be spoken of these passions following hatred enuie reuenge which are made or formed Cholers Particular aduisements and remedies against this euill are Lib. 3. cap. 31. CHAP. XXVI Hatred HAtred is a strange passion which strangely and without reason troubleth vs and to say the truth what is there in the world that tormenteth vs more By this passion we put our selues into the power of him that we hate to afflict and vex vs the sight of him mooueth our senses the remembrance stirreth our spirits both waking and sleeping yea we neuer present him to our memories but with despight and gnashing of teeth which puts vs besides our selues and teares our owne hearts whereby we suffer in our selues the punishment of that euill we wish vnto another He which hateth is the patient he that is hated the agent contrary to the sound of the words the hater is in torment the hated in ease But what do we hate Men or their matters and affaires Doubtlesse wee hate nothing that wee should for if there be any thing to be hated in this world it is hate it selfe and such like passions contrary to that which should command in vs. Particular considerations and remedies against this euill are Lib. 3. cap. 32. CHAP. XXVII Enuie ENuie is cousen-germaine to Hatred a miserable passion and outragious beast which in torment excelleth hell it selfe It is a desire of that good that another possesseth which gnaweth our heart and turneth the good of another man to our owne hurt But how should it torment vs since it is as well against that which is ill as that which is good Whilest an enuious man looketh obliquely vpon the goods of another man he loseth what is good in himselfe or at leastwise takes no delight in it Particular aduisements and remedies against this euill are Lib. 3. cap. 33. CHAP. XXVIII Iealousie IEalousie is a passion like almost both in nature and effect 1 What it is vnto Enuie but that it seemeth that Enuie considereth not what is
THe goods of the body are Health Beauty Cheerfulnes 1 The praise of Health Srength Vigor a prompt readinesse and disposition but of all these Health is the first and passeth all the rest Health is the most beautifull and rich present that Nature can bestow vpon vs and aboue all other things to be preferred not only Science Nobility Riches but Wisdome it selfe which the austerest amongst the wise doe affirme It is the only thing that deserueth our whole imploiment yea our life it selfe to attaine vnto it for without it life is no life but a death vertue and wisdome grow weake and faint What comfort can all the wisdome of the world bring to the greatest man that is if he be thorowly stricken with an Apoplexie Doubtlesse there is nothing to be preferred before this bodily health but Honestie which is the health of the Soule Now it is common vnto vs with beasts yea many times it is greater and far more excellent in them than in vs and notwithstanding it be a gift of Nature gaudeant bene nati giuen in the first formation yet that which afterward followeth The milke Good gouernment which consisteth in sobrietie and moderate exercises lightnesse of heart and a continuall auoidance of all passions do preserue it much Griefe and sickenesse are the contraries vnto it which are the greatest if not the only euils that follow man whereof we shall speake hereafter But in the preseruation hereof beasts likewise simply following nature which hath giuen them health do farre exceed men they often times forgetting themselues though afterwards they pay dearly for it Next followeth Beautie a good of great account in the society 2 Beautie of men It is the first meane of reconciling or vniting one to another and it is very likely that the first distinction that hath beene of one man from another and the first consideration that giueth preheminence to one aboue another hath beene the aduantage of beauty It is likewise a powerfull quality there is none that surmounteth it in credit or that hath so great a part in the societie of men for there is none so barbarous none so resolute that hath not been beaten by it It presenteth it selfe vnto the view it seduceth and preoccupateth the iudgement it makes deepe impressions and presseth a man with great authority and therefore Socrates called it a short tyranny and Plato the priuiledge of Nature for it seemeth that he that carieth in his countenance the fauours of Nature imprinted in a rare and excellent beautie hath a kinde of lawfull power ouer vs and that we turning our eies towards him he likewise turneth our affections and enthrawleth them in despight of our selues Aristotle sayth that it apperteineth to those that are beautifull to command that they are venerable next to the gods themselues that there are none but such as are blinde but are touched with it Cyrus Alexander Caesar three great Commanders haue made great vse thereof in their greatest affaires yea Scipio the best of them all Faire and good are neere neighbours and are expressed by the selfe same words both in Greeke and in the Scriptures Many great Philosophers haue attained to their wisdome by the assistance of their beauty It is likewise considerable and much required in beasts themselues 3 The distinction of Beauty There are in Beauty diuers things to be considered That of men is properly the forme and feature of the bodie as for other beauties they belong vnto women There are two sorts of beauties the one setled which moueth not at all and it consisteth in the due proportion and colour of the members a body that is not swolne or puffed vp wherein the sinewes and veines appeare not from far nor the bones presse not the skin but full of bloud and spirits and in good state hauing the muscles eleuated the skin smooth the colour vermillion the other moueable which is called a good grace and is the true guiding or cariage of the motion of the members and aboue all the eyes The former beauty of it selfe is as it were dead this actiue and full of life There are beauties that are rude fierce sowre others that are sweet yea though they be fading Beauty is properly to be considered in the visage There 4 Of the visage is nothing more beautifull in man than his soule and in the body of man than his visage which is as it were the soule abreuiated that is the paterne or image of the soule that is her Escuchion with many quarters representing the collection of all her titles of honour planted and placed in the gate and forefront to the end that men may know that heere is her abode and her palace By the countenance it is that we know the person of a man and therefore arte which imitateth nature takes no care to represent the person of man but only to paint or carue the visage There are many speciall singularities in the visage of man which are not in beasts for to say the truth they haue no visage 5 Seuen singularities in the visage of man nor in the rest of the body of man As the number and diuersitie of the parts and formes of them in beasts there is neither chin nor cheeks nor forehead much lesse any forme or fashion of them Variety of colours as in the eye onely there is blacke white greene blew red crystaline Proportion for the senses are there double answering the one to the other and in such a maner that the greatnesse of the eye is the greatnesse of the mouth the largenesse of the forehead the length of the nose the length of the nose that of the chin and lips An admirable diuersitie of countenances and such that there are hardly found two faces in all respects like one another this is a chiefe point of workmanship which in no other thing can be found This variety is very profitable yea necessary for humane society first to know one another for infinite euils yea the dissipation of humane kinde must needs follow if a man should mistake himselfe by the semblance and similitude of diuers visages yea it would be a confusion worse than that of Babel A man would take his daughter for his sister for a stranger his enemy for his friend If our faces were all alike we should not discerne a man from a beast and if they were not all vnlike one another we could not know how to discerne a man from a man Besides it was an excellent arte of Nature to place in this part some secret that might giue contentment to one another thorow the whole world for by reason of this varietie of faces there is not a person that in some part is not beautifull The dignity and honour of it round figure forme vpright and eleuated on high naked and vncouered without haire feathers scales as in other creatures looking vp vnto heauen Grace sweetnesse a pleasant and decent comlinesse euen to the
fortresse and makes himselfe master of the place and imploieth his spirit in good or ill witnesse the wife of King Agamemnon who was conteined in her dutie of chastitie by the sound of a Harpe and Dauid by the selfe same meane chased away the euill spirit from Saul and restored him to health and that skilfull player on the Flute that sweetned the voice of that great Oratour Gracchus To be briefe Science Trueth and Vertue haue no other entrance into the Soule but by the Eare Christianitie it selfe teacheth that faith and saluation commeth by Hearing and that the Sight doth rather hurt than helpe thereunto that faith is the beliefe of those things that are not seene which beliefe is acquired by hearing and it calleth such as are apprentices or nouices therein Auditors 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 catechised Let me adde this one word that the Hearing giueth succour and comfort in darknesse and to such as are asleepe that by the sound they may be awaked and so prouide for their preseruation For all these reasons haue the wisest so much commended Hearing the pure and virgin gardian from all corruption for the health of the inward man as for the safetie of a Citie the gates and walles are garded that the enemie enter not Speech is peculiarly giuen vnto man an excellent present and very necessary in regard of him from whom it proceedeth 3 The force authoritie of Speech it is the interpreter and image of the soule animi index speculum the messenger of the heart the gate by which all that is within issueth foorth and committeth itselfe to the view all things come foorth of darknesse and secret corners into the light and the spirit itselfe makes it selfe visible and therefore an ancient Philosopher said once to a child Speake that I may see thee that is to say the inside of thee As vessels are knowen whether they be broken or whole full or emptie by the sound and mettals by the touch so man by his speech Of all the visible parts of the body which shew themselues outward that which is neerest the heart is the tongue by the root thereof so that which comes neerest vnto our thought is our speech for from the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh In regard of him which receiueth it it is a powerfull master an imperious commander which entreth the fortresse possesseth it selfe of the possessor stirreth him vp animateth exasperateth appeaseth him maketh him sad merrie imprinteth in him whatsoeuer passion it handleth and feedeth the Soule of the hearer and makes it pliable to euery sense it makes him blush waxpale laugh crie tremble for feare mad with choler to leape for ioy and pierceth him thorow with passion In regard of all Speech is the hand of the spirit wherewith as the bodie by his it taketh and giueth it asketh counsell and succour and giueth it It is the great Intermedler and Huckster by it we trafficke Merx a Mercurio peace is handled affaires are managed Sciences and the goods of the spirit are distributed it is the band and cement of humane society so that it be vnderstood For saith one a man were better to be in the companie of a dog that he knoweth than in the companie of a man whose language he knoweth not vt externus alieno non sit hominis vice To be briefe it is the instrument of whatsoeuer is good or ill vita mors in manibus linguae there is nothing better Of a good euill tongue nothing worse than the tongue The tongue of a wise man is the doore of a royall Cabinet which is no sooner opened but incontinently a thousand diuersities present themselues to the eie euery one more beautifull than other come from the Indies Peru Arabia So a wise man produceth and rangeth them in good order sentences and Aphorismes of Philosophie similitudes examples histories wise sayings drawen from all the mines and treasuries olde and new qui profert de thesauro suo noua vetera which serue for a rule of good maners of policie and all the parts both of life and of death which being applied in their times and to good purpose bring with it great delight great beautie and vtilitie mala aurea in lectis argenteis verba in tempore suo The mouth of a wicked man is a stincking and contagious pit a slanderous Prouerb tongue murdereth the honour of another it is a sea and Vniuersitie of euils woorse than fetters fire poison death hell Vniuersitas iniquitatis malum inquietum venenum mortiferum ignis incendens omnia mors illius nequissima vtilis potius infernus quà m illa Now these two Hearing and Speach answer and are accommodated the one to the other there is a great alliance betwixt 4 The correspondency of Hearing and Speach them the one is nothing without the other as also by nature in one and the same subiect the one is not without the other They are the two great gates by which the soule doth trafficke and hath her intelligence By these two the soules are powred the one into the other as vessels when the mouth of the one is applied to the enterie of the other So that if these two gates be shut as in those that are deafe and dumbe the spirit remaineth solitary and miserable Hearing is the gate to enter by it the spirit receiueth all things from without and conceiueth as the female Speech is the gate to goe foorth by it the spirit acteth and bringeth foorth as the male From the communication of these two as from the stroke of two flints or irons together there comes foorth the sacred fire of truth for they rubbing and polishing the one the other they shake off their rust and purifie and cleanse themselues and all maner of knowledge comes to perfection But Hearing is the first for there can nothing come foorth of the soule but that which first entered and therefore he that by nature is altogether deafe is likewise dumbe It is necessary that first the spirit be furnished with moueables and vtinseles by the sense of Hearing to the end it may by speach distribute them so that the good and ill of the tongue and almost of the whole man dependeth vpon the eare He that heares well speakes well and he that heares ill speakes ill Of the vse and gouernment of the tongue heereafter Lib. 3. Chap. 43. CHAP. XII Of the other faculties Imaginatiue Memoratiue Appetitiue THE fantasticke or imaginatiue facultie hauing recollected and withdrawne the kindes and images apprehended by the senses retaineth and reserueth them in such sort that the obiects being absent and far distant yea a man sleeping and his senses being bound and shut vp it presenteth them to the spirit and thought Phantasmata idola seu imagines dicuntur and doth almost worke that within in the vnderstanding which the obiect doth without in the sense The memoratiue faculty is the Gardian and Register of
foole and mad-man witnesse Gallus Vibius who hauing ouer-bent his spirits in comprehending the essence and motions offollie so dislodged and disiointed his owne iudgement that he could neuer settle it againe it inspireth a man with the foreknowledge of things secret and to come and causeth those inspirations praedictions and maruellous inuentions yea it rauisheth with extasies it killeth not seemingly but in good earnest witnesse that man whose eyes being couered to receiue his death and vncouered againe to the end he might reade his pardon was found starke dead vpon the scaffold To be briefe from hence spring the greatest part of those things which the common sort of people call miracles visions enchantments It is not alwayes the diuell or a familiar spirit as now adaies the ignorant people thinke when they can not finde the reason of that they see nor alwayes the spirit of God for these supernaturall motions we speake not of heere but for the most part it is the effect of the imagination or long of the agent who sayth doth such things or of the patient and spectator who thinks he seeth that he seeth not It is an excellent thing and necessary in such a case to know wisely how to discerne the reason thereof whether it be naturall or supernaturall false or true Discretio spirituum and not to precipitate our iudgements as the most part of the common people do by the want thereof In this part and facultie of the soule doth opinion lodge which is a vaine light crude and imperfect iudgement of things drawen from the outward senses and common report setling and holding it selfe to be good in the imagination and neuer arriuing to the vnderstanding there to be examined sifted and laboured and to be made reason which is a true perfect and solide iudgement of things and therefore it is vncertaine inconstant fleeting deceitfull a very ill and dangerous guide which makes head against reason whereof it is a shadow and image though vaine and vntrue It is the mother of all mischiefs confusions disorders from it spring all passions all troubles It is the guide of fooles sots the vulgar sort as reason of the wise and dexterious It is not the trueth and nature of things which doth thus 3 The world is lead by opinion stirre and molest our soules it is opinion according to that ancient saying Men are tormented by the opinions that they haue of things not by the things themselues Opinione saepiùs quà m re laboramus plura sunt quae nos tenent quà m quae premunt The veritie and Essence of things entreth not into vs nor lodgeth neere vs of it selfe by it owne proper strength and authoritie for were it so all things should be receiued of all all alike and after the same fashion all should be of like credit and truth it selfe which is neuer but one and vniforme should be embraced thorowout the whole world Now forasmuch as there is so great a varietie yea contrarietie of opinions in the world and there is not any thing concerning which all doe generally accord no not the wisest and best borne and bred it giueth vs to vnderstand that things enter into vs by composition yeelding themselues to our mercie and deuotion and lodging themselues neere vnto vs according to our pleasure and humour and temper of our soules That which I beleeue I can not make my companion beleeue but which is more what I doe firmly beleeue to day I can not assure my selfe that I shall beleeue to morrow yea it is certaine that at another time I shall iudge quite otherwise Doubtlesse euery thing taketh in vs such place such a taste such a colour as wee thinke best to giue vnto it and such as the inward constitution of the soule is omnia munda mundis immunda immundis As our apparell and accoutrements do as well warme vs not by reason of their heat but our owne which they preserue as likewise nourish the coldnesse of the ice and snow we doe first warme them with our heat and they in recompence thereof preserue our heat Almost all the opinions that wee haue wee haue not but from authoritie we beleeue we iudge we worke we liue we die and all vpon credit euen as the publike vse and custome teacheth vs and we doe well therein for we are too weake to iudge and chuse of our selues no the wise do it not Lib. 1. chap. 1. 2. as shall be spoken CHAP. XVII Of the Will THe Will is a great part of the reasonable soule of verie The preheminence and importance of the will great importance and it standeth vs vpon aboue all things to studie how to rule it because vpon it dependeth almost our whole estate and good It only is truly ours and in our power all the rest vnderstanding The comparison thereof with the vnderstanding Doubtfull if not erroneous memorie imagination may be taken from vs altered troubled with a thousand accidents not the will Secondly this is that that keepeth a man intire and importeth him much for he that hath giuen his will is no more his owne man neither hath he any thing of his owne Thirdly this is it whereby we are made and called good or wicked which giueth vs the temper and the tincture As of all the goods that are in man vertue or honestie is the first and principall and which doth farre excell knowledge dexteritie so wee can not but confesse that the will where vertue and goodnesse lodgeth is of all others the most excellent and to say the trueth a man is neither good nor wicked honest nor dishonest because he vnderstandeth and knoweth those things that are good and faire and honest or wicked and dishonest but because he loueth them and hath desire and will towards them The vnderstanding hath other preheminences for it is vnto the will as the husband to the wife the guide and light vnto the traueller but in this it giueth place vnto the will The true difference betwixt these faculties is in that by the vnderstanding things enter into the soule and it receiueth them as those words to apprehend conceiue comprehend the true offices thereof doe import but they enter not entire and such as they are but according to the proportion and capacitie of the vnderstanding whereby the greatest and the highest do recoile and diuide themselues after a sort by this entrance as the Ocean entreth not altogether into the Mediterrane sea but according to the proportion of the mouth of the Strait of Gibraltar By the will on the other side the soule goeth foorth of it selfe and lodgeth and liueth elswhere in the thing beloued into which it transformeth it selfe and therefore beareth the name the title the liuerie being called vertuous vitious spirituall carnall whereby it followeth that the will is enobled by louing those things that are high and woorthy of loue is vilified by giuing it selfe to those things that are base and
