that they need The art of others some so lightly float Their course is swifter then the swiftest boat And some such floods of water from them fling As oftentimes do ships in danger bring Where thou shalt see adventrous fleets prepar'd To find out lands whereof few ever heard There being nothing now left unattempted By humane boldnesse nor art thou exempted But shalt thy selfe herein have much to doe As a spectator and an actor too Thou Arts shalt learne and teach some liberall Mechanique some some Philosophicall To perfect life but having all this found Know that this city likewise will abound With pestilent diseases that will foule And quite destroy the body and the soule Warres rapines poysonings hasting so our ends Ship-wracks ill ayre and losse of dearest friends Death and the same as much uncertaine when As whether easie or with torments then Bethinke thy selfe if thou on life wilt venture For here thou must goe out that there dost enter Thou 'lt choose to live why not can I suppose Thou seekest that whereof th' art loath to lose Any one part live therefore as is fit And beare thy losse as one prepar'd for it But here perhaps t' will be objected thus That none before hand hath consulted us Our parents who the worlds condition knew Consulted were and thence our covenant grew Cap. 19 But to returne to consolations now First let us see what 's to be done then how We commonly with sorrow much are mov'd Upon the losse of those we dearely lov'd And yet we find that we can easily beare The absence of our friends which commeth neere To death it selfe because we are thereby Deprived of their help and company Opinion then our sorrow doth beget And we our selves a rate upon it set This remedy we have let 's but conceive That they as absent only tooke their leave And since we all must follow t is no more But to suppose that they are gone before Yet this perchance our griefe doth much augment That children are for our protection sent But shall I tell what strange to thee may seeme That childlesse folkes are now in most esteeme And fruitfullnesse that usually hath fav'd Old age from ruine is so much deprav'd That many their owne children strive to hate And seeke the meanes to become desolate But as for thee thy dammage not so much As thy affection makes thy sorrow such For he unworthy comfort is to have That parteth with a child as with a slave Or that doth thinke of any thing beside The very person of his Sonne that dy'd Why doth thy passion then remaine so strong Because hee 's dead or that he liv'd not long If that the reason be because hee 's dead Then sure thou shouldst have ever sorrowed For thou didst ever know he was to dye Three or foure lines omitted repugnant to the rest impugning the immortality of the soule And therefore thinke what he hath gain'd thereby Since his enthralled bondage now doth cease And he abideth in eternall peace Where no vaine feare of poverty affrights him Nor vainer hope of getting wealth delights him And where no provocations of lust Do him into unlawfull pleasures thrust Who neither envies any others good Or any way by envy is with-stood Whose eares heare no revilings and whose eyes Behold no manner of calamities Who doth no more depend upon events That hourely alter from their first intents But hath obtain'd a place of that defence That fraud nor force can ever drive him thence Cap. 20 HOw little do men know their miseries That do not death as natures best gift prise Whether that she felicity include Or the calamity that them pursu'd Doth drive away or whether she do end The irksome troubles that old age attend Or that the same the flowre of youth doth crop In the chiefe prime of his expected hope Or whether tender childhood she recall Ere that into a worse condition fall Shee is the end of all the help of many The wish of some not meriting from any More then from these to whom without request She with the soonest hath her selfe addrest Shee free 's the slave in spight of his sterne lord Shakes off his chaines and of her owne accord Releaseth prisoners that committed stand By cruell tyrants under strickt command Shee teacheth them that are in banishment Whose thoughts and eies are on their country bent Not to be troubled how when they are dead Or in what place they shall be buried She when blind fortune hath divided ill Her gifts 'tweene those that had by natures will An equall right doth them againe restore To that equality they had before Shee it is that could never yet obey That takes all sence of poverty away She it is Marcia whom thy father sought That makes it not a punishment be thought To have beene borne but helps us in despight Of fortunes threats to keepe our minds upright Death is our refuge though we tortur'd bee In severall kinds she us at length shall free Some their heads downe ward are to gibbets ty'd And some with stretcht out armes are crucify'd Where every member sundry engines rent And some have stak's thrust through their fundament Yet death's their cure here enemies invade There friends insult yet death at length brings aid It is not hard to serve when at one step We weary growne may into freedome leape Against the injury of life we have A