A LINE OF LIFE Pointing at the Immortalitie of a Vertuous NAME Printed by W. S. for N. Butter and are to be sold at his shop neere Saint Aâ—stens gate 1620. WISE and therein NOBLE AMbition beeing sooner discouered by acting then plotting can rarely personate practise in studie vnlesse the Arts themselues which in themselues are liberall should 〈◊〉 too curiously censured too inquisitiuely confined It is an easie vanity in these dayes of libertie to be a conceited Interpreter but a difficult commendation to bee a serious Author for whatsoeuer is at all times honestly intended oftentimes is too largely construed Generall collections meet not seldome with particular applications and those so dangerous that it is more safe more wisâ— to professe a free silence then a necessarie industrie Here in this scarce an handfull of discourse is deciphered not what any personally is but what any personally may be to the intent that by the view of others wounds we might prouide playsters and cures for our owne if occasion impose them It is true that all men are not borne in one the same or the like puritie of qualitie or condition for in some Custome is so become another Nature that Reason is not the mistresse but the seruant not the directresse but the foyle to their passions Folly is a sale-able merchandise whose factour youth is not so allowedly profest in young men as pleasure in men of any age yet are the ruines the calamities the wofull experiences of sundrie presidents and samplars of indiscretion and weakenesse euen in noted and sometimes in great ones so apparent so daily that no Antidote against the infection disease leprosie of so increasing an euill can be reputed superfluous For my part I ingeniously acknowledge that hitherto how euer the course hath proued a barre to my thrift yet I neuer fawned vpon any mans Fortunes whose person and merit I preferred not Neither hath any court-ship of applause set me in a higher straine a higher pinnacle of opinion then seuerest Approbation might make warrantable Howbeit euen in these few lines that follow my ayme hath not beene so grossely leuelled that I meant to chuse euery Reader for my Patron considering that none can challenge any interest herein from me vnlesse he challenge it by way of an vsurped impropriation whom I my selfe doe not out of some certaine knowledge and allowance of Desert as it were poynt out and at with my finger and confesse that Hic est it is this one and onely By which marke I can deny no man not guiltie to himselfe of a selfe-unworthinesse to call it his owne at least none of those who freely returne the defects to their proper owner and the benefit if any may be of this little worke to their own vse and themselues So much it is to bee presumed the verie taliarie Law may require and obtaine In all things no one thing can more requisitely bee obserued to be practised then The Golden Meane The exemplification whereof howeuer heretofore attributed I dare not so poorely vnder-value my selfe and labours as not to call mine But if I should farther exceede I might exceede that meane which I haue endeuoured to commend Let him that is wise and therein noble assume properly to himselfe this interest that I cannot distrust the successefull acceptation where the sacrifice is a thriftie loue the Patron a great man good for to be truly good is to be great And the Presentor a feodarie to such as are maisters not more of their own Fortunes then their owne affections Aestatis occasum hauâ—d aegre tulit vnquám Temperata Hyems IO. FORD LINEA VITAE A Line of Life TO liue and to liue well are distinct in theÌ„selues so peculiarly as is the ACTOR and the ACTION All men couet the former as if it were the totall and souereigne felicitie of a humane condition And some few pursue the latter because it giues an eternity to their blessednesse The difference between those two is Life desired for the only benefit of liuing feares to dye for such men that so liue when they dye both dye finally dye all But a good Life aymes at another mark for such men as indeauour to liue well liue with an expectation of death and they when they dye dye to liue and liue for euer In this respect hath death beâ—ng the parting of a precious Ghest from a ruinous Inne the soule â—rom the bodie beene â—y the Ancients styled a Hauen of safetie a finishing of Pilgrimages â— resting from trauaile â— passage to glorie Eueâ—ie man that most shuns â—t and he most shunnes â—t that most feares it â—unnes notwithstanding wilfully to meet it euen â—hen posting to it when â—ee abhorres it for the comparison is liuely â—emarkeable as he who in a Shippe directs his course to some Port whether he stand walk reuell sleepe lie downe or any way else dispose himself is notwithstanding alwaies driuen on to the period of his voyage So in this Ship of our mortalitie howsoeuer wee limit our courses or are suited in any fortune of prosperitie or lownesse in this great Sea of the World yet by the violence and perpetuall motion of time are we compeld to pace onward to the last and long home of our graues and then the victorie of Life is concluded in the victory of our ends It is granted in Philosophie that Action is the Crowne of Vertue It cannot in reason the light of Philosophie be denied that perseuerance is the Crowne of Action and then Diuinitie the Queene of Nature will confirme that sufferance is the Crowne of perseuerance For to be vertuous without the testimonie of imployment is as a rich Minerall in the heart of the Earth vn-vseful because vnknowne yet to bee vertuously imployed and not to continue is like a swift runner for a Prize who can with ease gaine it from others but slothfully sitteth downe in the middle way but to perseuere in well-doing without a sence of a dutie only with hope of reward is like an Indian Dromedarie that gallops to his common Inne prickt on-wardes with the desire of Prouender It is beast-like not to differ from beasts aswell in the abuse of reason as it would bee in the defect ACTION PERSEVERANCE IN ACTION SVFFERANCE IN PERSEVERANCE are the three golden linkes that furnish vp the richest Chain wherwith a good man can bee adorned They are a tripartite counterpawne wherby wee hold the possession of life whose Charter or Poll Deed as they terme it are youth till twentie manhood till fortie olde age till our end And hee who beginnes not in the spring of his minoritie to bud forth fruits of vertuous hopes or hopefull deserts which may ripen in the Summer of confirmed manhood rarely or neuer yeelds the crop of a plentifull memory in his age but preuents the winter of his last houre in the barren Autume of his worst houre by making an euen reckoning with time mis-spent dying without any Issue