great and principall point of wisdome truly to know 1 Of the estimation and woorth of life how to esteeme of life to holde and preserue it to lose or to take it away to keepe and direct it as much as after such a maner as is fit there is not perhaps any thing wherein a man faileth more or is more hindred The vulgar vnlearned sot accounteth it a souereigne good and preferreth it aboue all things yea he will not sticke to redeeme and prolong it by all the delayes that may be vpon what conditions soeuer thinking it can neuer be bought too deare for it is all in all with him his motte is Vita nihil carius He esteemeth and loueth his life for the loue of it selfe he liues not but to liue It is no maruell if hee faile in all the rest if hee be wholly compounded of errours since from his very entrance and in this fundamentall point he mistakes himselfe so grosly It may be likewise with some lesse esteemed and more basely accounted of than it should either by reason of some insufficiencie in iudgement or a proud misknowledge thereof for falling into the hands of those that are good and wise it may be a profitable instrument both to themselues and others And I can not be of their opinion as it is simply taken that say it is best of all not to be at all and that the best is the shortest life optimum non nasci aut quà m citissimè aboleri And it is neither well nor wisely sayd What hurt or what matter had it beene if I had neuer beene A man may answer him with the like question Where had that good beene which is come and being not come had it not beene euill not to haue beene It is a kinde of euill that wanteth good whatsoeuer it be yea though not necessarie These extremities are too extreame and vitious though not equally but that seemes true that a wise man spake That life is such a good as a man would not take if he knew well what it were before he tooke it Vitam Seneca nemo acciperet si daretur scientibus It is well that men are within before they see the entrance and that they are carried hudwinckt into it Now when they are within some doe so cocker and flatter themselues therein that vpon what condition soeuer they will not go forth againe others do nothing but murmure and vex themselues but the wiser sort seeing it to be a market that is made without themselues for a man neither liues nor dies when and how he will and that though the way be rough and hard yet neuerthelesse it is not alwaies so without winsing or striuing and troubling any thing they accomodate themselues vnto it as they may and so passe their life in quietnesse making of necessitie a vertue which is a token of wisdome and industrie and so doing they liue as long as they should and not like fooles as long as they can For there is a time to liue and a time to die and a good death is farre better than an ill life A wise man liues no longer than See heereof lib. 2. ca. 11. that his life may be woorth more than his death for the longest life is not alwaies the better All men doe much complaine of the breuitie of the life of 2 Of the length and breuitie of life man not only the simple vulgar sort who wish it would neuer haue end but also which is more strange the greatest and wisest make it the principall ground of their complaints To say the truth the greatest part thereof being diuerted and otherwise employed there remaines little or nothing for it selfe for the time of our infancie olde age sleepe maladies of minde and bodie and many other times both vnprofitable and vnfit for any good being taken away that which remaineth is little or nothing at all Neuerthelesse without opposing the contrarie opinion to them that holde a short life to be a great good and gift of Nature their complaint seemeth to haue little equitie and reason and rather to proceed from malice For to what end serueth a long life Simplie to liue to breathe to eat to drinke to see this world for all this what needs so long time We haue seene knowen tasted all in a short space and knowing it to desire so long a time to practise it and still to reiterate the same thing to what end is it Who will not be satisfied nay wearied to do alwaies one and the same thing If it be not tedious and irkesome at the least it is superfluous it is a turning wheele where the same things come and go it is alwaies to begin where we end and to respinne the same webbe But perhaps they will say they desire a long life to learne and to profit the more and to proceed to a greater perfection of knowledge and vertue Alas good soules that wee are what should wee know or who should teach vs We employ but badly that little which is giuen vs not only in vanities and those things that yeeld vs no profit but in malice and sinne and then we crie out and complaine that we haue not enough giuen vnto vs. And to say the truth to what end serues so great store of knowledge and experience since in the end wee must leaue it and dislodge it and hauing dislodged it altogether forget and lose it all or know it better and otherwise But you will say that there are beasts that do triple and quadruple the life of man To omit those fables that are tolde heereof Be it so but yet there are a number that liue not a quarter of that time that man doth and few neither that liue out their time By what right or reason or priuiledge can man challenge a longer life than other creatures Is it because he doth better employ it in matters more high and more worthie life By this reason he should liue lesse time than all other creatures for there is none comparable to man in the ill emploiment of his life in wickednesse ingratitude intemperance and all maner of disorder and immodestie in maners as hath been shewed before in the comparison of man with beasts so that as I asked euen now to what end a long life serued now I aske what euils there would be in the world if the life of man were long What would he not enterprise since the shortnesse of life which cuts off his way and as they say interrupts his cast and the vncerteinty thereof which takes away all heart and courage can not stay him liuing as if he should liue euer On the one side he feareth perceiuing himselfe to be mortall but notwithstanding that hee can not bridle himselfe from not coueting hoping enterprising as if he were immortall Tanquam semper victuri viuitis nunquam vobis fragilitas vestra Seneca succurrit omnia tanquam mortales timetis tanquam immortales
and hinder one the other Miserie and Pride Vanitie and Presumption See then how strange and monstrous a patch-coat man is Forasmuch as man is composed of two diuers parts the soule and the body it is a matter of difficulty well to describe him entire in his perfection and declining state Some refer vnto the body whatsoeuer ill can be spoken of man they make him an excellent creature and in regard of his spirit extoll him aboue all other creatures but on the other side whatsoeuer is ill either in man or in the whole world is forged and proceedeth from this spirit of man and in it there is farre more vanity inconstancy misery presumption than in the body wherein there is little matter of reproch in respect of the spirit and therefore Democritus calleth it a world of hidden miseries and Plutarch prooueth it in a booke written of that subiect Now let vs consider man more according to the life than heeretofore we haue done and pinch him where it itcheth not referring all to these fiue points vanity weaknesse inconstancy misery and presumption which are his more naturall and vniuersall qualities but the two latter touch him more neerely Againe there are some things common to many of these fiue which a man knowes not to which to attribute it and especially imbecillity and misery CHAP. XXXVI 1. Vanity VAnity is the most essentiall and proper quality of humane nature There is nothing so much in man bee it malice infelicity inconstancy irresolution and of all these there is alwaies abundance as base feeblenesse sottishnesse and ridiculous vanity And therefore Democritus met better with it with a kind of disdaine of humane condition mocking and laughing at it than Heraclitus that wept and tormented himselfe whereby he gaue some testimony that he made some account thereof and Diogenes who scorned it than Timon that hater and flier of the company of men Pindarus hath expressed it more to the life than any other by the two vainest things in the world calling it the dreame of ashadow 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 This is that that hath wrought in the wisest so great a contempt of man that hearing of some great designment and honourable enterprise and iudging it such were wont neuerthelesse to say that the world was not worthy a mans labour and paines so answered Statilius to Brutus talking with him about the conspiracie against Caesar and that a wise man should doe nothing but for himselfe for it is not reason that wise men and wisedome should put themselues in danger for fooles This vanitie is shewed and expressed many waies and after 2 Thoughts a diuers maner first in our thoughts and priuate imaginations which are many times more than vaine friuolous and ridiculous wherein neuerthelesse we spend much time and yet perceiue it not Wee enter into them we dwell in them and we come foorth againe insensibly which is a double vanitie and a great forgetfulnesse of our selues One walking in a hall considereth how he may frame his paces after a certaine fashion vpon the boords of the floure another discourseth in his minde with much time and great attention how he should carry himselfe if he were a king a Pope or some other thing that he is assured can neuer come to passe and so hee feedeth himselfe with winde yea lesse than winde that that neither is nor euer shall be Another dreameth how he shall compose his body his countenances his gestures his speech after an affected fashion and pleaseth himselfe therein as with a thing that wonderfully becomes him and that euery man should take delight in But what a vanitie and sottish weakenesse in our desires is this that brings forth beliefs and hopes farre more vaine And all this falleth out not only when we haue nothing to doe when we are swallowed vp with idlenesse but many times in the midst of our most necessarie affaires so naturall and powerfull is vanitie that it robbeth and plucketh out of our hands the truth soliditie and substance of things and fills vs with winde yea with nothing Another more sottish vanitie is a troublesome care of what shall heere fall out when we are dead We extend our desires 3 Care for times to come and affections beyond our selues and our being wee would prouide that some thing should bee done vnto vs when wee know not what is done vnto vs owe desire to be praised after our death what greater vanitie It is not ambition as it seemeth a man may thinke it for that is the desire of a sensible and perceptible honor if this praise of our selues when we are gone might any way profit either our children our parents or our friends that suruiue vs it were well there were some benefit though not to our selues but to desire that as a good which shall no way touch vs nor benefit others is a meere vanitie like that of those who feare their wiues will marrie after their departure and therefore they desire them with great passion to continue vnmarried and binde them by their willes so to do leauing vnto them a great part of their goods vpon that condition This is vanitie and many times iniustice It was contrariwise a commendable thing in those great men in times past which dying exhorted their wiues to marry speedily for the better increase of the Commonwealth Others ordeine that for the loue of them and for their sakes a friend keepe such and such a thing or that he do this or that vnto their dead bodies which rather sheweth their vanitie than doth any good to soule or bodie See heere another vanitie we liue not but by relation vnto another we take not so much care what we are in our selues in effect and truth as what we are in the publike knowledge of men in such sort that we do many times deceiue and depriue our selues of our owne goods and commodities and torment our selues to frame our outward appearances to the common opinion This is true not onely in outward things and such as belong to the bodie and the expense and charge of our meanes but also in the goods of the spirit which seeme vnto vs to be without fruit if others enioy them not and they be not produced to the view and approbation of strangers Our vanity is not only in our simple thoughts desires and discourses but it likewise troubleth shaketh and tormenteth 5 Agitations of the spirit both soule and bodie Many times men trouble and torment themselues more for light occasions and matters of no moment than for the greatest and most important affaires that are Our soule is many times troubled with small fantasies dreames shadowes fooleries without bodie without subiect it is intangled and molested with choler hatred sorow ioy building castles in Spaine The remembrance of a farewell of some particular grace or action afflicteth vs more than a whole discourse of a matter of greater importance The sound of names and certaine words
the Ilotes their seruants to be made drunke that by the vgly deformity of their superfluous inundation others might grow into a horror and detestation of that sinne The Romanes to prepare their people to valour and a contempt of the dangers of death ordeined of purpose those furious spectacles of the fencers which at the first they ordained for offendors afterwards for slaues or seruants but innocents and lastly for freemen that gaue themselues thereunto Brothell houses in great Cities vsuries diuorces vnder the law of Moyses and in diuers other nations and religions haue beene permitted for the better auoiding of greater mischiefes ad duritiem cordis eorum In Iustice which cannot subsist cannot be executed without 8 Iustice the mixture of some wrong not onely Iustice commutatiue for that is not strange it is after a sort necessarie and men could not liue and traffique together without mutuall dammage without offence and the lawes allow of the losse which is vnder the moiety of the iust price But also Iustice distributiue as it selfe confesseth Summum ius summa iniuria omne magnum exemplum habet aliquid ex iniquo quod contra singulos vtilitate publica rependitur Plato alloweth and it is not against the law by deceits and false hopes of fauour and pardon to draw the offender to confesse his fault This is by iniustice deceit and impudencie to doe iustice And what should we say of the inuention of tortures which is rather Of tortures a proofe of patience than verity For both hee that can suffer them and cannot will conceale the truth For why should griefe cause a man rather to speake that which is than that which is not If a man thinke that an innocent is patient enough to endure torments why should not he that is guilty being a meanes to saue his life Illa tormenta gubernat dolor moderatur natura cuiusque tum animi tum corporis regit quaesitor flectit libido corrumpit spes infirmat metus vt in tot rerum angustijs nil veritati loci relinquatur In defence heereof it is said that tortures doe astonish and quell the guiltie and extort from him a truth and contrariwise strengthen the innocent but we doe so often see the contrarie that this may be doubted and to say the truth it is a poore meanes full of vncertaintie full of doubt What will not a man say what will he not doe to auoid such torment etenim innocentes mentiri cogit dolor in such sort that it falleth out that the iudge which giueth the torture to the end an innocent should not die causeth him to die an innocent and tortured too A thousand and a thousand haue falsely accused their owne heads either to shorten their torments or their liues But in the foot of this account is it not a great iniustice and crueltie to torment and to racke a man in pieces for that offence which is yet doubted of To the end they may not kil a man without iust cause they doe worse than kill him if he be innocent and beare the punishment what amends is made him for his vniust torture He shall be quit a goodly recompence and much reason he hath to thanke you But it is the lesser euill that the weakenesse of man could inuent If man bee weake in vertue much more is hee in veritie whether it be eternall and diuine or temporall and humane 9 Veritie That astonisheth him with the lightning beats him downe with the thunder thereof as the bright beames of the sunne the weake eie of the owle if he presume to behold it being oppressed he presently fainteth qui scrutator est maiestatis