sure and common benefit a grave Thinke but what good a timely death hath brought And how much ill a longer life hath wrought Had Pompey this great Empire's strength and pride At Naples of his burning-feaver dy'd He then the Prince of Rome had sure beene stil'd Whereas his glorious hopes were all beguil'd By the addition of a little time And he throwne swifter downe then he could climbe He saw his legions lie before him dead Whose vanguard by grave Senators was led That did escape to testifie to all The too long life of him their Generall His sacred body he did then submit To base Aegyptians that betrayed it Though had he liv'd it would have beene a griefe To thinke how he was forc't to seeke reliefe That Pompey through the world surnam'd the great Of any King should life or aid intreat Had Tully dy'd when he escap't the slaughter Design'd by Catiline or with his daughter Had left the world he had great honor wonne And had not seene so many mischiefes done Swords sheath'd in mutuall bowells and their goods By murd'rers shar'd who therfore sought their bloods Nor beene so much unhappy to behold The Consulary spoyles at out-cries fold When as our state no insolence debar'd But unto theeves and traitors gave reward Encouraging all sorts of lewd designes The Senate having many Catilines If Cato when from Cyprus he did bring To Rome the wealth of that deceased King Had with the same intended for the pay Of a dire civill warre beene cast away This honour had accompanied his end That
L. A. SENECA THE PHILOSOPHER HIS BOOKE OF CONSOLATION to MARCIA Translated into an English POEM LONDON Printed by E. P. for HENRY SEILE and are to besold at the Tygres head in St. Pauls Church-yard 1635. TO THE READER REader to offer thee a piece of Seneca Englished when the whole is Indenniz'd here and almost every where else might seeme ridiculous but if his Copious Brevity and Powerfull Facility two eminencies peculiar to Seneca be lost or at the best but faintly expressed in those severall Translations as perhaps not to be reached by any Prose but his owne it may be worth an houres paines to see the same in a new way more pathetically rendred to the life which in the opinion of Iudicious men thou wilt find in this Poeme provided thou doest not marre it in the reading PHILOPHRASTES TO THE NOBLE LOVER OF all Vertues and Fautor of all Goodnesse the Illustrious and truely Religious IOHN Earle of Bridgewater Viscount Brackly Baron of Elsmere Knight of the Bath Lord President of Wales and one of the Lords of his Majesties most Honourable Privie Councell THe worthiest Subjects as the Sages say Be those who be their Countries joyfull stay Which Gods due glory next their Princes Fame And these three marks do make their best blest ayme How well's your worth approv'd to God and Man Our Church our King our Kingdomes witnesse can How well your life doth hit this triple white Whose Goodnesse Gravenesse Greatnesse all delight May that bright name shine uneclipsed here Whom all his Country justly holds most deere Whom Heaven hath stellified for 's Piety Whom his great King loves for 's loyalty O may this threefold twist be nere untwin'd Long may Learning of you a sure friend find May Honors Pinnace Fames swolne sayles admit Tackled with merit Piloted with wit That as you God God may you ever honor The while you fight under Faiths sacred Banner That as you grace your King your King may grace you Your God your King your Countrey may embrace you With humble heart and voyce thus sayes thus prayes Who in devout admiring rest alwayes Most devoted to your Vertues RC L. A. SENECA OF CONSOLATION TO MARCIA Cap. 1 BVt that I knew thee Marcia to be As from their faults from Womens weaknesse free And that thy manners argue thou wert sent To re-inforce some ancient president I nothing had against thy griefe attempted Since from the like even men are not exempted Nor could I hope the time now so unfit The fault so great and thou the Judge of it That any reason could thy will importune To be appeas'd and to forgive thy fortune But thy knowne courage and the large extent Of thy try'd vertues made me confident 'T is manifest how in thy Fathers case Thou shew'dst thy selfe who in thy love had place As ample as thy Children then alive Save that thou would'st not he should them survive And yet that 's doubtfull too great piety Against things fit reserves a liberty Thy Fathers death as much as in thee lay Thou hinderd'st when thou saw'st no other way For him t' escape the shamefull servitude Which through Sejanus hate had soone ensude Thou favour'dst not his purpose but content To yeeld thy selfe and privately lament Swallow'dst thy groanes yet never hadst the art In cheerefull lookes to hide a wofull heart And this thou didst when throgh the wretched times 'T was goodnesse to forbeare unnaturall crimes But when an alteration made truth seeme Somewhat more safe thou didst indeed redeeme Thy Sire from death by publishing the wit Which valiantly with his owne blood he writ Well maist thou therefore thy great merits boast For Romes Records whereof most part were lost Posterity that to his endlesse glory May freely read an uncorrupted story Shall render thankes