to inherit his remembrance or commeÌ„dation Heere is then a preparation made to the ground-worke foundation wheron the structure and faire building of a minde nobly furnisht must stand which for the perpetuitie and glorie of so lasting a monument cannot altogether vnfitly bee applyed to a LINE OF LIFE For whosoeuer shall leuell square his whole course by this iust proportion shall as by a â—ine bee led not only to vnwinde himselfe from out the Labyrinth and Maze of this naturall troublesome Race of frailtie but to flie vp in the middle path the via lactea of immortalitie in his name on Earth to the Throne of life and perfection in his whole man and to an immortalitie that cannot bee changed Deceiuing and deceiueable Palmesters who will vndertake by the view of the hand to bee as expert in foretelling the course of life to come to others as they are ignorant of their own in themselues haue framed and found out three chiefe lines in the hand wherby to diuine future euents The line of life The middle naâ—urall line and the table â—ine According to the fresh colour or palenes â—ength or shortnesse bredth or narrownesse straitnesse or obliquitie continuance or interâ—issioÌ„ of either of these â—hey presume to censure â—he manners the infirmities the qualities the verie power of Life or Death of the person But the line of life is the eminent mark they must be directed by to the perâ—ection of their Master-piece All which are as far from truth as wonder onely it is true and wonderfull that any ignorance can be so deluded Another line of life is the most certaine and infallible rule which wee as we are men and more then men Christians more then Christians the image of our maker must take our leuel by Neither is iudgement to be giuen by the ordinary lineaments of the furniture of Nature but by the noble indowments of the mind whose ornaments or ruines are then most apparently goodly or miserable when as the actions we doe are the euidences of a primitiue puritie or a deriuatiue deprauation Here is a great labour to indure a great strength in that labour to conquer a great Resolution in that strength to triumph requisite before wee can climbe the almost impregnable and inaccessible toppe of glorie which they that haue attempted haue found they that haue found haue enioyed to their own happines and wonder of imitation RESOLVTION is the plotter and the Actor nay it is both the plot and the Act it selfe that must prompt vs how to doe aswell as it must point vs out what to do before wee can as much as take into the hands of our purposed constancie this line which must direct vs to life make vs to liue Whatsoeuer therefore in those briefe ensuing collections is inserted to patterne and personate an excellent man must be concluded and vnderstood for methods sake in this one only attribute RESOLVTION For by it are exemplified the perfections of the minde consisting in the whole furniture of an enriched soule and to it are referred the noblest actions which are the externall arguments and proofes of the treasure within For as it is a State Maxime in Policie that Force abroad in Warre is of no force but rather Rashnesse then Souldierie vnlesse there bee counsell peaceably at home to direct for expedition so are all actions of Resolution in the Oeconomie and household gouernment of a mans owne particular priuate wealth but shining follies vnlesse there bee a consultation first held within him for determining the commoditie the conueniencie and commendation of such actions aswell in doing as when they are done Order in euerie taske is for conceipt easiest for demonstration playnest for Imitation surest Let vs then take â—nto our consideration â—his Line of Life and trace the way wherein wee are to trauaile keeping our eye on the Compasse whereby we may runne to the Paradise of memorable happinesse And first it is to be obserued That Resolution hath three branches The one concerns a mans owne particular person for the carriage of himselfe in his proper dutie and such an one is knowne by none other â—ote then in beeing A MAN Another concernes a mans imployment in affaires for his Countrey Prince and Common-wealth and such a one as is knowne by the generall name of A PVBLIKE MAN The last concernes a mans voluntarie traffique in ciuill causes without the imposition of authoritie only vrged on to performe the offices of a friend as a priuate Statist to seuerall ends all tending to goodnes and vertue and such a one is euer to be call'd a GOOD MAN In euerie one of those there is a plentifull imployment presenting it selfe to the liberall choyce for ennobling themselues with publique honors or gayning them the truest honour A deserued fame which is one if worthie of the best and highest rewards of vertue Superfluous it were and vnnecessarie to enter into the contentious lists of diuided Philosophers or vnreconciled Schoolemen for the absolute and punctuall definition of man Since it sufficeth vs to be assured that he is mainely and yet pithily distinguish't from all other created substances in the only possession of a reasonable soule This royall prerogatiue alone poynts him to be noblest of creatures and to speak truth in an assertion not to be gain-said he containes the summary of all the great world in the little