opprimetur a gloria in such sort that to giue himselfe some breath some tast he must disguise temper and couer it with some shadow or other This that is humane veritie offendeth and woundeth him and he that speakes it is many times holden for an enemie Veritas odium parit It is a strange thing man desireth naturally to know the truth and to attaine thereunto he remooueth all lets whatsoeuer and yet he can not attaine it if it be present he can not apprehend it if he apprehend it he is offended with it The fault is not in the truth for that is alwayes amiable beautifull worthie the knowledge but it is humane imbecillitie that can not endure the splendour thereof Man is strong enough to desire but too weake to receiue and holde what he desireth The two principall means which he vseth to attaine to the knowledge of truth are Reason and Experience Now both of them are so feeble vncertaine though Experience the more weake that nothing certaine can be drawen from them Reason hath so many formes is so pliable so wauering as hath been said Cap. 14. and Experience much more the occurrents are alwayes vnlike there is nothing so vniuersall in Nature as diuersitie nothing so rare and difficult and almost impossible as the likenesle and similitude of things and if a man can not note this dissimilitude it is ignorance and weaknesse I meane this perfect pure and entire similitude and dissimilitude for to say the trueth they are both whole and entire there is no one thing that is wholly like or dislike to another This is an ingenious and maruellous mixture of Nature But after all this what doth better discouer this humane imbecillitie than Religion yea the very intention thereof is 10 Religion to make man feele his owne euill his infirmitie his nothing and to make him to receiue from God his good his strength his all things First it preacheth it vnto him it beats it into our memorie it reprocheth man calling him dust ashes earth flesh blood grasse Afterwards it infinuateth it into him and makes him feele it after an excellent and goodly fashion bringing in God himselfe humbled weakened debased for the loue of him speaking promising swearing chiding threatning and to be briefe conuersing and working with man after a base feeble humane maner like a father that counterfeits his speech and playes the childe with his children The weaknesse of man being such so great so inuincible that to giue it some accesse and commerce with the Diuinitie and to vnite it vnto God it was necessary that God should debase himselfe to the bafest Deus quia in altitudine sua a nobis paruulis apprehendi non poterat ideo se strauit hominibus Againe it makes him see his owne weaknesse by ordinarie effects for all the principall and holiest exercises the most solemne actions of religion are they not the true symptomes and arguments of humane imbecillitie and sicknesse Those sacrifices that in former times haue been vsed thorowout Sacrifices the world and yet in some countreys continue not only of beasts but also of liuing men yea of innocents were they not shamefull marks of humane infirmitie and miserie First because they were signes and symboles of his condemnation and malediction for
fained to be such as not to be aduanced in honour greatnes riches as cuckoldship sterility death for to say the truth there is nothing but griefe it selfe that is euill and which is felt And though some wise men seem to feare these things yet it is not for their owne sakes but because of that griefe which sometimes doth accompany them afterwards for many times it is a fore-runner of death and sometimes followeth the losse of goods of credit of honour But take from these things grief the rest is nothing but fantasie which hath no other lodging but in the head of man which quits it selfe of other businesse to be miserable and imagineth within it owne bounds false euils besides the true employing and extending his miserie in stead of lessening and contracting it Beasts feele not these euils but are exempted from them because nature iudgeth them not to be such As for sorrow which is the only true euill man is wholly borne thereunto and it is his naturall propertie The Mexicanes 5 He is borne to sorrow thus salute their infants comming forth of the wombe of their mother Infant thou art come into the world to suffer endure suffer and hold thy peace That sorrow is naturall vnto man and contrariwise pleasure but a stranger it appeareth by these three reasons All the parts of man are capable of sorrow very few of delight The parts capable of pleasure can not receiue more than one or two sorts but all can receiue the greatest number of griefs all different heat colde pricking rubbing trampling fleaing beating boiling languishing extension oppression relaxation and infinite others which haue no proper name to omit those of the soule in such sort that man is better able to suffer them than to expresse them Man hath no long continuance in pleasure for that of the bodie is like a fire of straw and if it should continue it would bring with it much enuie and displeasure but sorrowes are more permanent and haue not their certaine seasons as pleasures haue Againe the empire and command of sorrow is farre more great more vniuersall more powerfull more durable and in a word more naturall than that of pleasure To these three a man may adde other three Sorrow and griefe is more frequent and falles out often Pleasure is rare Euil comes easily of it selfe without seeking Pleasure neuer comes willingly it must be sought after and many times we pay more for it than it is woorth Pleasure is neuer pure but alwayes distempered and mingled with some bitternesse and there is alwayes some thing wanting but sorrow and griefe is many times entire and pure After all this the worst of our market and that which doth euidently shew the miserie of our condition is that the greatest pleasures touch vs not so neere as the lightest griefs Segnius homines bona quà m mala sentiunt we feele not so much our soundest health as the least maladie that is pung it in cute vix summa violatum plagula corpus quando valere nil quenquam monet It is not enough that man be indeede and by nature miserable 6 By memorie and anticipation and besides true and substantiall euills he faine forge false and fantasticall as hath beene saide but hee must likewise extend and lengthen them and cause both the true and false to endure and to liue longer than they can so amarous is he of iniserie which he doth diuers waies First by the remembrance of what is past and the anticipation of what is to come so that we cannot faile to be miserable since that those things which are principally good in vs and whereof wee glorie most are instruments of miserie futuro torquemur praeterito mult a bona nostra nobis nocent timoris tormentum memoria reducit prouidentia anticipat nemo praesentibus tantùm miser est It is not enough to be miserable but wee must encrease it by a continual expectation before it come nay seeke it and prouoke it to come like those that kill themselues with the feare of death that is to say either by curiositie or imbecillitie and vaine apprehension to preoccupate euils and inconueniences and to attend them with so much paine ado euen those which peraduenture will neuer come neere vs These kinde of people will be miserable before their time and double miserable both by a reall sense or feeling of their miserie and by a long premeditation therof which many times is a hundred times worse than the euils themselues Minùs afficit sensus fatigatio quà m cogitatio The essence or being of miserie endureth not long but the minde of man must lengthen and extend it and entertaine it before hand Plùs dolet quà m necesse est qui antè dolet quà m necesse est Quaedam magis quaedam antequam debeant quaedam cùm omninò non debeant nos torquent Aut augemus dolorem aut fugimus aut praecipimus Beasts do well defend themselues from this follie and miserie and are much bound to thanke nature that they want that spirit that memorie that prouidence that man hath Caesar said well that the best death was that which was least premeditated And to say the truth the preparation before death hath beene to many a greater torment than the execution it selfe My meaning is not here to speake of that vertuous and philosophicall premeditation which is that temper whereby the soule is made inuincible is fortified to the proofe against all assaults and accidents whereof we shall speake heerafter but Lib. 2. ca 7. of that fearefull and sometimes false and vaine apprehension of euils that may come which afflicteth and darkeneth as it were with smoke all the beauty and serenity of the soule troubleth all the rest and ioy thereof insomuch that it were better to suffer it selfe to be wholly surprised It is more easie and more naturall not to thinke thereof at all But let vs leaue this anticipation of euill for simply euery care and painfull thought bleating after things to come by hope desire feare is a very great misery For besides that we haue not any power ouer that which is to come much lesse ouer what is past and so it is vanity as it hath been said there doth stil remain vnto vs that euill and dammage Calamitosus est animus futuri anxius which robbeth our vnderstanding and taketh from vs the peaceable comfort of our present good and will not suffer vs to settle and content our selues therein But this is not yet enough For to the end man may neuer want matter of misery yea that he may alwaies haue his 7 By vnquiet search full he neuer ceaseth searching and seeking with great study the causes and aliments of misery He thrusteth himselfe into businesse euen with ioy of heart euen such as when they are offered vnto him he should turne his backe towards them and either out of a miserable disquiet of mind or to the end
spirits and many times such things are vaine and not to be esteemed if they bring not with them goodnesse and commoditie And therefore that Prince did iustly contemne him that glorified himselfe because he could from far cast a graine of millet thorow the eye of a needle 4 Generally all those superstitious opinions wherewith children women and weake mindes are infected 5 To esteeme of men for their riches dignities honors and to contemne those that want them as if a man should iudge of a horse by the saddle and bridle 6 To account of things not according to their true naturall and essentiall worth which is many times inward and hidden but according to the outward shew or common report 7 To thinke to be reuenged of an enemy by killing him for that is to put him in safetie and to quit him from all ill and to bring a vengeance vpon himselfe it is to take from his enemie all sense of reuenge which is the principall effect thereof This doth likewise belong vnto weaknesse 8 To account it a great iniurie or to thinke a man miserable because he is a cuckold for what greater folly in iudgement can there be than to esteeme of a man the lesse for the vice of another which hee neuer allowed As much may be sayd of a bastard 9 To account lesse of things present and that are our owne and which wee peaceably enioy and to esteeme of them most when a man hath them not or because they are another mans as if the presence and possession of them did lessen their worth and the want of them increase it Virtutem incolumem odimus Sublatam ex oculis quaerimus inuidi And this is the cause why a Prophet is not esteemed in his owne countrey So likewise mastership and authoritie ingendreth contempt of those that are subiect to that authoritie husbands haue a carelesse respect of their wiues and many fathers of their children Wilt thou saith the good fellow loue her no more then marrie her Wee esteeme more the horse the house the seruant of another because he is anothers and not ours It is a thing very strange to account more of things in imagination than in substance as a man doth all things absent and that are not his whether it be before hee haue them or after he hath had them The cause hereof in both cases may be because before a man possesse them hee esteemeth not according to that they are worth but according to that which he imagineth them to be or they haue by another beene reported to be and possessing them hee esteemes them according to that good and benefit he getteth by them and after they are taken from him he considereth and desireth them wholly in their perfection and declination whereas before he enioyed them and vsed them but by peecemeale successiuely for a man thinketh he shall alwayes haue time enough to enioy them and by that meanes they are gone before he was aware that he had them And this is the reason why the griefe is greater in hauing them not than the pleasure in possessing them But heerein there is as much imbecillitie as miserie We haue not the sufficiencie to enioy but only to desire There is another vice cleane contrarie to this and that is when a man setleth himselfe in himselfe and in such sort conceits himselfe and whatsoeuer he hath that he preferres it before all and thinks nothing comparable to his owne Though these kinde of people be no wiser than the other yet they are at least more happie 10 To be ouer-zealous in euery question that is proposed to bite all to take to the heart and to shew himselfe importunate and opinatiue in euery thing so he haue some faire pretext of iustice religion the weale publike the loue of the people 11 To play the mourner the afflicted person to weepe See cap. 27. for the death or vnhappie accident of another to thinke that not to be moued at all or very little is for want of loue and affection There is also vanitie in this 12 To esteeme and make account of actions that are done Lib. 2. ca. 10. with rumour clatter and clamor and to contemne those that are done otherwise and to thinke that they that proceed after so sweet and calme a maner do nothing are as in a dreame without action and to be briese to esteeme Art more than Nature That which is puffed vp swollen and eleuated by studie fame report and striketh the sense that is to say artificiall is more regarded and esteemed than that which is sweet simple plaine ordinarie that is to say Naturall that awaketh this brings vs asleepe 13 To giue an ill and wrong interpretation of the honourable actions of another man and to attribute them to base and vaine or vicious causes or occasions as they that attributed the death of yoong Cato to the feare he had of Caesar wherewith Plutarch seemes to be offended and others more foolishly to ambition This is a great maladie of the iudgement which proceedeth either from malice and corruption of the will and maners or enuie against those that are more woorthy than themselues or from that vice of bringing their owne credit to their owne doore and measuring another by their owne foot or rather than all this from imbecillitie and weaknesse as not hauing their sight so strong and so certaine to conceiue the brightnesse of vertue in it owne natiue purity There are some that thinke they shew great wit and subtiltie in deprauing and obscuring the glory of beautifull and honorable actions wherein they shew much more malice than sufficiencie It is a thing easy enough to doe but base and villanous 14 To defame and to chastise ouer-rigorously and shamefully certaine vices as crimes in the highest degree villanous and contagious which are neuerthelesse but indifferent and haue their roote and excuse in nature and not so much to detest and to chastise with so greedy adoo those vices that are truly great and against nature as pretended and plotted murders treasons and treachery cruelty and so forth 15 Behold also after all this a true testimonie of spirituall miserie but which is wily subtile and that is that the spirit of man in it best temper and peaceable setled and soundest estate is not capable but of common ordinary naturall and indifferent things To be capable of diuine and supernaturall as of diuination prophesie reuclation inuention and as a man may say to enter into the cabinet of the gods he must be sicke displaced from his naturall seate and as it were corrupted correptus either by extrauagancie extasie inspiration or by dreaming insomuch that the two naturall wayes to atteine thereunto are either fury or dead sleepe So that the spirit is neuer so wise as when it is a foole nor more awaked than when it sleepeth it neuer meeteth better than when it goes on one side or crosseth the way it neuer mounts or flies