which he shall likewise give For that through thee his memory shall live And flourish here whil'st any of our heires Shall be desirous to revolve th' affaires Of their fore-fathers or shall seeke t' inherit The knowledge of a perfect Roman spirit Whilst any shall require to know a man Free in thought word and action who even then When all mens neckes so slavishly did beare Sejanus yoke was wholly void of feare It had been dammage to the publike weale T' have suffer'd wilfull envie to conceale A worke with two such eminencies fraught Both Eloquence and free revealed thought Hee 's read and in mens hands and hearts abides Where boldly he times menacings derides But those vile miscreants of whom there needs No memory but for their damned deeds Shall nere obtaine of any tongue to be Hereafter nam'd though to their infamie These acts of thine forbad me to looke backe Upon thy Sexe to weigh what that might lacke Or to respect thy lookes where griefe doth rest And is thereof as at the first possest Behold how plainely I intend to deale That doe not on thy passions closely steale But have reviv'd old woes would'st thou be sure This may be heal'd th' hast seene as great a cure Let others then deceitfull med'cines borrow I am resolv'd to skirmish with thy sorrow And if thou 'lt heare me speake to make thee know How to dry up those teares that now more flow From custome then from reason which I meant And gladly would performe with thy consent But if thou shalt in wilfulnesse persist I le do 't perforce though thou thy selfe resist Although thou hast determin'd to imbrace And hug thy sorrow in thy dead sonnes place But what good can there from our labour rise All meanes have been assay'd thy friends allies And others whose authority might threat Thy disobedience have been knowne t' intreat For Learnings cause and for thy fathers sake Yet none could profit longer than they spake Yea time it selfe Natures best remedy That heales all woes hath lost his force in thee Three yeeres are now expir'd and yet at length Thy griefe decayes no jot but gathers strength Custome hath so prevail'd that now 't is growne To make thee thinke it shame to cease thy moane For as all vices entering our brest Take root if they at first be not supprest So this and such like wilfull discontent Raging against it selfe findes nourishment In its owne bane sorrow that knowes no measure Becomes the wretched creatures deadly pleasure I therefore could have wisht I had begun This cure betimes it had been easely done A wound yet greene the Surgeon may be bold To seare it and to search it but growne old And to an ulcer bred he must be faine To do 't with more advice and greater paine I cannot as I might have done at first Heale up thy griefe with ease it must be burst Cap. 2 I Know that such as to advise intend Begin with Precepts with Examples end I must invert this order for there 's need That diversly with divers we proceed Reason prevailes with some others must heare Of famous persons that their mindes may reare To things of splendour
a Pilots skill When winds blow faire or when the Seas are still It is adversity that must expresse A constancie of minde and not successe Stoope not therefore but beare thy selfe upright And though at first the noyse may thee affright Endure whatever fortune hath design'd Shee 's nere o're-matcht but by an equall mind Hee shew'd her then her Sonne that did survive And all her dead Sonnes Children yet alive Behold thine owne case Marcia Arêus came To comfort thee though in another name And that I may not flatter thee admit Thy losse so great that none can equall it If teares can Fate o're-come let 's all consent To spend the day in mournefull languishment Let anguish all night long deny us rest And let our hands assault our wounded brest Let furie seize our face and let all kind Of cruelty be us'd that griefe can find But if no sorrow can the dead recall If fate be ever fixt not mov'd at all And Death what once it gets doth still retaine Let passions cease as altogether vaine And let 's be wise not suffering our sense To be transported with this violence It is a shame to see a Pilot quit His necessary charge and to remit His floating ship unto the Tempests rage Not daring in the storme himselfe t' ingage Whereas he praise deserves that holds the helme And ship-wrackt strives till Seas him overwhelme Cap. 9 BUt it is naturall when deare friends dye To mourne I yeeld if done with modesty And not then only but when urgent reason Requires their absence from us for a season The firmest thoughts at parting will relent And with a kind of griefe the same resent But now opinion hath suggested more Then Nature ere requir'd of us before Behold the passions of bruit beasts how strong And violent they are yet last not long The Cow but for a time is heard to low And Mares to neigh and wander to and fro Wild Beasts pursuing the vast Woods about The foot-steps of their young to find them out Doe oft review their spoiled Dens in rage But in short time their wrath doth quite asswage Birds haunt their empty nests in dolefull plight Yet soone appeas'd resume their wonted flight No creature so bewailes his young ones losse