will not quit themselues of their gaine nor the satisfaction which they receiue which is to bind God vnto them The Formalists doe wholly tie themselues to an outward forme and fashion of life thinking to be quit of blame in the 2 Formalists pursuite of their passions and desires so they do nothing against the tenour of the lawes and omit none of their formalities See heere a miserable churle which hath ouerthrowne and brought to a desperate state many poore families but this hath fallen out by demaunding that which he thought to be his owne and that by way ofiustice Who then can affirme that he hath done ill O how many good works haue beene omitted how many euils committed vnder this cloake of formes which a man sees not And therefore it is very truly sayd That the extremitie of law is the extremitie of wrong and as well sayd God shield vs from Formalists The Pedantie or housholde schoole-master hauing with great study and paines filched from other mens writings their 3 Pedanties Lib. 3. cap. 13. learning they set it out to the view and to sale and with a questuous and mercinary ostentation they disgorge it and let it flie with the winde Are there any people in the world so sottish in their affaires more vnapt to euery thing and yet more presumptuous and obstinate In euery tongue and nation Pedante Clerke Master are words of reproch To doe any thing sottishly is to doe it like a Clerke These are a kinde of people that haue their memories stuffed with the wisdome of other men and haue none of their owne their iudgements willes consciences are neuer the better they are vnapt simple vnwise in such sort that it seemes that learning serues them for no other vse than to make them more fooles yea more arrogant pratlers they diminish or rather swallow vp their owne spirits and bastardize their vnderstanding but puffe vp their memorie Heere is that miserie seated which we now come to speake of and is the last of those of the vnderstanding CHAP. XL. 5. Presumption BEholde heere the last and leawdest line or liniament of this picture it is the other part of that description giuen by Plinie the plague of man and the nurse of false and erroneous opinions both publike and particular and yet a vice both naturall and originall in man Now this presumption must be considered diuersly and in all senses high low collaterall inward and outward in respect of God things high and celestiall in regard of things base as of beasts man his companion of himselfe and all may be reduced to these two To esteeme too much of himselfe and not to esteeme sufficiently of another Qui in se considebant aspernabantur alios A word or two of either Lue. 18. First in respect of God and it is a horrible thing all superstition 1 Presumption in regard of God and want in religion or false seruice of God proceedeth from this That we esteeme not enough of God we vnderstand him not and our opinions conceits and beliefs of the Diuinitie are not high and pure enough I meane not by this enough proportion answerable to the greatnesse of God which being infinite receiueth not any proportion for it is impossible in this respect to conceit or beleeue enough but I meane enough in respect of what we can and ought to doe We soare not high enough we doe not eleuate and sharpen sufficiently the point of our spirit when we enter into an imagination of the Diuinitie we ouer-basely conceit him our seruices are vnworthy his maiestie we deale with him after a baser maner than with other creatures we speake not only of his works but of his maiestie will iudgements with more confidence and boldnesse than we dare to doe of an earthly Prince or man of honour Many men there are that would scorn such kind of seruice and acknowledgement and would holde themselues to be abused and their honours in some sort violated if a man should speake of them or abuse their names in so base and abiect a maner We enterprise to leade God to flatter him to bend him to compound or condition with him that I may not say to braue threaten despight murmure against him Caesar willed his Pilot not to feare to hoise vp sailes and commit himselfe to the furie of the seas euen against destinie and the will of the heauens with this onely confidence That it was Caesar whom he carried Augustus See lib. 2. cap. 10. hauing beene beaten with a tempest at sea defied god Neptune and in the chiefest pompe of the Circean sports caused his image to be taken downe from where it was placed amongst the rest of the gods to be reuenged of him The Thracians when it thundereth and lighteneth shoot against heauen to bring God himselfe into order Xerxes scourged the sea and writ a bill of defiance against the hill Athos And one telleth of a Christian King a neere neighbour of ours See lib. 2. cap. 18. who hauing receiued a blow from God swore he would be reuenged and gaue commandement that for ten yeeres no See lib. 3. cap. 1. man should pray vnto him or speake of him Audax Iapeti genus Nil mortalibus arduum Coelum ipsum petimus stultitia neque Per nostrum patimur scelus Iracunda Iouem ponere fulmina But to leaue these strange extrauagancies all the common sort of people do they not plainly verifie that saying of Pliny That there is nothing more miserable and therewithall more glorious than man For on the one side he faineth loftie and rich opinions of the loue care and affection of God towards him as his minion and only beloued and in the meane time he returneth him no dutie or seruice worthie so great and louing a God How can a life so miserable and a seruice so negligent on the one side agree with an opinion and beliefe so glorious and so haughtie on the other This is at one and the same time to be an angel and a swine and this is that wherewith a great Philosopher reproched the Christians that there were no people more fierce glorious in their speech and in effect more dissolute effeminate and villanous It was an enemie that spake it perhaps to wrong and abuse vs but yet he spake but that which doth iustly touch all hypocrites It likewise seemeth vnto vs that we burthen and importune God the world and nature that they labour and trauell 2 In respect of Nature in our affayres they watch not but for vs and therefore we wonder and are astonished with those accidents that happen vnto vs and especially at our deaths Few there are that resolue and beleeue that it is their last houre and almost all do euen then suffer themselues to be mocked with vaine hopes This proceedeth from presumption we make too much of our selues and we thinke that the whole world hath great interest in our death
children he was not punished Salust in bel Catil Valer. Maxim as we may see by the example of Fuluius the Senator who killed his sonne because he was a partner in the conspiracie of Catiline and of diuers other Senatours who haue made criminall processe against their children in their owne houses and haue condemned them to death as Cassius Tratius or to perpetuall exile as Manlius Torquatus his sonne Sillanus There were afterwards lawes ordeined that inioyned the father to present vnto the Iudge his children offending that they might be punished and that the Iudge should pronounce such a sentence as the father thought fit which is still a kinde of footstep of antiquitie and going about to take away the power of the father they durst not doe it but by halfes and not altogether and openly These latter lawes come somewhat neere the law of Moyses which would That at the only complaint of the father made before the Iudge without any other knowledge taken of the cause the rebellious and contumacious childe should be stoned to death requiring the presence of the Iudge to the end the punishment should not be done in secret or in choler but exemplarilie So that according to Moyses this fatherly power was more free and greater than it hath beene after the time of the Emperours but afterwards vnder Constantine the Great and Theodosius and finally vnder Iustinian it was almost altogether extinct From whence it is that children haue learned to denie their obedience to their parents their goods their aide yea to wage law against them a shamefull thing to see our Courts full of these cases Yea they haue beene dispensed heerewith vnder pretext of deuotion and offerings as with the Iewes before Christ wherwith he reprocheth them Matt. 15. and afterwards in Christianitie according to the opinion of some yea it hath beene lawfull to kill them either in their owne defence or if they were enemies to the Common-weale although to say the truth there should neuer because iust enough for a sonne to kill his father Nullum tantum scelus admitti potest a patre quod sit parricidio vindicandum nullum scelus rationem habet Now we feele not what mischiefe and preiudice hath hapned to the world by the abolishing and extinction of this fatherly power The Common-weales wherein it hath beene in force haue alwayes flourished If there were any danger or euill in it it might in some sort be ruled and moderated but vtterly to abolish it as now it is is neither honest nor expedient but hurtfull and inconuenient as hath beene sayd Of the reciprocall duty of parents and children See Lib. 3. Cap. 14. CHAP. XLVIII Lords and slaues Masters and seruants THe vse of slaues and the full and absolute power of Lords and Masters ouer them although it be a thing common 1 The vse of slaues vniuersall and against nature thorowout the world and at all times except within these foure hundred yeeres in which time it hath somewhat decayed though of late it reuiue againe yet it is a thing both monstrous and ignominious in the nature of man and such as is not found in beasts themselues who consent not to the captiuitie of their like neither actiuely nor passiuely The law of Moyses hath permitted this as other things ad duritiam cordis eorum but not such as hath beene elswhere for it was neither so great nor so absolute nor perpetuall but moderated within the compasse of seuen yeeres at the most Christianitie hath left it finding it vniuersall in all places as likewise to obey idolatrous Princes and Masters and such like matters as could not at the first attempt and altogether be extinguished they haue abolished There are foure sorts Naturall that is slaues borne Enforced 2 Distinction and made by right of warre Iust termed slaues by punishment by reason of some offence or debt whereby they are slaues to their Creditors at the most for seuen yeeres according to the law of the Iewes but alwayes vntill paiment and restitution be made in other places Voluntaries whereof there are many sorts as they that cast the dice for it or sell Tacit. de mort German their libertie for money as long sithence it was the custome in Almaigne and now likewise in some parts of Christendom where they do giue and vow themselues to another for euer as the Iewes were woont to practise who at the gate bored a hole in their eare in token of perpetuall seruitude And this kind of voluntarie captiuitie is the strangest of all the rest and almost against nature It is couetousnesse that is the cause of slaues enforced and lewdnesse the cause of voluntaries They that are Lords and 3 The cause of Slaues Masters haue hoped for more gaine and profit by keeping than by killing them and indeed the fairest possessions and the richest commodities were in former times slaues By this meanes Crassus became the richest among the Romanes who had besides those that serued him fiue hundred slaues who euery day brought gaine and commoditie by their gainefull artes and mysteries and afterwards when he had made what profit by them he could he got much by the sale of them It is a strange thing to reade of those cruelties practised by Lords vpon their slaues euen by the approbation and permission 4 The cruelties of Lords against their slaues of the lawes themselues They haue made them to till the earth being chained together as the manner is in Barbary at this day they lodge them in holes and ditches and being old or impotent and so vnprofitable they sell them or drowne them and cast them into lakes to feed their fish withall They kill them not only for the least fault that is as the breaking of a glasse but for the least suspition yea for their owne pleasure and pastime as Flaminius did one of the honestest men of his time And to giue delight vnto the people they were constrained in their publicke Theaters to kill one another If a Master hapned to be killed in his house by whomsoeuer the innocent slaues were all put to death insomuch that Pedonius the Romane being slaine although the murtherer were knowne yet by the order of the Senat foure hundred of his slaues were put to death On the other side it is a thing as strange to heare of the rebellions insurrections and cruelties of slaues against their 5 The cruelties of Slaues against their Lords Lords when they haue beene able to worke their reuenge not only in particular by surprise and treason as it fell out one night in the Citie of Tyre but in set battaile both by sea and land from whence the prouerb is So many slaues so many enemies Now as Christian religion and afterwards Mahumetisme 6 Diminution of Slaues did increase the number of slaues did decrease and seruitude did cease insomuch that the Christians and afterwards the Turks like apes imitating them gaue
yong actiue the ordinarie view of so many accidents and spectacles libertie and conuersation without arte a manly fashion of life without ceremonie the varietie of diuers actions a couragious harmonie of warlike musike which entertaines vs and stirres our blood our eares our soule those warlike commotions which rauish vs with their horror and feare that confused tempest of sounds and cries that fearefull ordering of so many thousands of men with so much furie ardour and courage But on the other side a man may say that the arte and experience of vndoing one another of killing ruinating destroying 2 The dispraise our owne proper kinde seemes to be vnnaturall and to proceed from an alienation of our sense and vnderstanding it is a great testimonie of our weaknesse and imperfection and it is not found in beasts themselues in whom the image of nature continueth farre more entire What follie what rage is it to make such commotions to torment so many people to runne thorow so many dangers and hazzards both by sea and land for a thing so vncertaine and doubtfull as the issue of warre to runne with such greedinesse and fiercenesse after death which is easily found euery where and without hope of sepulture to kill those he hates not nor euer saw But whence proceedeth this great furie and ardor for it is not for any offence committed What frensie and madnesse is this for a man to abandon his owne bodie his time his rest his life his libertie and to leaue it to the mercie of another to expose himselfe to the losse of his owne members and to that which is a thousand times worse than death fire and sword to be troden to be pinched with hot iron to be cut to be torne in pieces broken and put to the gallies for euer And all this to serue the passion of another for a cause which a man knowes not to be iust and which is commonly vniust for warres are commonly vniust and for him whom a man knowes not who takes so little care for him that fights for him that he will be content to mount vpon his dead bodie to helpe his owne stature that he may see the farther I speake not heere of the dutie of subiects towards their Prince and countrey but of voluntaries and mercenarie souldiers The fift and last distinction and difference of men drawen from the fauors and disfauors of Nature and Fortune THE PREFACE THis last distinction and difference is apparent enough and sufficiently knowen and hath many members and considerations but may all be reduced to two heads which a man may call with the vulgar sort Felicitie or good fortune and Infelicitie or ill fortune Greatnesse or littlenesse To Felicitie and greatnesse belong health beautie and the other goods of the bodie libertie nobilitie honor dignitie science riches credit friends To Infelicitie or littlenesse belong all the contraries which are priuations of the other good things From these things doth arise a very great difference because a man is happie in one of these or in two or in three and not in the rest and that more or lesse by infinite degrees few or none at all are happie or vnhappie in them all He that hath the greatest part of these goods and especially three Nobilitie Dignitie or Authoritie and riches is accounted great he that hath not any of these three little But many haue but one or two and are accounted midlings betwixt the great and the little We must speake a little of them all Of Health beautie and other naturall goods of the bodie Chap. 11. hath been spoken before as likewise of their contraries Chap. 6. Sicknesse Griefe CHAP. LVIII Of Libertie and Seruitude LIbertie is accounted by some a souereigne good and Seruitude an extreame euill insomuch that many haue chosen rather to die a cruell death than to be made slaues or to see either the publike good or their owne priuate indangered But of this there may be too much and of these too manie as of all other things There is a twofolde libertie the true which is of the minde or spirit and is in the power of euery one and can not be taken away nor indamaged by another nor by Fortune it selfe contrariwise the seruitude of the spirit is the most miserable of all others to serue our owne affections to suffer our selues to be deuoured by our owne passions to be led by opinions ô pitifull captiuitie The corporall libertie is a good greatly to be esteemed but subiect to Fortune and it is neither iust nor reasonable if it be not by reason of some other circumstance that it should be preferred before life it selfe as some of the ancients haue done who haue rather made choice of death than to lose it and it was accounted a great vertue in them so great an euill was seruitude thought to be Seruitus obedientia est fracti animi abiecti arbitrio carentis suo Many great and wise men haue serued Regulus Valerianus Plato Diogenes euen those that were wicked and yet dishonoured not their owne condition but continued in effect and truth more free than their masters CHAP. LIX Nobilitie NObilitie is a qualitie euery where not common but honourable brought in and established with great reason and for publike vtilitie It is diuers diuersly taken and vnderstood and according to diuers nations and iudgements it hath diuers kindes According The description of nobilitie to the generall and common opinion and custome it is a qualitie of a race or stocke Aristotle saith that it is the antiquitie of a race and of riches Plutarch calleth it the vertue of a race 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 meaning thereby a certaine habit and qualitie continued in the linage What this qualitie or vertue is all are not wholly of one accord sauing in this that it is profitable to the weale-publike For to some and the greater part this qualitie is militarie to others it is politike literarie of those that are wise palatine of the officers of the Prince But the militarie hath the aduantage aboue the rest for besides the seruice which it yeeldeth to the weale-publike as the rest do it is painfull laborious dangerous whereby it is accounted more worthy and commendable So hath it caried with vs by excellencie the honourable title of Valour There must then according to this opinion be two things in true and perfect nobilitie profession of this vertue and qualitie profitable to the common-weale which is as the forme and the race as the subiect and matter that is to say a long continuance of this qualitie by many degrees and races and time out of mind whereby they are called in our language Gentlemen that is to say of a race house familie carying of long time the same name and the same profession For he is truely and entirely noble who maketh a singular profession of publick vertue seruing his Prince and Countrie and being descended of parents and ancestors
the waspe which with his sting offendeth another but much more himselfe for he leaueth behind him and that for euer both his sting and his strength vice hoth pleasure in it otherwise it would not be receiued nor find place in the world nemo enim animi causu malus est but it doth withall ingender displeasure and offence paine followeth firme saith Plato yea it groweth with it saith Hesiodus which is quite contrarie to the will and to vertue which reioyceth and contenteth There is a congratulation a pleasing contentment and satisfaction in well doing it is the true and essentiall reward of a good soule which can neuer faile him and wherewith he must content himselfe in this world There is no man maketh a doubt whether vice be to be auoided and hated aboue all things but it is a question whether 18 Whether it be neuer permitted to sinne there may be any such profit or pleasure as may carrie with it a sufficient excuse for the committing of such or such a finne It seemeth to diuers that there may Touching prosin if it be publike there is no doubt but yet with limitation as shall be sayd in the vertue of politike prudence but some will say as much of particular profit and pleasure A man â— Lib. 3. cap. 2. might speake and iudge heereof more certainly if some certaine fact on example were proposed but to speake simplie we are firmly to holde the negatiue That sinne can not inwardly furnish vs with such pleasure and content as honestie doth there is no doubt but that it 19 Whether all sinne ingender repentance The distinction of vice or wickednesse tormendth as hath been sayd it is not vniuersally and in all senses true we must therefore distinguish it There are three sorts of wickednesse and wicked people some are incorporated into euill by discourse and resolution or by long habit in such sort that their vnderstanding it selfe approueth it and consenteth there unto This falleth out when sinne hauing met with a strong and vigorous heart is in such sort rooted therein that it is there formed and as it were naturalized and the soule infected and wholly tainted therewith Others contrariwise do ill by impulsions according as the violent winde of temptation troubleth stirreth and precipitateth the soule vnto sinne and as they are surprised and caried by the force of passion The third as midlings betwixt these two account their vice such as it is they accuse and condemne it contrarie to the first and they are not carried by passion or temptation as the second but in colde blood hauing well thought thereof they enter into the market they ballance it with some great pleasure or profit and in the end at a certaine price and measure they yeeld thereunto and they thinke they haue some excuse to doe it Of this sort of sinnes are vsuries obscenities or venereous pleasures and other sinnes manie times resumed consulted deliberated as also the sinnes of complexion Of these three the first do neuer repent without some extraordinarie 20 Their comparison touch from heauen for being setled and hardned in wickednesse they feele not the pricke and sting thereof for since the vnderstanding approueth it and the soule is wholly tainted therewith the will hath no will to gainsay it The third repent or seeme in a certaine fashion that is to say simply considering the dishonest action in it selfe but afterwards weighing it with profit or pleasure they repent not at all and to say the truth and to speake properly they do not repent since both their reason and conscience willeth and consenteth to the fault The second are they that repent and readuise themselues and of whom properly it is called repentance whereof I will heere take occasion to speake a word or two Repentance is a disauowing or deniall and a retractation 21 Of repentance of the will that is a sorrow or griefe ingendred in vs by reason which driueth away all other sorrowes and griefs which proceed from outward causes Repentance is inward inwardly ingendred and therfore more strong than any other as the heat and colde of a feauer is more violent than that which is outward Repentance is the medicine of the soule the death of sinne the cure of our willes and consciences but it is necessarie that we well know it First it is not of euerie sinne as hath beene sayd not of that which is inueterate habituated authorized by the iudgement it selfe but of the accidentall and that which happeneth either by surprise or by force nor of things that are not in our power whereof we are sorrie we cannot repent neither can it be in vs by reason of bad issues and contrary to our counsels and designments If a matter fall out besides a mans thought conceipt and aduice for that he must not repent him of his counsell and aduice if he therein carrie himselfe as he ought for a man cannot diuine of euents and if a man did know them yet he hath no place to consult of them and we neuer are to iudge of counsels by their issues neither must it grow in him by the age impotencie distaste of things this were to suffer his iudgement to be corrupted for the things are not changed because we are changed by age sicknesse or other accidents The growing wise or amendment which comes by anxietie distaste or feeblenes is not true and religious but idle and languishing The weaknesse of the bodie is no fit post to carie vs to God and to our dutie and repentance but true repentance is the gift of God which toucheth our heart and must grow in vs not by the weaknesse of the bodie but by the force of the soule and of reason Now from true repentance there ariseth a true free and religious confession of our faults As in the maladies of the bodie 22 Of confession and excuse we see two kinds of remedies the one which healeth taking away the cause and roote of the maladie the other which doth only couer it and bring it asleepe and therefore the former is more forcible and more wholsome So likewise in the maladies of the soule the true remedie which clenseth and healeth is a serious and modest confession of our faults the other false which doth only disguise and couer is excuse a remedie inuented by the author of euill it selfe whereof the prouerb is That sinne soweth itselfe a garment that is excuse the garment made of figge leaues by the first offenders who couered themselues both with words and deeds but it was a garment without warmth We should therefore learne to accuse our selues boldly to confesse all our actions thoughts for besides that it were a faire and generous libertie it were likewise a meane not to do or thinke any thing which were not honest and fit to be published for he that will be content to be bound to tell all will be likewise content to bind himselfe to do
is the part of wisedome to resolue to beare it to sweeten it to accommodate it vnto himselfe as much as he can doing as in a game at hazard according to the counsell of Plato wherein if the die or card fall not out to be good a man taketh it patientlie and indeuoreth to mend his ill chaunce by his good play and like Bees who from Tyme a sharp and dry herbe gather sweet hony and as the prouerb is make a vertue of necessitie CHAP. V. To studie true pietie the first office of Wisdome THe preparatiues made and the two foundations laid it is time to build and to set downe the rules of wisdome whereof the first and most noble concerneth the religion and worship of God Pietie holdeth the first place in the ranke of our duties and it is a thing of great importance wherein it is dangerous and very easie to erre and be mistaken It is necessarie therefore to be aduised and to know how he that studieth wisdome should gouerne himselfe which we purpose to do hauing a little discoursed of the state and successe of religions in the world referring the rest vnto that which I haue said in my three Verities It is first a very fearefull thing to consider the great diuersitie of religions which haue beene and are in the world and 1 Diuersitie of religions much more of the strangenes of some of them so fantasticall and exorbitant that it is a wonder that the vnderstanding of man should be so much besotted and made drunken with impostures for it seemeth that there is nothing in the world high or low which hath not been deified in some place or other and that hath not found a place wherein to be worshipped They all agree in many things and haue likewise taken their beginning in the same climat Palestina and Arabia 2 That all agree in many principles which ioyne together I meane the more renowned and famous mistris of the rest haue their principles and foundations almost alike The beliefe of one God the author of all things of his prouidence and loue towards mankinde the immortalitie of the soule reward for the good chastisement for the wicked after this life a certaine outward profession of praying inuocating honoring and seruing God To win them credit and that they may be receiued they alledge and furnish themselues whether indeed and in veritie as the true or by imposture and faire semblance with reuelations apparitions prophets miracles prodigies holie mysteries Saints All haue their fountaine and beginning small feeble humble but by little and little by the imitation and contagious acclamation of the people with some fictions as forerunners they haue taken footing and been authorised in so much that they all are held with affirmation and deuotion yea the absurdest amongst them All hold and teach that God is appeased and woon by prayers presents vowes and promises and the like All beleeue that the principall and most pleasant seruice of God and the powerfullest meane to appease him and to obtaine his grace is to punish to cut themselues to impose vpon themselues some painefull and difficult labour witnes throughout the world and almost in all religions and rather in the false than in the true in Mahumetisme than Christianitie so many orders companies hermitages and frieries destinated to certaine and diuers exercises very painefull and of a strict profession euen to the lancing and cutting of their bodies thinking thereby to merit much more than the common sort who purifie not themselues with afflictions and torments as they do and euery day they prouide new and the nature of man doth neuer cease to inuent meanes of paine and torment which proceedeth from the opinion that God taketh pleasure and is pleased with the torment and ruine of his creatures which opinion is founded vpon the sacrifices which were vniuersall throughout the world before the birth of Christianitie and exercised not only vpon innocent beasts which were masacred with the effusion of their bloud for a pretious present vnto God but a strange thing that man should be so sottish vpon infants innocents and men as well good and honest as offenders a custome practised with great religion almost in all nations As the Getae a people of Scythia who among other ceremonies and sacrifices dispatched vnto their god Zamolxis from fiue yeares to fiue a man amongst them to demaund things necessarie for them And because it was thought necessarie that one should die suddainly at an instant and that they did expose themselues vnto death after a doubtfull maner by running themselues vpon the points of three iauelins whereby it fell out that many were dispatched in their order vntill there came one that lighted vpon a mortall wound and died suddenly accounting him the fittest messenger and in greatest fauour with their god and not the rest as the Persians witnesse that fact of Amestris the mother of Xerxes who at one instant buried aliue foureteene yoong men of the best houses according to the religion of the countrey as the ancient Gawles the Carthaginians who sacrificed to Saturne their children their fathers and mothers being present the Lacedemonians who flattered their goddesse Diana by whipping their youths in fauour of her many times euen to death the Greeks witnesse the sacrifice of Iphigenia the Romans witnesse the two Decij quae fuit tanta iniquitas deorum vt placari pop Rom. non possent nisi tales viri occidissent Turks who so massacre their visage their brests their members to gratifie their Prophet the new East and West Indies and in Themistitan where they cement their idols with the blood of children What madnesse was this to thinke to flatter the Diuinitie with inhumanitie to content the Diuine Goodnes with our affliction and to satisfie the iustice of God with crueltie Iustice then thirsting after humane blood innocent blood drawen and shed with so much paine and torment Vt sic dij placentur quemadmodum ne homines quidem saeuiunt From Seneca whence can this opinion and beleefe spring that God taketh pleasure in torment and in the ruine of his works and humane nature Following this opinion of what nature should God be But all this hath beene abolished thorowout Christendome as before hath been sayd They haue also their differences their particular articles whereby they are distinguished amongst themselues and 3 They differ euery one preferres it selfe aboue the rest assuring himselfe it is the better and more true than the rest reproching the one the other with some things and so condemne and reiect one another But no man doubteth neither is it a matter of labour to know which is the truest the Christian religion hauing so 4 Christian religion aboue all many aduantages and priuileges so high and so authenticall aboue others and especially these It is the subiect of my second veritie where is shewed how farre all others are inferior vnto it Now as they spring vp one
the taking The first fault yoong men and forward hot-spurres commit who for want of patience giue no leasure to time and the heauens to do any thing for them they runne but they catch nothing The second heauie lazie dull spirited men do commonly fall into To know the occasion and to take it a man must haue his spirit valiant and vigilant and likewise patient he must foresee it watch attend it see it comming and prepare for it and so take it iust at that instant when it is readie The seuenth aduice is well to cary himselfe with these two masters superintendants of the affaires of the world which 7 Industrie and Fortune are industrie or vertue and fortune It is an ancient question which of these two hath most credit force and authoritie for it is out of all doubt that both haue and it is clearely false that one only doth all and the other nothing It were perhaps to be wished that it were true and that one only had the whole empire the businesse would go the better a man would wholly attend that whereby it would be the more easie the difficultie is to ioyne them together and to attend them both Commonly they that settle themselues vnto the one contemne the other the yonger and bolder sort respect and trust to fortune hoping much good from it and many times by them it worketh great matters in somuch that it seemes to fauour them the more ancient and stayed trust to their industrie and these of the two haue the more reason If we should compare them and chuse one of the two industrie is the more honest the more certaine glorious for though fortune be contrarie to it and shall make all industrie diligence vaine yet neuerthelesse there remaineth great contentment in that a man hath not kept holy day hath performed his office or dutie hath caried himselfe like a man of courage They that follow the other part are in danger to attend in vaine and though perhaps things succeed according to their owne desires yet they want that honor and glory that the former hath Now the aduice of wisdome is not wholly and so much to settle our selues to the one that we contemne and exclude the other for they haue both a good part yea many times they help and do mutually attend one the other A wise man then must cary himselfe with them both but yet vnequally for the aduantage and preheminence must be giuen as hath beene said to vertue industrie virtute duce comite fortuna This aduice likewise is required to keepe discretion which seasoneth and giueth a taste or relish to all things this is not a particular qualitie but common which mingleth it selfe in all Indiscretion marreth all and taketh away the grace from the best actions whether it be to doe good to another for all gratifications are not well bestowed vpon all sorts of people or to excuse himselfe for inconsiderate excuses serue for accusations or to play the part of an honest and curteous man for a man may exceede and degenerate into rusticitie or whether it be to offer or to accept CHAP. XI To keepe himselfe alwaies ready for death a fruit of wisedome THe day of death is the master day and iudge of all other 1 The day of death daies the triall and touchstone of all the actions of our life Then doe we make our greatest assay and gather the whole fruit of all our studies He that iudgeth of the life of a man must looke how he carried himselfe at his death for the end crowneth the worke and a good death honoureth a mans whole life as an euill defameth and dishonoureth it A man cannot well iudge of any without wronging of him before hee hath plaied the last act of his Comedie which is without all doubt the most difficult Epaminondas one of the wise men of Greece being demanded whom of three men he esteemed most himselfe Chabrias or Iphicrates answered We must first see all three die before we resolue that question the reason is because in all the rest a man may be masked but in this last part it is to no purpose to dissemble Nam verae voces tum demum pectore ab imo Eijciuntur eripitur persona manet res Fortune from farre seemeth to watch and lie in wait for vs against this last day as a day long since named and appointed to shew her power and in a moment to ouerthrow all that wee haue built and gathered together in many yeers and to make vs crie out with Laberius Nimirum hac die vna plùs vixi mihi quà m viuendum fuit And so was it well and wisely said of Solon to Croesus Ante obitum nemo beatus It is an excellent thing to learne to die it is the studie of wisedome which aimeth wholly at this end hee hath not 2 To know how to die spent his life ill that hath learned to die well and hee hath lost his whole time that knowes not well how to end it Malè viuet quisquis nesciet bene mori non frustra nascitur qui bene Senec. moritur nec inutiliter vixit qui foeliciter desijt Mori tota vita discendum est praecipuum ex vitae officijs est Hee shootes not well that lookes not on the marke and he cannot liue well that hath not an eie to his death To be briefe the science of dying is the science of libertie the way to feare nothing to liue well contentedly and peaceably without this knowledge there is no more pleasure in life than in the fruition of that thing which a man feareth alwaies to lose First and aboue all we must endeuour that our sinnes die before our selues Secondly that we be alwaies ready and prepared for death O what an excellent thing is it for a man to end his life before his death in such sort that at that houre he haue no other thing to doe but to die that hee haue no more neede of any thing not of time not of himselfe but sweetly and contentedly departeth this life saying Vixi quem dederat cursum fortuna peregi Thirdly wee must endeuour that our death be voluntarie for to die well is to die willingly It seemeth that a man may carry himselfe in death fiue diuers waies He may feare and flie it as a very great euill attend 4 A fiue fold maner of carriage in death it sweetly and patiently as a thing naturall ineuitable reasonable contemne it as a thing indifferent and of no great importance desire and seeke after it as the only hauen of rest from all the torments of this life yea a very great gaine giue it to himselfe by taking away his owne life Of these fiue the three middlemost are good befitting a good and setled soule although diuersly and in a different condition of life the two extreames are vitious and out of weakenesse though it be with diuers visages A