As man who even nourisheth his crosse Lamenting not according to the ill He feeleth but according to his will And that it may appeare thus to inthrall Our selves to griefe not to be naturall First Women are more subject to such passions Than men the wild and barbarous Nations More than the civill th' ignorant and rude More than such as with learning are endu'd Whilst Nature holds the selfe-same force in all That which is various is not naturall Fire burnes all people at all times alike Both men and women irons force doth strike And cut all bodies of like mixture why Nature can never change her property Want losse of Children grievously affect This or that man whil'st some the same neglect As custome and opinion make them seeme More or lesse terrible so men them deeme Cap. 8 YEa further what is naturall abides But time consumes all sadnesse and provides A remedy by sorrow-healing age Against the most perverse unbridled rage Thy griefe continues great growne hard of late Not furious as at first but obstinate Yet that by slow degrees an end shall find All businesse will at present ease thy mind Now thou dost watch that naught might thee relieve But whether thou command'st thy selfe to grieve Or whether onely thou permit'st the same Is that which more or lesse augments thy blame How much more would it to thine honour tend Rather to give than to receive an end Rather to quit thy sorrow than to stay Vntill against thy will it we are away Cap. 9 WHence comes it then if not from Natures will That we so grievously bewaile our ill The reason is we never doe present Mischances to our thoughts before th' event And as it were exempted from such crosses No warning take by others frequent losses How many Funerals passe by our doore Yet we on death thinke not a jot the more While others Children goe unto the grave We thinke what honours riches ours shall have How many rich men have we seene grow poore Yet thinke of no decay of our owne store Needs must we therefore tumble to the ground What strikes us unawares doth most confound Mishaps fall lightly on us when our care Foreseeing them hath taught us to prepare But would'st thou know thy danger that the Dart That wounds another might have pierc't thy heart As one unarm'd approaching neere a wall Whence shot and stones in great abundance fall Expect a wound and when the Arrowes flye Before thee and behind thee boldly cry Fortune I am prepar'd and though I see Thou hitst another yet thou aim'dst at me Who is there that his owne hath lookt upon As a thing perishing and quickly gone Who is there that before-hand was content To thinke of want of death or banishment Or who is he that having been advis'd What may befall hath not the same despis'd And wisht it on his foe or on the head Of him perhaps that so admonished But strucken once will then cry out alas I never thought it would have come to passe As if one could be safe against what may And doth to many happen every day It is a Verse that Publius Name advanceth That may to all that unto one man chanceth One hath his Children lost thine slaine may be This man 's condemn'd thine innocence not free This errour doth our misery procure Enduring what we thought not to endure Whereas the fore-sight of a future blow Doth mitigate the force of present woe Cap. 10 THese goods of fortune that about us shine As Children Honours Riches and a fine And noble Wife faire Palaces and store Of Suitors that attend us at our doore With all things else that are from fortune sent Are ornaments not given us but lent Our Scene therewith is for the time adorn'd Then to the owners backe they are return'd Some stay a day some more few to the end We cannot boast them ours what others lend The use is ours during the owners will What 's borrow'd for uncertaine time must still Be ready without strife to be repay'd No debtor should his creditor upbray'd We must our Parents then so love and those Who by the Law of Nature we suppose Will out-live us as of their lives increase We had no promise of the shortest lease And all these humane things must so receive As at the instant we the same should leave Let 's not deferre but take our present pleasure Of Parents Children and of worldly treasure For Death 's at hand and nothings in our power To hold a day were too much time an houre There is a sudden change of all delight Our life is not a passage but a flight Know then if thou beway lest thy Sonnes death The fault was in the time