word or two of them all The first is not approued by men of vnderstanding though by the greater part it be practised a testimonie of great weaknesse 5 To feare death Against these kinde of men and for your better comfort either against your owne death or the death of another thus much briefly There is not a thing that men feare more or haue more in horrour than death neuerthelesse there is not a thing where there is lesse occasion or matter of feare or that contrarily yeeldeth greater reasons to perswade vs with resolution to accept of it And therefore we must say that it is a meere opinion and a vulgar errour that hath woon the world thus to thinke of it Wee giue too much credit to the It is opinion inconsiderate vulgar sort who tell vs That it is a very great euill and to little credit to wisedome it selfe which teacheth vs that it is a freedome from all euils and the hauen of life Neuer did a present death do hurt to any man and some that haue made triall and partly knew what it is complaine not of it and if death be counted an euill it is of all the euils the only that doth no harme that hath no euill in it it is the imagination only of death before it come that maketh vs to feare it when it is come It is then but opinion not verity and it is truely where opinion bandeth it selfe most against reason and goeth about to deface it in vs with the maske of death there cannot be any reason to feare it because no man knowes what it is that hee should feare it for why or how should a man feare that he knoweth not And therefore wisely said he that of all others was accounted the wisest that to feare death is to make shew of greater vnderstanding and sufficiency than can be in a man by seeming to know that that no man knoweth and what he spake he practised himselfe for being sollicited at his death by his friends to pleade before the Iudges for his iustification and for his life this oration he made vnto them My masters and friends if I should plead for my life and desire you that I may not die I doubt I may speak against my selfe and desire my owne losse and hinderance because I know not what it is to die nor what good or ill there is in death they that feare to die presume to know it as for my selfe I am vtterly ignorant what it is or what is done in the other world perhaps death is a thing indifferent perhaps a good thing and to be desired Those things that I know to be euill as to offend my neighbour I flie and auoid those that I know not to be euill as death I cannot feare And therefore I commit my selfe vnto your selues and because I cannot know whether it is more expedient for me to die or not to dy determine you thereof as you shall thinke good For a man to torment himselfe with the feare of death it is 6 It is weaknes first great weaknesse and cowardlinesse There is not a woman that in few daies is not appeased and content with the death yea the most painefull that may be either of her husband or her child And why should not reason and wisdome do that in an houre at an instant as we haue a thousand examples which time performeth in a foole in the weakest sex What vse is there of wisdome and constancie in man to what end serue they if they speed him not in a good action if he can do no more with their help than a foole with his follie From this weaknes it is that the most part of men dying cannot resolue themselues that it is their last houre and there is not any thing where this deceitfull hope doth more busie man which it may be doth likewise proceed from this that we account our death a great matter and that all things haue an interest in vs and at our death must suffer with vs so much do we esteeme our selues Againe a man sheweth himselfe heerein vniust for if death be a good thing as it is why doth he feare it If an euill thing 7 Iniustice why doth he make it worse and adde vnto death euill vpon euill sorrow and griefe where there is none like him that being robbed of a part of his goods by the enemie casteth the rest into the sea to let men know how little he is greeued with his losses Finally to feare death is for a man to be an enemy to himselfe 8 To be enemy to his owne life and to his owne life for he can neuer liue at ease and contentedlie that feareth to dye That man is only a free man which feareth not death and contrarily life is but a slauery if it were not made free by death For death is the only stay of our libertie the common and readie receptacle of all euils It is then a miserie and miserable are all that do it to trouble our life with the care and feare of death and our death with the care of life But to say the truth what complaints and murmuring would there be against nature if death were not if we should haue continued heere will we nill we with and against our owne wils doubtlesse men would haue cursed nature for it Imagin with thy selfe how much more insupportable and painefull a durable life would haue beene then a life with a condition to leaue it Chiron refused immortalitie being informed of the conditions therof by the god of Time Saturne his father Doubtlesse death is a very beautifull and rich inuention of nature optimum naturae inuentum nusquam satis laudatum and a very proper and profitable necessarie to many things If it were quite taken from vs we should desire it more than now we feare it yea thirst after it more than life it selfe such a remedie is it against so many euils such a meane to so many goods What were it on the other side if there were not mingled with death some little bitternesse doubtlesse men would runne vnto it with great desire and indiscretion To keepe therefore a moderation that is that men might neither loue life too much nor flie it feare death nor runne after it both of them sweetnes and sharpnes are therein tempered together The remedie that the vulgar sort do giue heerein is too simple and that is neuer to thinke or speake thereof Besides 10 Remedies not to feare death that such a kind of carelesnes cannot lodge in the head of a man of vnderstanding it would likewise at the last cost him deere for death comming vnawares and vnexpected what torments outcryes furies and dispaires are there commonlie seene Wisdome aduiseth much better that is to attend and expect death with a constant foot and to encounter it and the better to do this it giueth vs contrarie counsell to the vulgar sort that is to haue it
caeli latus totam lucem suo loco propè totus aspicies quam nunc per angustissimas oculorum vias procul intueris miraris To conclude it taketh vs from that death which began in the wombe of our mother and now endeth to bring vs to that life which shall neuer end Dies iste quem tanquam extremum reformidas aeterni natalis est The second maner of the cariage of man in this matter of 12 2 To attend death it is good death is of a good sweete and moderate soule and is iustly practised in a common and peaceable life by those that with reason account of this condition of life and content themselues to indure it but gouerning themselues according to reason and accepting of death when it commeth This is a well tempered mediocritie sutable to such a condition of life betweene the extremities which are to desire and feare to seeke and to flie vitious and faultie summum ne metuas diem nec optes mortem concupiscentes timentes aequè obiurgat Epicurus if they be not couered and excused by some reason not common and ordinarie as shall be said in his place To seeke and desire death is ill it is iniustice to desire death without a cause and to be out of charitie with the world which our liues may be beneficiall vnto It is to be vnthankfull to nature to contemne it and not to make the best vse thereof to be ouer anxious and scrupulous and not to endure that estate that is not burthensome and wee are called vnto To flie and feare death on the other side is against nature reason iustice and all dutie For to die is a thing naturall necessarie and ineuitable iust 13 Death is naturall and reasonable Naturall for it is a part of the order of the whole Vniuerse of the life of the world wilt thou then that the world be ruinated and a new made for thy selfe Death holdeth a high place in the policie great common-wealth of the world and it is very profitable for the succession and continuance of the workes of nature the fading or corruption of one life is the passage to a thousand others Sicrerum summa nouatur And it is not only a part of this great whole Vniuerse but of our particular essence not lesse essential than to liue to be borne In flying death thou fliest thy selfe thy essence is equally parted into these two life and death it is the condition of thy creation If it grieueth thee to die why wert thou borne Men come not into the world with any other purpose but to goe foorth againe and therefore he that is not willing to goe foorth let him not come in The first day of thy birth bindeth thee and setteth thee as well in the way to deat as to life Naseentes morimur sinisque ab origine pendet Sola mors ius aequum est generis humani viuere noluit qui mori non vult vita cum exceptione mortis data est tam stultus qui timet mortem quà m qui senectutem To be vnwilling to die is to be vnwilling to be a man for all men are mortall and therefore a wise man said and that without passion hauing receiued newes of the death of his sonne I knew I begot and bred him vp a mortall man Death being then a thing so naturall and essentiall both for the world in grosse and forthy self in particular why should it be horrible vnto thee Thou goest against nature the feare of griefe and paine is naturall but not of death for being so seruiceable to nature and nature hauing instituted it to what end should it imprint in vs a hatred and horror thereof Children and beasts feare not death yea many times they suffer it cheerefully it is not then nature that teacheth vs to feare it but rather to attend and receiue it as being sent by it Secondly it is necessarie fatale ineuitable and this thou knowest that fearest and weepest What greater follie can 14 Necessarie there be than for a man to torment himselfe for nothing and that willingly and of purpose to pray and importune him whom he knowes to bee inexorable to knocke at that dore that cannot be opened What is there more inexorable and deafe than death Wee must therefore feare things vncertaine doe our best endeuours in things that are not remedilesse but such as are certaine as death we must attend and grow resolute in things past remedie The sot feareth and flieth death the foole seekes it and runs after it the wise man attendeth it It is follie to grieue at that that cannot be mended to feare that that cannot be auoided Feras non culpes quod vitari non potest The example of Dauid is excellent who vnderstanding of the death of his deare childe put on his best apparell and made himselfe merry saying to those that wondered at this kinde of carriage that whilest his son liued he importuned God for his recouerie but being dead that care was ended and there was no remedie The foole thinks he maketh a better answer to say that that is the cause of his griefe and that he tormenteth himselfe because there is no remedie but he doubleth and perfecteth his owne follie thereby Scienter frustra niti extremae dementiae est Now death being so necessarie and ineuitable it is not only to no purpose to feare but making of necessitie a vertue wee must welcome it and receiue it kindely for it is better for vs to goe to death than that death should come to vs to catch that before that catch vs. Thirdly to die is a thing reasonable and iust it is reason to 15 Iust and râ—asonable ariue to that place towards which we are alwaies walking and if a man feare to come thither let him not walke but stay himselfe or turne backe againe which is impossible to doe It is reason that thou giue place to others since others haue giuen place to thee If thou haue made thy commoditie of this life thou must be satisfied and be gone as he that is inuited to a banquet takes his refection and departeth If thou haue not knowen how to make vse and profit thereof what needest thou care if thou lose it or to what end wouldest thou keepe it It is a debt that must be paid a pawne that must bee restored whensoeuer it is demanded Why pleadest thou against thy own schedule thy faith thy duty It is then against reason to spurne against death since that thereby thou acquitest thy selfe of so much and dischargest thy selfe of so great an account It is a thing generall and common to all to die why then troublest thou thy selfe Wilt thou haue a new priuiledge that was yet neuer seene and bee a lone man by thy selfe Why fearest thou to goe whither all the world goeth where so many millions are gone before thee and so many millions shall follow thee Death is equally
certaine to all and equallity is the first part of equity omnes eodem cogimur omnium versatur vrna serius ocyus sors exitura c. The third is the part of a valiant and generous minde which is practised with reason in a publike eleuated difficult 16 To contemne death is good if it be for a thing that deserues it and busie condition of life where there are many things to be preferred before life and for which a man should not doubt to die In such a case howsoeuer matters go a man must more account thereof than of his life which is placed vpon the stage and scaffold of this world hee must runne his race with resolution that he may giue a lustre to his other actions and performe those things that are profitable and exemplary Hee must lay downe his life and let it runne his fortune He that knoweth not how to contemne death shall neuer not only performe any thing of worth but he exposeth himselfe to diuers dangers for whilest he goeth about to keepe his life safe and sure hee laieth open and hazardeth his deuoire his honour his vertue and honestie The contempt of death is that which produceth the boldest and most honourable exploits whether in good or euill Hee that feareth not to die feares nothing he doth whatsoeuer he will hee makes him-himselfe a master both of his owne life and of anothers the contempt of death is the true and liuely source of all the beautifull and generous actions of men from hence are deriued the braue resolutions and free speeches of vertue vttered by so many great personages Fluidius Priscus whom the Emperour Vespasian had commanded not to come to the senat or comming to speake as he would haue him answered That as he was a Senator it was fit he should be at the Senate and if being there he were required to giue his aduice he would speake freely that which his conscience commaunded him Being threatned by the same man that if he spake he should die Did I euer tell you saith he that I was immortall Do you what you will and I will do what I ought It is in your power to put me vniustlie to death and in me to die constantlie The Lacedemonians being threatned much hard dealing if they did not speedily yeeld themselues to Philip the father of Alexander who was entred into their countrie with a great power one for the rest answered What hard dealing can they suffer that feare not to die And being told by the same Philip that he would breake and hinder all their designments What say they will he likewise hinder vs from dying Another being asked by what meanes a man may liue free answered By contemning death And another youth being taken and sold for a slaue said to him that bought him Thou shalt see what thou hast bought I were a foole to liue a slaue whilest I may be free and whilest he spake cast himself down from the top of the house A wise man said vnto another deliberating with himselfe how he might take away his life to free himselfe from an euil that at that time pressed him sore Thou doest not deliberate of any great matter it is no great thing to liue thy slaues thy beasts do liue but it is a great matter to die honestlie wisely constantly To conclude and crowne this article our religion hath not had a more firme and assured foundation and wherein the authour thereof hath more insisted than the contempt of this life But many there are that make a shew of contemning death when they feare it Many there are that care not to be dead yea they wish they were dead but it greeueth them to die Emori nolo sed me esse mortuum nihili astimo Many deliberate in their health and soundest iudgements to suffer death with constancie nay to murther themselues a part played by many for which end Heliogabalus made many sumptuous preparations but being come to the point some wer terrified by the bleeding of their nose as Lucius Domitius who repented that he had poysoned himselfe Others haue turned away their eyes and their thoughts as if they would steale vpon it swallowing it downe insensiblie as men take pilles according to that saying of Caesar that the best death was the shortest and of Plinie that a short death was the happiest houre of a mans life Now no man can be said to be resolute to die that feareth to confront it and to suffer with his eyes open as Socrates did who had thirtie whole daies to ruminate and to digest the sentence of his death which he did without any passion or alteration yea without any shew of endeuor mildly and cheerfullie Pomponius Atticus Tullius Marcellinus Romans Cleantes the Philosopher all three almost after one maner for hauing assayed to die by abstinence hoping thereby to quit themselues of those maladies that did torment them but finding themselues rather cured thereby neuerthelesse they would not desist till they had ended that they went about taking pleasure by little and little to pine away and to consider the course and progresse of death Otho and Cato hauing prepared all things fit for their death vpon the very point of the execution setled themselues to sleepe and slept profoundly being no more astonished at death than at any other ordinarie and light accident The fourth is the part of a valiant and resolute mind practised in former times by great and holie personages and that 17 To desire death in two cases the one the more naturall and lawfull is a painfull and troublesome life or an apprehension of a far worse death To be briefe a miserable estate which a man cannot remedie This is to desire death as the retrait and only hauen from the torments of this life the soueraigne good of nature the only stay and pillar of our libertie It is imbecillitie to yeeld vnto euils but it is follie to nourish them It is a good time to die when to liue is rather a burthen than a blessing and there is more ill in life than good for to preserue our life to increase our torment is against nature There are some that say that we should desire to die to auoid those pleasures that are according to nature how much more then to flie those miseries that are against nature There are many things in life farre worse than death for which we should rather die and not liue at all than liue And therefore the Lacedemonians being cruelly threatned by Antipater if they yeelded not to his demaund answered If thou threaten vs with any thing that is worse than death death shall be welcome vnto vs. And the wisest were woont to say That a wise man liueth as long as he should not so long as he can death being more at his commaund and in his power than life Life hath but one entrance and that too dependeth vpon the will of another Our death dependeth on our
owne willes and the more voluntarie it is the more honorable and there are a thousand waies vnto it We may want meanes whereby to liue but not to die Life may be taken away from euery man by euery man but not death vbique mors est optime hoc cauit deus eripere vitam nemo non homini potest at nemo mortem mille ad hanc aditus patent The most fauorable present that nature hath bestowed vpon vs and that taketh away from vs all meanes of complaint is that it hath left vnto vs the key of the closet libertie to die when we will Wherefore complainest thou in this world It holdeth thee not if thou liue in paine thy idlenes and feare is the cause for to die there is nothing necessarie but a will The other case is a liuely apprehension and desire of the life to come which maketh a man to thirst after death as after a great gaine the seed of a better life the bridge vnto paradise the way to all good and an earnest pennie of the resurrection A firme beleefe and hope of these things is incompatible with the feare and horror of death it perswadeth vs rather to be wearie of this life and to desire death vitam habere in patientia mortem in desiderio to haue life in affliction and death in affection their life is a crosse their death a comfort and therefore their vowes and their voices are cupio dissolui mihi mors lucrum quis me liberabit de corpore montis huius And for this cause those Philosophers and Christians haue been iustlie reproched which is to be vnderstood of those that are weake and idle and not of all that play the publike dissemblers and do not in veritie beleeue that which they do so much talke of and so highlie commend touching that happie immortalitie and those vnspeakable pleasures in the second life since they doubt and feare death so much the necessarie passage thereunto The fift and last is the execution of this precedent desire 18 To kill himselfe which is for a man to be his owne executioner and the authour of his owne death This seemeth to proceed from vertue and the greatnes of a mans courage hauing been ancientlie practised by the greatest and most excellent men and women of euerie nation and religion Greekes Romanes Egyptians Persians Medes French Indians Philosophers of all sects Iewes witnes that good old man Razis called the father of the Iewes for his vertue and his wiues who vnder Antiochus hauing circumcised their children cast themselues hedlong from the rock with them And Christians too witnes those two canonized Saints Pelagius and Sophronia whereof the first with his mother and sisters cast himselfe into the riuer and the other killed hir selfe with a knife to auoid the violence of Maxentius the Emperour Yea witnes diuers people and whole cities as Capona in Italy Astupa Numantia in Spaine besieged by the Romans the Abideens enforced by Philip a citie in India besieged by Alexander But this resolution hath been likewise approued and authorized by many common-weales by lawes and rules established thereupon as at Marseilles in the I le of Cea in Nigropont and other nations as in the Hyperborean Ilands and iustified by many great reasons drawne from the precedent article which is of the iust desire of death For if it be permitted to desire to aske to seeke after death why should it be an ill acte to giue it vnto our selues If a mans owne death be iust in the will why should it not be as iust in the hand and the execution Why should I expect that from another which I can do my selfe and why should it not be better to giue it than to suffer another to giue it to meete than to attend it for the fairest death is the more voluntarie Finallie I offend not the law made against theeues and robbers when I take but my owne goods and cut but my owne purse neither am I guiltie of the lawes made against murtherers by taking away my owne life But this opinion is reproued by diuers not only Christians but Iewes as Iosephus disputeth against his captaines in the caue du Puis and Philosophers as Plato Scipio who held this proceeding not only for a vice of cowardlines and impatiencie for it is for a man to hide himselfe from the blowes of fortune Now a true and liuely vertue must neuer yeeld for euils and crosses are nourishments thereunto and it is greater constancie well to vse the chaine wherewith we are tied than to breake it and more setled resolution in Regulus than in Cato Rebus in aduersis facile est contemnere vitam Fortius ille facit qui miser esse potest Si fractus illabitur orbis Impauidum ferient ruinae But also for a fault of desertion for a man ought not to abandon his charge without the expresse commaundement of him that gaue it him we are not heere for our selues nor our owne masters This then is not a matter beyond all doubt or disputation It is first beyond all doubt that wee are not to attempt this last exploit without very great and iust cause nay I cannot see how any cause should be great and iust enough to the end that it be as they say 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 an honest and reasonable departure It must not then be for any light occasion whatsoeuer some say that a man may die for light causes since they that hold vs in life are not weightie It is ingratitude to nature not to accept and vse hir present it is a signe of lightnes to be too anxious and scrupulous to breake companie for matters of no moment and not for such as are iust and lawfull if there be any such And therefore they had not a sufficient excuse and iust cause of their death of whom I made mention before Pomponius Atticus Marcellinus and Cleantes who would not stay the course of their death for this only reason because they were alreadie neere vnto it The wiues of Petus of Scaurus of Labio of Fuluius the friend of Augustus of Seneca and diuers others who died only to accompanie their husbands in death or rather to encourage them therein Cato and others who died because their businesse succeeded not well and because they would not fall into the hands of their enemies notwithstanding they feared no ill vsage at their hands They that haue murthered themselues because they would not liue at the mercie and by the grace and fauor of those whom they hated as Grauius Siluanius and Statius Proximus being pardoned by Nero. They that die to recouer a shame and dishonor past as that Romane Lucretia Sparzapizes the sonne of Queene Tomyris Boges the Lieutenant of king Xerxes They that for no particular cause but only because they see the weale-publike in a bad and declining estate murther themselues as Nerua that great Lawyer Vibius Vircus Iubellius in the taking of Capona They that
are weary with liuing or for priuate causes loath to liue any longer Neither is it sufficient that the cause be great and iust but that it be necessarie and remedilesse and that all maner of meanes to preserue life be first put in practise For precipitation and anticipated despaire is very vitious as in Brutus and Cassius who killing themselues before the time and occasion lost the reliques of the Romane libertie whereof they were protectors A man saith Cleomenes must manage his life and make vse thereof to the vttermost for to take it away a man neuer wants time it is a remedie which he hath alwaies in his owne hands but the state of things may change and grow better Ioseph and diuers others haue to their great benefit practised this counsell things that seeme altogether desperate do many times change and haue a happie successe aliquis carnifici suo superstes fuit Multa dies variusque labor mutabilis aeui Retulit in melius A man must carie himselfe in his place and calling as a defendant against him that assaileth him cum moderamine inculpatae tutelae he must trie all maner of meanes before he come to this extremitie Secondly and without doubt it is farre better and more commendable to suffer and to continue constant and firme to the end than fearefullie cowardlie to flie or die but forasmuch as it is a gift not giuen vnto all no more than continencie is non omnes capiunt verbum istud vnde melius nubere quam vri the question is whether an insupportable and remedilesse euill hapning which may vtterlie vndoe and turne topsy-turuie our whole resolution and driue vs into despaire despite and murmuring against God it be more expedient or a lesse euill for a man couragiouslie to deliuer himselfe hauing his senses sound and setled than by standing to it for feare of failing in his dutie expose himselfe to the danger of sinking and being vtterly lost It is not a lesse euill to quit the place than to be obstinate and perish to flie than to be taken It is true that it seemeth by all humane and philosoph call reason to be practised as hath been said by so many famous people of all countries and climats But Christianitie doth no way approue it nor alloweth therein any dispensation Finally it is a great point of wisdome to learne to know the point and period to chuse a fit houre to die Euery man hath his time and season to die some preuent it others prolong it there is weakenesse and valour in them both but there is required discretion How many men haue suruiued their glorie and by a desire to lengthen their life but a little haue darkened it againe and liued to helpe bury their owne honour And that which lastly sticketh by them hath no relish or feeling of what is past but continueth like an old filthie clout sowed to the hemme of a rich and beautifull ornament There is a time to gather fruit from the tree which if it hang too long it rotteth and growes worse and worse and the losse is as great too if it bee gathered too soone Many saints and holy men haue fled from death because they are yet profitable to the church and weale-publike though in respect of their owne particular they could be content to die It is an act of charitie to desire to liue for the benefit of an other Si populo tuo sum necessarius non recuso laborem Death hath diuers formes some more easie than other and 21 Formes of deaths diuers taketh diuers qualities according to the fantasie of euery one Among those that are naturall they that proceed from weaknesse and a numnesse of the members are the sweetest and the easiest among those that are violent the best is the shortest the least premeditated Some desire to make an exemplarie and demonstratiue death of constancie and sufficiencie this is to consider another thing and to seeke their owne reputation but this is vanitie for this is no act of societie but of one only person who hath enough to doe with himselfe to minister to himselfe inward comfort and hath no neede to trouble himselfe with what belongeth to another especially all the interest hee hath in his reputation ceasing with his death That is the best death which is well recollected in it selfe quiet solitarie and attendeth wholly to that which at that time is fittest That great assistance of parents friends bringeth a thousand discommodities it oppresseth and smoothereth him that is dying one tormenteth his eares another his eies another his mouth their cries and complaints if they be true stifle the heart if fained afflict and torment it Many great personages haue sought to die farre from their friends to auoide this inconuenience accounting it a childish thing and a foolish humour to be willing by their miseries to moue sorrow and compassion in their friends wee commend constancie to suffer bad fortune wee accuse and hate it in our friends and when it is our owne case it is not sufficient that they suffer with vs but they must afflict themselues too A wise man that is sicke should content himselfe with the setled countenance of his assistants CHAP. XII To maintaine himselfe in true tranquillitie of spirit the fruit and crowne of wisedome and the conclusion of this booke THe tranquillitie of the spirit is the souereigne good of man This is that great and rich treasure which the wisest seeke by sea and by land on foote and a horsebacke all our care should tend thereunto it is the fruit of all our labors and studies the crowne of wisdome But lest a man should mistake himselfe heerein you must know that this tranquillitie is not a retrait or vacation from all affaires a delightfull solitarinesse and corporally pleasant or a profound carelesnesse of all things if it were so many women idle dissolute and voluptuous persons would at their pleasure enioy as great a good as the wisest can aspire vnto with all their studie Neither multitude nor scarsitie of businesse doth any thing heerein It is a beautifull sweete equall iust firme and pleasant estate of the soule which neither businesse nor idlenesse nor good accidents nor ill nor time can any way trouble alter mend or depresse Vera tranquillitas non concuti The meanes to attaine thereunto to get and preserue it are the points that I haue handled in this second booke whereof this is a briefe collection They consist in freeing and disfurnishing of a man from all lets and impediments and furnishing him with those things that entertaine and preserue it The things that doe most hinder and trouble the rest and tranquillitie of the spirit are common and vulgar opinions which for the most part are erroneous and secondly desires and passions which ingender in vs a kinde of delicacy and difficulty which are the cause that a man is neuer content and these are kindled and stirred in him by those
6 Distrust required in a Prince that he be still vertuous and iust Distrust which is the first is wholly necessary as the contrary which is credulitie and a carelesse trust or confidence is vitious and very dangerous in a soueraigne He watcheth ouer all and must answere for all his faults are not light and therefore he must be well aduised If he trust much he discouereth himselfe and is exposed to shame and many dangers opportunus fit iniuriae yea he encourageth such as are false and treacherous who may with little danger and much recompence commit great wickednesse aditum nocendi perfido praestat fides It is necessary therefore Senec. that he couer himselfe with this buckler of distrust which the wisest haue thought to be a great part of prudence and the sinowes of wisdome that is to say that he watch beleeue nothing take heed of all and heereunto doth the nature of the Epichar Euripid. Cicero world induce him wholly composed of lies coloured counterfait and dangerous namely such as are neere vnto him in the court and houses of great personages He must then trust but few and those knowne by long experience and often trials Neither is it necessarie that he abandon them and in such sort leaue all the cord that he still hold it not by one end and haue an eye vnto them But he must couer and disguise his diffidence yea when he distrusteth he must make a shew and countenance of great trust and confidence For open distrust wrongeth and inuiteth as much to deceiue as an ouer-carelesse confidence and many by making too great a shew of feare to be deceiued shew the way how they may be deceiued Multi fallere docuerunt dum timent falli as contrarily a professed and open trust hath taken away the desire to deceiue Senec. hath obliged to loyaltie and ingendred fidelitie vult quisque sibi credi habita fides ipsam plerumque obligat fidem From distrust comes dissimulation the science or seed therof for if that were not and that there were trust and fidelitie 7 And dissimulation in all dissimulation which openeth the front and couereth the thought could haue no place Now dissimulation which is vitious in priuat persons is very necessarie in Princes who otherwise could not know how to reigne or well to commaund And they must many times dissemble not only in warre with strangers and enemies but also in time of peace and with their subiects though more sparinglie Simple and open men and such as cary as they say their hearts in their foreheads are not in any sort fit for this mysterie of commanding and betray many times both themselues and their state But yet he must play this part with arte and dexteritie and to the purpose neither so openly nor so simplie as that it may be discerned For to what purpose doest thou hide and couer thy selfe if a man may see thee obliquely or sidewaies Wilie deceipts and cunning subtilties are no more deceits and subtilties when they are knowne and vented out A Prince then the better to couer his arte must make profession of louing simplicitie must make much of free and open minded men as being enemies to dissimulation and in matters of lesse importance he must proceed openly to the end he may be taken for such as he seemeth All this is in omission in reteining himselfe not acting but 8 Practise it is likewise required sometimes that he passe farther and come to action and this is two-fold The one is to make and frame secret practises and intelligences cunningly to winne and draw vnto him the hearts and seruices either of the officers seruants and trustiest friends of other Princes and forraine Lords or of his owne subiects This is a subtiltie which is much in request and authoritie and very common among Princes and a great point of prudence saith Cicero It is wrought in some sort by perswasion but especiallie by presents and pensions meanes so powerfull that not only the Secretaries the chiefe of the counsell the most inward friends and fauorites haue been thereby drawne to giue aduice and to diuert the designments of their master yea great captaines to giue their helping hand in the warre but also wiues haue beene woon to discouer the secrets of their husbands Now this subtile policie is all allowed and approoued by many without difficultie or scruple And to say the truth if it be against an enemie against a subiect whom he suspecteth and likewise against any stranger with whom he hath no alliance nor league of fidelitie and amitie it is not greatly to be doubted But against his alliance his friends and confederates it cannot be good and it is a kind of treacherie which is neuer permitted The other is to winne some aduantage and to obtaine his purpose by close and couert meanes by equiuocations and 9 Subtilties subtilties to circumuent by faire speeches and promises letters ambassages working and obtaining by subtile meanes that which the difficultie of times and affaires will not permit him otherwise to doe and to doe that closely which he cannot doe openly Many great and wise men say that this is lawfull and to be permitted Crebro mendacio fraude vti imperantes Plato Plin. Val. Max. debent ad commodum subditorum Decipere pro moribus temporum prudentia est It were ouerboldnesse simply to affirme that it is permitted But a man may say that in a case of great necessitie in troublesome and tumultuous times when it is not only to procure the great good but to diuert a great mischiefe from the state and against such as are wicked and traiterous that it is no great fault if it be a fault But there is a greater doubt and difficultie in other things because they haue a smell of much iniustice in them I say much and not wholly because with their iniustice there are Iniustice profitable to the weale-publike mingled in them some graines of iustice That which is wholly and apparently iniust is reproued of all euen of the wicked at least wise in word and shew if not in earnest and in deede But of these actions ill mingled there are so many reasons and authorities on the one side and the other that a man hardly knoweth how to resolue himselfe I will reduce them heere to certaine heads To dispatch and secretly to put to death or otherwise without forme of iustice some certaine man that is troublesome and dangerous to the state and who well deserueth death but yet cannot without trouble and danger be enterprised and repressed by an ordinarie course heerein there is nothing violated but the forme And the prince is he not aboue formes To cut the wings and to lessen the great meanes of any one that shall raise and fortifie himselfe too much in the state and maketh himselfe fearefull to his souereigne not staying till hee bee inuincible and able to attempt any thing