When he the Capitoll did consecrate Whereof he tooke no notice but went on Chanting the Hymne of Consecration And without signe of griefe devoutly pray'd To Iupiter the Common-wealth to aide Could'st thou conceive that sorrow like t' abide Which he at first assault so well did hide He worthy was to be so highly imploy'd And worthy of the Priest-hood he enjoy'd Who in a constant zeale did not forbeare To serve the Gods yea when they angry were Yet comming home he mourn'd and teares let fall And having done the rites of Funerall Vnto the Capitoll againe return'd With chearefull looks as though he had not mourn'd Paulus Emilius when he captive led King Perseus in such Triumph buried The Sonnes that wholly he rely'd upon When all the rest were in adoption What they were whom he kept thou may'st suppose When Scipio himselfe was one of those Were given away it was no small regret To see him in his empty Chariot set Yet he discours'd and thankt the Gods that gave Him his desire who oftentimes would crave That if perchance they should some ill pretend After so great a Victory to send It rather might upon himselfe redound Than any way the Common-wealth to wound How bravely did he beare that stroke of Fate Who did his Childrens deaths congratulate No stranger chance could any man betide He lost his comforts and his helpes beside Yet notwithstanding Perseus never had The happinesse to see Emilius sad Cap. 14 WHat should I need to urge a multitude Of presidents by fortune so pursude As if it were not harder farre to name Them upon whom misfortunes never came Survey the Consulls Lucius Bibulus And Caius Caesar have been dealt with thus Two colleagues that were enemies profest Yet both by Fortune equally opprest Lucius a man for honesty commended Rather than valour had two Sonnes that ended Their lives at once and that which to be borne Was worse than death they both were made a scorne To an Aegyptian Souldier who them slew Yet he who all that yeere himfelfe with-drew To shun his fellowes envie did for all The newes of such a double Funerall Come forth the next day and with cheerefull face Perform'd the publike duties of his place He might bewaile one day his two sonnes fate That did a yeere lament the Consulate Caesar when he all Britanie ore-ran With armes not bounded by the Ocean Heard of his Daughters death whereon he knew A publike dammage was most like t' ensue For he on Pompey quickly cast his eyes His Sonne in Law who would have no man rise Beside himselfe although so neere of kin That he might looke to have his share therein Yet Caesar that high charge perform'd againe Within three dayes and did his griefe restraine As soone as he the glory of our Rome Was wont all other things to overcome Cap. 15 WHat should I other Caesars deaths rehearse ' Gainst whom the fates the rather have bin fierce To give the world a wholsome document Since they who from the race of Gods were sent To propagate the same could not command Their owne though others lives were in their hand Divine Augustus having beene depriv'd Of Children and of Nephews too reviv'd Th'extinguisht name of Caesar with a Sonne Receiv'd into it by adoption Yet he endur'd it constantly as one That had his future interest fore-knowne And by his owne example would maintaine That no man should against the Gods complaine Tiberius lost both him that he begat And him that he adopted yet thereat Unmov'd he o're the Corps of his dead Sonne Pronounc't the Funerall Oration Where but a vaile as then was requisite Did hide the Body from the High Priests sight And though the people round about him wept Yet he his countenance unclouded kept Letting Sejanus that stood next him know How easely he could any friend forgoe Thou seest how all these famous men have far'd Whom Fate for no respect of worth hath spar'd Which like a tempest with impetuous blast Flies round the World and all things down doth cast And aske but any man the reason why The answer is that all are borne to dye Cap. 16 YEt here perchance thou'lt tell me I forget I comfort now a woman since I set Before thee mens examples but let none Imagine Nature hath lesse favour showne To women or their vertues more restrain'd In whom like power to goodnesse is contain'd And who beleeve me can through custome beare Of griefe and labour equally their share Where speake I this good Gods but in that place Where Brutus and Lucretia the race Of Tyrants did expell for as we know That we our liberty to Brutus owe So we for Brutus are to Lucrece bound By whom so great a benefit wee found Where speake I but where Claelia the force Of foe and flood contemning rid her Horse Through Tiber for which bold attempt each Pen Rankes her amongst the valiantest of men Whose Statue fixed in the sacred street Where frequently the Roman people meet Our young men in their Coaches doth upbraid When they on horse-backe there behold a Maid But if examples thou desir'st to have Of women that their Childrens deaths with brave And constant minds have borne we may find store And need not beg the same from doore to doore One family had two Cornelia's The first the Daughter of great Scipio was The Gracchiâ—s Mother who twelve Children bore And all againe did backe to Fate restore Often of them Rome little notice tooke And therefore she their losse might easely brooke But Titus and his Brother Caius then If not accounted good yet famous men She both saw slaine and for a grave at last Beheld their bodies into Tiber cast Telling all those that thought her in distresse And seem'd to pitty her unhappinesse That she unhappy never could be thought That had into the world the Gracchi brought The other saw her Livius Drusus dead A young man of great hope that followed The Gracchi's steps who having then propounded Some controverted Lawes to death was wounded In his owne house the actor never knowne Yet she with the same mind that he had showne In stout defence of