trample them vnder foot the other to do all for the publike good and profit of the subiects or to employ all to his particular profit pleasure Now a prince that he may be such as he should must alwaies remember that as it is a felicitie to haue power to do what a man will so it is true greatnes to will that that a man should Caesari cum Plin. de Traia omnia licent propter hoc minus licet vt felicitatis est posse quantum velis sic magnitudinis velle quantum possis vel potius quantū debeas The greatest infelicitie that can happen to a prince is to beleeue that all things are lawfull that he can and that pleaseth him So soone as he consenteth to this thought of good he is made wicked Now this opinion is setled in them by the help of flatterers who neuer cease alwaies to preach vnto them the greatnes of their power and very few faithfull seruitours there are that dare to tell them what their dutie is But there is not in the world a more dangerous flattery than that where with a man flattereth himselfe when the flatterer and flattered is one and the same there is no remedie for this disease Neuerthelesse it falleth out sometimes in consideration of the times persons places occasions that a good king must do those things which in outward appearance may seeme tyrannicall as when it is a question of repressing another tyrannie that is to say of a furious people the licentious libertie of whom is a true tyrannie or of the noble and rich who tyrannize ouer the poore and meaner people or when the king is poore and needie not knowing where to get siluer to raise loanes vpon the richest And we must not thinke that the seueritie of a prince is alwaies tyrannie or his gards fortresses or the maiestie of his imperious commaunds which are sometimes profitable yea necessarie and are more to be desired than the sweet prayers of tyrants These are the two true stayes and pillars of a prince and of a state if by them a prince know how to maintaine and preserue 10 Hate and contempt two murtherers of ae prince himselfe from the two contraries which are the murtherers of a prince and state that is to say hatred and contempt whereof the better to auoid them and to take heed of them a word or two Hatred contrarie to beneuolence is a wicked and obstinate affection of subiects against the prince and his A rist lib. 5. Pol. Hatred state It ordinarily proceedeth from feare of what is to come or desire of reuenge of what is past or from them both This hatred when it is great and of many a prince can hardly escape it Multorum odijs nullae opes possunt resistere He is exposed Cicero to all and there needs but one to make an end of all Multae illis manus illi vna ceruix It standeth him vpon therefore to preserue himselfe which he shall do by flying those things that ingender it that is to say crueltie and auarice the contraries to the aforesaid instruments of beneuolence He must preserue himselfe pure and free from base cruelty 11 Hatred proceedeth from crueltie Cap. 2. art 12. vnworthie greatnes very infamous to a prince But contrarily he must arme himselfe with clemencie as hath been said before in the vertues required in a prince But for as much as punishments though they be iust and necessarie in a state haue some image of crueltie he must take heed to carie himselfe therein with dexteritie and for this end I will giue him this aduice Let him not put his hand to the sword of iustice An aduice for punishments Senec. but very seldome and vnwillinglie libenter damnat qui cito ergo illi parsimonia etiam vilissimi sanguinis 2. Enforced for the publike good and rather for example to terrifie others from the like offence 3. That it be to punish the faultie and that without choler or ioy or other passion And if he must needs shew some passion that it be compassion 4. That it be according to the accustomed maner of the countrie and not after a new for new punishments are testimonies of crueltie 5. Without giuing his assistance or being present at the execution 6. And if he must punish many he must dispatch it speedily and all at a blow for to make delayes and to vse one correction after another is a token that he taketh delight pleaseth and feedeth himselfe therewith He must likewise preserue himselfe from auarice a sinne ill 12 Auarice befitting a great personage It is shewed either by exacting and gathering ouermuch or by giuing too little The first doth much displease the people by nature couetous to whom their goods are as their blood and their life The second men of seruice and merit who haue laboured for the publike good and haue reason to thinke that they deserue some recompence Now how a prince should gouerne himselfe heerein and in his treasure and exchequer affaires either in laying their foundation or spending or preseruing them hath beene more at large discoursed in the second chapter I will heere only say that a prince must carefully preserue himselfe from three things First from resembling by ouer great and excessiue impositions these tyrants subiectmongers canibals qui deuorant plebem sicut escam panis 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 quorum aerarium spoliarium ciuium cruentarum que praedarum receptaculum for this breeds danger of tumult witnesse so many examples and miserable accidents Secondly from base vnhonest parsimony as well in gathering together indignum lucrum ex omni occasioue odorari vt dicitur etiam à mortuo auferre and therefore hee must not serue his turne heerein with accusations confiscations vniust spoiles as in giuing nothing or too little and that mercenarily and with long and importunate suite Thirdly from violence in the leuie of his prouision and that if it be possible he neuer sease vpon the moueables and vtensils of husbandrie This doth principally belong to receiuers and puruoyers who by their rigorous courses expose the prince to the hatred of the people and dishonour him a people subtile cruell with six hands and three heads as one saith A prince therefore must prouide that they be honest men and if they faile in their duties to correct them seuerely with rough chastisement and great amends to the the end they may restore and disgorge like spunges that which they haue sucked and drawne vniustly from the people Let vs come to the other worse enemie contempt which 13 Contempt is a sinister base and abiect opinion of the prince and the state This is the death of a state as authoritie is the soule and life thereof What doth maintaine one only man yea an old and worne man ouer so many thousands of men if not authoritie and the great esteeme of his person which if it be once
himself to be that which he is it is a cowardly and seruile humour Now he that makes profession of this goodly mysterie liues in great paine for it is a great vnquietnesse for a man to 7 The difficulty thereof endeuour to seeme other than that hee is and to haue an eie vnto himselfe for feare lest he should be discouered It is a torment for a man to hide his owne nature to be discouered a confusion There is no such pleasure as to liue according to his nature and it is better to bee lesse esteemed and to liue openly than to take so much paines to counterfait and liue vnder a canopie so excellent and so noble a thing is freedome But the mysterie of these kind of men is but poore for dissimulation 8 The discommodity continues not long vndiscouered according to that saying Things fained and violent dure not long and the reward of such people is that no man will trust them nor giue them credit when they speake the truth for whatsoeuer comes from them is held for apocryphall and mockerie Now heere is need of indifferency and wisdome For if 9 The counsell heereupon nature be deformed vitious and offensiue to another it must bee constrained and to speake better corrected There is a difference betweene liuing freely and careleslie Againe a man must not alwaies speake all hee knowes that is a follie but that which hee speaketh let it bee that which hee thinketh There are two sorts of people in whom dissimulation is excusable 10 Dissimulation befitting women yea sometimes requisite but yet for diuers reasons that is to say in the prince for the publike benefit and the good and peace of himselfe or the state as before hath beene said and in women for the conueniency thereof because an ouer free and bold libertie becomes them not but rather inclines to impudency Those small disguisements fained cariages hypocrisies which well befit their shamefastnesse and modestie deceiue none but fooles beseeme them well and defend their honors But yet it is a thing which they are not to take great paines to learne because hypocrisie is naturall in them They are wholly made for it and they all make vse of it and too much their visage their vestments their words countenance laughter weeping and they practise it not only towards their husbands liuing but after their death too They faine great sorrow and many times inwardly laugh Iuctantius moerent quae minus dolent CHAP. XI Of Benefits obligation and thankefulnesse THe science and matter of benefits or good turnes and the thankfull acknowledgement of the obligation actiue passiue is great of great vse and very subtile It is that wherin we faile most We neither know how to doe good nor to be thankfull for it It should seeme that the grace as well of the merit as of the acknowledgement is decaied and reuenge and ingratitude is wholly in request so much more ready and ardent are we thereunto Gratia oneri est vltio in quaestu Tacit. Sen. habetur altius iniuriae quà m merita descendunt First then we will speake of merit and good deeds where we will comprehend humanity liberality almes deeds and their contraries inhumanity crueltie and afterwards of obligation acknowledgement and forgetfulnesse or ingratitude and reuenge God nature and reason doe inuite vs to do good and to deserue well of another God by his example and his nature 1 An exhortation to good workes by diuers reasons which is wholly good neither do we know any better means how to imitate God nulla re propius ad Dei naturam accedimus quà m beneficentia Deus est mortalem succurrere mortali nature witnesse this one thing that euerie one delighteth to see him to whom he hath done good it best agreeth with nature nihil tam secundùm naturam quà m iuuare consortem naturae It is the worke of an honest and generous man to doe good and to deserue well of another yea to seeke occasions thereunto liberalis etiam dandi causas quaerit And it is said that good bloud cannot lie nor faile at a need It is greatnesse Ambros to giue basenesse to take Beatius est dare quà m accipere Hee that giueth honoureth himselfe makes himselfe master ouer the receiuer he that takes selles himselfe He saith one that first inuented benefits or good turnes made stockes and manacles to tie and captiuate another man And therefore diuers haue refused to take lest they should wound their liberty especially from those whom they would not loue and bee beholding vnto according to the counsell of the wise which aduiseth a man not to receiue any thing from a wicked man lest he be thereby bound vnto him Caesar was woont to say that there came no sound more pleasing vnto his eares than praiers and petitions It is the mot of greatnesse Aske mee inuocame in die tribulationis eruam te honorificabis me It is likewise the most noble and honourable vse of our meanes or substance which so long as wee hold and possesse them priuatly they carrie with them base and abiect names housen lands money but being brought into light and emploied to the good and comfort of another they are enobled with new and glorious titles benefits liberalities magnificences It is the best and most commodious imploiment that may bee ars quaestuosissima optima negotiatio whereby the principall is assured and the profit is very great And to say the truth a man hath nothing that is truly his owne but that which hee giues for that which he retaines and keepes to himselfe benefits neither himselfe nor another and if he imploy them otherwise they consume and diminish passe through manie dangerous accidents and at last death it selfe But that which is giuen it can neuer perish neuer wax old And therefore Marc. Antony being beaten downe by fortune and nothing remaining to him but his power to die cried out that he had nothing but that which he had giuen hoc habeo quodcunque dedi And therefore this sweet debonaire and readie will to do good vnto all is a right excellent and honourable thing in all respects as contrarilie there is not a more base and detestable vice more against nature than crueltie for which cause it is called inhumanity which proceedeth from a contrarie cause to that of bountie and benefits that is to say dastardlie cowardlinesse as hath beene said There is a two-fold maner of doing good vnto another by profiting and by pleasing him for the first a man is admired 2 The distinction of benefits and esteemed for the second beloued The first is farre the better it regardeth the necessitie and want of a man it is to play the part of a father and true friend Againe there are two sorts of bounties or good turnes the one are duties that proceed out of a naturall or lawfull obligation the other are merits and free which proceed out of pure affection
kinds and degrees of continencie and incontinencie The coniugall is that which importeth more than all the rest which is most requisit and necessarie both for the publike and particular good and therefore should be by all in greatest account It must be kept and retained within the chaste breast of that partie whom the destinies haue giuen for our companion He that doth otherwise doth not only violate his owne bodie making it a vessell of ordure by all lawes the lawe of God which commaundeth chastitie of Nature which forbiddeth that to be common which is proper to one and imposeth vpon a man faith and constancie of Countries which haue brought in mariages of families transferring vniustlie the labour of another to a stranger and lastly Iustice it selfe bringing in vncertainties iealousies and brawles amongst kindred depriuing children of the loue of their parents and parents of the pietie and dutie of their children CHAP. XLII Of Glory and Ambition AMbition the desire of glory and honor wherof we haue alreadie spoken is not altogether and in all respects to be condemned First it is very profitable to the weale-publike as the world goeth for it is it from whence the greatest of our honorable actions doth arise that hartneth men to dangerous attempts as we may see by the greatest part of our ancient heroicall men who haue not all been lead by a philosophicall spirit as Socrates Phocion Aristides Epaminondas Cato and Scipio by the only true and liuely image of vertue for many yea the greatest number haue beene stirred thereunto by the spirit of Themistocles Alexander Caesar and although these honorable atchieuments and glorious exploits haue not beene with their authors and actors true works of vertue but ambition neuerthelesse their effects haue beene very beneficiall to the publike state Besides this consideration according to the opinion of the wisest it is excusable and allowable in two cases the one in good and profitable things but which are inferior vnto vertue and common both to the good and to the euill as artes and sciences Honos alit artes inconduntur omnes ad studia gloria inuentions industrie military valour The other in continuing the good will and opinion of another The wise doe teach not to rule our actions by the opinion of another except it be for the auoiding of such inconueniences as may happen by their contempt of the approbation and iudgement of another But that a man should be vertuous and doe good for glorie as if that were the salarie and recompence thereof is a false and vaine opinion Much were the state of vertue to be pitied if she should fetch hir commendations and prise from the opinion of another this coine were but counterfelt and this pay too base for vertue She is too noble to begge such recompence A man must settle his soule and in such sort compose his actions that the brightnesse of honor dazell not his reason and strengthen his minde with braue resolutions which serue him as barriers against the assaults of ambition Hee must therefore perswade himselfe that vertue seeketh not a more ample and more rich theater to shew it selfe than hir owne conscience The higher the Sunne is the lesser shadowe doth it make The greater the vertue is the lesse glorie doth it seeke Glory is truely compared to a shadowe which followeth those that flie it and flieth those that follow it Againe hee must neuer forget that man commeth into this world as to a Comedy where hee chooseth not the part that he is to play but onely bethinks himselfe how to play that part well that is giuen vnto him or as a banquet wherein a man feeds vpon that that is before him not reaching to the farre side of the table or snatching the dishes from the master of the feast If a man commit a charge vnto vs which we are capable of let vs accept of it modestlie and exercise it sincerelie making account that God hath placed vs there to stand sentinell to the end that others may rest in safetie vnder our care Let vs seeke no other recompence of our trauell than our owne conscience to witnesse our well doing and desire that the witnesse be rather of credit in the court of our fellow-citizens than in the front of our publike actions To be short let vs hold it for a maxime that the fruit of our honorable actions is to haue acted them Vertue cannot finde without it selfe a recompence worthie it selfe To refuse and contemne greatnes is not so great a miracle it is an attempt of no difficultie He that loues himselfe and iudgeth soundlie is content with an indifferent fortune Magistracies very actiue and passiue are painfull and are not desired but by feeble and sicke spirits Otanes one of the seauen that had title to the soueraigntie of Persia gaue ouer vnto his companions his right vpon condition that he and his might liue in that Empire free from all subiection and magistracie except that which the ancient lawes did impose being impatient to commaund and to be commaunded Diocletian renounced the Empire Celestinus the Popedome CHAP. XLIII Of Temperancie in speech and of Eloquence THis is a great point of wisdome Hee that ruleth his tongue well in a word is wise qui in verbo non offendit hic perfect us est The reason heereof is because the tongue is all the world in it is both good and euill life and death as hath beene said before Let vs now see what aduice is to be giuen to rule it well The first rule is that speech be sober and seldome To know how to be silent is a great aduantage to speake well 1 Rules of speeach and he that knowes not well how to do the one knowes not the other To speake well and much is not the worke of one man and the best men are they that speake least saith a wise man They that abound in words are barraine in good speech and good actions like those trees that are full of leaues and yeeld little fruit much chaffe and little corne The Lacedemonians great professors of vertue and valour did likewise professe silence and were enemies to much speech And therefore hath it euer beene commendable to be sparing in speech to keepe a bridle at the mouth Pone domine custodiam ori meo And in the law of Moyses that vessell that had not his couering fastned to it was vncleane By speech a man is knowne and discerned The wise man hath his tongue in his heart the foole his heart in his tongue The second that it be true The vse of speech is to assist the truth and to carrie the torch before it to make it appeare and contrarilie to discouer and reiect lying Insomuch that speech is the instrument whereby wee communicate our willes and our thoughts It had need be true and faithfull since that our vnderstanding is directed by the onely meanes of speech He that falsifieth it betrayeth publike societie