those his Lawes endur'd The unrevenged murther so procur'd Now Marcia thou maist reconciled be To Fortune if that she no worse by thee Than by the house of Scipio hath done And spar'd no more the Caesars than thy Sonne This life doth various accidents produce And granteth peace to none nor scarce a truce Thou hadst foure Children Marcia Shots that fall Amongst a thicke troope hardly can misse all And therefore t' were more strange that thou so many Should'st long enjoy without the losse of any But thou perhaps dost Fortune most accuse In that she did not onely take but chuse It can by no meanes be accounted wrong To share with death to whom they all belong Two daughters with their children are alive Nor yet did fortune utterly deprive Thee of that Sonne that thou dost so deplore Having forgotten
none in Cato's presence durst offend Whereas a little tract of time compel'd Him that Romes freedome with his owne upheld To fly from Caesar and to Pompey cleave And at the length himselfe of life bereave An early death no dammage then hath sent Upon thy sonne but rather did prevent The cares that to a longer life belong And therefore do not thinke de dy'd too yong For if the life of the most aged man Considered be what is it but a span As in an Inne he lodgeth in the world And in a moment out againe is hurl'd So swiftly posts our life and if the story Thou dost but read of cities that most glory In their antiquity it will appeare That nothing can be old accounted here All humane things are fraile and haue no right To any part of that vast infinite We say the earth men cities rivers seas Whose larger circuit comprehends all these Are but a point compar'd with all the rest Our life of no part of a poynt's possest Compar'd with time the world exceeding farre Whose revolutions thereby measur'd are Why should our minds then on that thing be bent Which brought unto the uttermost extent Is little more then nothing therefore hee Lives long enough that can contented be For though thy life a hundred yeeres should last Yet that compar'd with all the time that 's past And is to come would in effect amount No more then to the shortest in account He dyed not too soone that liv'd the time Appointed though he dyed in his prime Men live not all alike nor beasts for some Grow weary when to fourteene yeeres they come And that which is their last is mans first age Wee all of us have our prefixed stage Which we by no endeavour can exceed Nor should we grudge at what is so decreed He had what was allotted him no chance His life could ere diminish or advance Wee all are in this errour to conceive That we this world are never like to leave But in old crooked age when as we know We may as well in youth or childhood goe Our birth is towards death the first degree And what we live beyond is given free Fate ply's her worke and to delude our sense Makes death steale on us under lifes pretence For childhood doth our infancy surprise And youth or childhood then age quickely hyes And such as seeme increases if well weigh'd Are dammages that secretly invade Cap. 21 BUt thou complainest Marcia that thy Sonne Attained not the yeeres he might have done Yet knowest not whether the same were fit Or whether that were not a benefit For no man is in such assur'd estate But may in time become unfortunate So fraile are worldly things and we may boast Least of that part of life that pleaseth most And therefore death that bringeth certaine rest Is ever to be wish't for of the best Because we plainely see that in this vast Confusion nothing's sure but what is past Who could assure thee that the beauteous frame Of thy sonnes body though he kept the same With modesty safe-guarded from the eyes Of a lewd city fild with luxuries Should likewise from diseases be secure And to old age unblemished endure Cap. 22 THinke on the spots wherewith the soule is stain'd How some great wits have not to age retain'd The wayes of vertue in their youth begun But have into degenerate courses runne How luxury which men should ever hate So much the more because it commeth late Doth oftentimes the hope of youth deface And gluttony intruding in the place Of temperance well begun so makes men swerve That they in age the belly only serve When as their chiefest care is but to thinke Continually what they shall eat drinke Adde likewise ruines both of sword and fire Ship-wracks diseases that strange cures require Where corrosives pierce live mens bones marrow And Surgeons hands their very intralles harrow Who many times some secret paine to ease Give remedies as bad as the disease Then after these consider banishment For sure thy Sonne was not more innocent Then was Rutilius or a prison hee Then Socrates could hardly wiser be Or voluntary death he could not raise His vertues above holy Catoes praise All which consdered duely in regard That death must in the end be lifes reward Thou may'st conclude that nature dealeth best With those to whom she soonest giveth rest For life so wretched is that it would scant Accepted be but of the ignorant And therefore as its best not to be borne So next to that is quickly to returne Thinke on the time wherein Sejanus gave To Satrius his mercenary slave Thy fathers goods whose free speech him offended Saying He was not put but had ascended Vpon our necks and when it did appeare That he his statue did intend to reare In Pompeys Theatre that had of late Beene burnt and now re-built with no lesse state Cremutius crying out against it said The Theatre then truely perished For what man could behold Sejanus sit On Pompey's ashes and not storme at it Or see the most unworthy souldier crown'd With honour of a Captaine so renown'd Yet there his image with th'inscription stood And those fierce doggs nourish't with humane blood That being gentle unto him alone Their fury to all others might be showne At Cordus suddainely began to bay That he to live must now Sejanus pray Or of his daughter must to dye crave leave Inexorable both he to deceive His daughter did resolve and with intent His plot to hide he us'd a bath and went Into his chamber with pretence to eate Then sending forth his servants threw some meate Out at the window to make shew thereby As if he there had supped privately He fasted so the next day and the third Whereby a mortall weaknesse he incurr'd Then thee imbracing thus his mind reveal'd My dearest daughter I have nought conceal'd In all my life from thee save this alone I now a journey towards death am gone And haue by this time gotten halfe the way Thou mee nor may'st nor canst revoke or stay This said he caus'd the windowes to be shut And from that time himselfe in darknesse put This fact divulg'd through Rome had great applause Because the prey was snatcht from th'wolfes jawes But his accusers by Sejanus sent To the tribunall of the Consulls went Craving that Cordus might be yet with-held From doing what themselves had him compeld So loath were they who hungerly did gape That in this manner he should them escape There grew a doubt whether they might by law A man accus'd from such an act with-draw Whilst this was in dispute on every side Cordus at home releast himselfe and dy'd Seeft thou not Marcia what unlook't for woe In such recourses of ill times do flow Thou griev'st that fate did one to dye constraine And yet another scarce could leave obtaine Cap. 23 BVt beside this that future things are still Doubtfull and never certaine but to
ill The passage is more easie when the soule Is speedily dismissed from her foule Abode for she doth then contract lesse slime And to her station may more lightly clime Great spirits cannot willingly reside Long in the body nor those straights abide But to breake through and mount aloft desire And to their first originall aspire And therefore learned Plato sayeth well A wise mans mind on death doth ever dwell Doth wish doth will and thereto in effect In all his actions hath his whole respect When such grave vertue Marcia thou did'st view In thy yong Sonne and how he did subdue All his affections given to no vice In midst of wealth abhorring avarice How honour without pride he did possesse And recreations without wantonnesse Couldst thou conceive that he could long remaine What ere at highest is goes backe againe Vertue growne perfect vanisheth away And fruits that ripen soone doe soone decay Fire that burnes cleare is soone extinguished That lasteth more that with grosse matter fed Burnes with a thicke smoake for it best subsisteth With nourishment whose quality resisteth So wit that is most delicate and pure Is ever found a short time to endure For dissolution followeth apace When as for future growth there is no place Fabian reports a monstrous thing in nature Of a child seene in Rome of a mans stature But it soone dy'd as wisemen did presage His stature had so gained on his age Decay doth still maturity attend And things when growth is spent draw neer their end Cap. 24 COunt thy Sons vertues then and not his yeeres Though he t' have lived long enough appeares Who fourteene yeeres was under Tutors bred And by thy counsell ever governed Who though he had a houshold of his owne Vnwilling was to have thee live alone And being fit the warres to undertake The same refused wholly for thy sake For thinke how small a time they are enjoy'd That often are in forraigne parts imploy'd How mothers usually that time lament No lesse then death which in the warres is spent And then beleeve he liv'd as long as others That alwaies have beene absent from their mothers He thus remaining in thy house and sight To order there his studies tooke delight Gaining a wit by precepts dayly read That would his grand-fathers have equalled Had it not beene with-stood by bash fullnesse That great worth oft in silence doth suppresse A youth of rare aspect who ' mongst so many Men-tempting women gave no hope to any But when the lust of some durst him assault Would blush and thinke his comlinesse a fault This holinesse of manners was the cause That he though very yong with great applause Was made a Priest by meanes his mother us'd Though notwithstanding he had beene refus'd Had not his owne true worth their judgements led Then do not thou conceive him to be dead But that his vertues make him so remaine That thou for him shalt never grieve againe For all that can be now thou hast endur'd The rest is free from chance of joy assur'd And if thy Sonne thou wilt but rightly prise Then know his image onely buried lyes And that not very like whilst he now eas'd Of all the burdens that him so displeas'd Is rendred to himselfe for flesh and skin And all the rest that we are wrapped in Are nothing but the fetters of the soule And such as doe her faculties controule Which shee opposing ever strives to bee In endlesse blisse from all darke errours free And therefore 't is but folly to repayre Unto his Sepulchre where ashes are And bones and that which troubled him no more Parts of thy Sonne then were the clothes he wore For he went hence intire staying a while Above us to be purged from the vile Contracted dregs of nature mounted then And was receiv'd amongst those happy men The Scipio's and the Cato's with the rest That life contemn'd and now in death are blest Thy father there O Marcia though that place Makes all of kinne his Grandchild doth embrace And there instructs the new enlightened youth Not by conjecture but assured truth In all the courses of the starres neere hand And makes him all those secrets understand And as a stranger joyeth to find one That in a city where he is not knowne Will take the paines to lead him up and downe And shew him all the pleasures of the towne So glad was he when he did first arrive Being of heavenly things inquisitive Of this well knowne interpreter that so He likewise might be shew'd the things below For 't is a pleasure to th'infranch is'd mind To view from heaven what it hath left behind Frame all thy actions then as they were done In sight both of thy father and thy Sonne Who are not now as when from hence they went But every way become more excellent And be ashamed of these triviall things To grieve for them whose change such honor brings Who left the world to fixe themselves on high And there to dwell in endlesse liberty Where neither Seas nor hills nor danger barres Their entercourse whose wayes are mixt with starres Cap. 26 THink therfore now that from that heavenly Tower Thy father speakes who had with thee like power That thou hadst with thy Sonne not in that straine Wherein he did of civill warres complaine Wherein the banishers themselves he sent With shame into eternall banishment But with a farre more elevated wit As he doth now in greater glory sit Why Daughter doth thy griefe remaine so long Why dost thou so continue in the wrong To thinke thy Sonne ill dealt with who withdrew Himselfe to his forefathers when he grew Weary of life dost thou not know what blasts Of trouble fortune upon all things casts How she her favour only doth conferre On those that have conversed least with her Wilt thou that I those famous Kings repeat Whose happinesse would have been found compleat Had timely death whereof none ere repented The evills of their future lives prevented Or Roman captaines who could nothing lacke Had some few yeeres of life beene given backe Or those great men that of their owne accord Expos'd their necks unto the souldiers sword Thy father and thy grand-father behold He murthered was I shewing with how bold A mind I writ did rather then to lye At others mercy choose to fast and dye Why is he in our house so much bewail'd Whom death in so great measure hath avail'd We dwell together in a glorious light And see you compast with a dismall night Where all your best things base and sordid are And may not with the least of ours compare What should I say heere are no battells fought By land or sea no mischiefes done or thought Our Courts are not with clamours fill'd our dayes Perpetuall are our hearts our lives our wayes Open and nothing hid within our brest But all events to us are manifest I when I liv'd took pleasure to compose The story of one age and but of those That in a corner of the world did dwell Wee the succession of all times can tell And doe the rise and falls of kingdomes view The ruines of great cities with the new And uncontrolled courses of the Seas For know that if it may thy sorrow ease To understand the truth of common fate That nothing shall continue in the state That now it is time all things shall devoure And not with men alone of Fortunes power The smallest part alas shall pastime make But the whole world shall of the same partake Here it shall hills suppresse there rocks inforce And supp up Seas and change the usuall course Of rivers and dissolving all commerce The race of man shall utterly disperse Causing else-where the trembling earth to cleave And greedily whole cities to receive Into her bowells belching out from thence Damps that will breed a generall pestilence Then shall it both with inundations drowne And with strange fires all mortall things burne down And when the world that is to be renew'd Shall thus dissolve there shall be deadly feud Betweene the starres that with such order shine Which shall their fires to that vast fire resigne Wee also being blessed soules that claime Aeternity when God shall please to frame The world anew must therein have our share And shall to our first elements repaire And therefore Marcia happy is thy Sonne That know's all this as 't were already done FINIS Imprimatur SA BAKER Episcopo Londinensi à sacris