world of himselfe As then the Fabricke of the globe of the earth would of necessitie runne to the confusion out of which it was first refined if there were not a great and watchfull prouidence to measure it in the iust ballance of preseruing and sustayning so consequently without question the frame of our humane composition must preposterously sinke vnder its owne burthen if warie and prudent direction as well in manners as in deedes restraine it not from the dissolution and wracke the procliuitie of corrupted Nature doth hourely slide into A mans minde is the man himselfe said the Romane Orator and the chiefest of the Grecian Naturalists was confident to auerre that the temperature of the minde followed the temperature of the body It were a Lesson worthie to bee cond if eyther of those rules may be positiuely receiued For out of the first as any man feeles his inclinations and affections thereafter let him iudge himselfe to bee such a man Out of the latter it may be gathered how easie it were for euerie man to be his owne Schoolemaster in the conformation or reformation of his life without other tutour then himselfe Socrates his speech of the vse of mirrours or looking glasses concludes whatsoeuer can bee ranged in many wordes of this subiect and is therefore notoriously vsefull and vsefully notable When thou viewest thy selfe in a mirrour said that wise man surueyest thy complexion thy proportion if thy face be more faire louely and sweeter then others thy bodie straighter thy lineaments perfecter coÌ„sider how much more thou art bound
is not any allurement could lull men in the mist of their misdeeds so much as those two pestilent yoke-fellowes and twinnes of confusion The multitude of offenders and the libertie of offending They are both Examples and Schoolemasters to teach euen the very ignorant whose simplicitie else might be their excuse to do what if others did not they might accidentally slide into but not so eagerly pursue To conclude this point it may somewhat too truly be said though not by way of discouragement yet of caueat what by the procliuitie and pronenesse of our frailtie is warrantable Let no man bee too confident of his owne merit The best doe erre Let no man relye too much on his owne Iudgement the wisest are deceiued yet let euery man so conceiue of himselfe that he may indeuour to bee such a one as distrust shal not make him carelesse or confidence secure It followes that the very consideration of being men should somwhat rectifie our crooked inclinations and ennoble our actions to keepe vs worthy of the priuiledge wee haue aboue beasts otherwise only to be a man in substance and name is no more glorie then to bee knowne and distinguished from a very beast in nature Presidents from Antiquitie may plentifully be borrowed to set before vs what some men haue beene not as they were Commanders or employed for the Commonwealth but as they were Commanders of their owne infirmities and employed for the CoÌ„monwealth of their own particular persons Epaminondas amongst the Thebanes is worthy of note and memorie euen to our Ages and those that shall succeed vs Hee as the Philosopher recordeth chose rather to bee moderate alone then madde with the multitude chusing at all times to consult with himselfe in excellent things not with his Countreymen to giue Lust Dalliance Effeminate softnes a Regiment in the Kingdome of his thoughts no not of his thoughts much lesse of his Actions Phocion among the Athenians Brutus among the Romanes are for their particular cariage of themselues as they were only men well worthy of all remembrance And the sententious Seneca is bold to say that all Ages will euer hatch and bring forth many such as Clodius a man bent to mischiefe but rarely any Age another Cato a man so sincere so free from corruption and so seuere a Censurer of himselfe But what need we to search histories of other times or the deserts of another Nation when in our owne Land in our owne dayes wee might easily patterne what a man should bee or not bee by what others haue bin Among many two of late times are iustly examined not as they were different in fortune in yeares in degree but as they differed in the vse of the gifts of their mind The first was IOHN the last and yongest Lord HARRINGTON whose rare and admirable course of life not as he was a Noble man for then indeed it were miraculous but as a man deserues all prayse and imitation from all Of whome it may without flatterie for what benefit can accrue to flatter the dead or affection bee said That He amongst a World of men attayned euen in his youth not only to grauitie in his behauiour to wisedome in his vnderstanding to ripenesse in his carriage to discretion in his discourse but to perfection in his action A man wel-deseruing euen the testimonie of a religious learned Diuine But for that his owne merit is his best commendation and questionlesse his furest reward for morall gifts let him rest in his peace whilest the next is to bee obserued SIR WALTIR RAVLEIGH may be a second President a maÌ„ known and wel-deseruing to be knowne A man endued not with common endowments being stored with the best of Natures furniture taught much by much experience experienc'd in both fortunes so feelingly and apparently that it may truly bee controuerted whether hee were more happie or miserable yet beholde in him the strange Character of a meere man a man subiect to as many changes of resolution as resolute to bee the instrument of change Politique and yet in Policie so vnsteddie that his too much apprehension was the foile of his iudgement For what man soeuer hend all what the former Discourse hath amplified Namely that the only felicitie of a good life depends in doing all things freely by beeing content with what wee haue for wee speake of a morall man This is to remember that we are mortall that our dayes passe on and our life slides away without recouerie Great is the taske the labour painfull the discharge full of danger the daÌ„gers full of Enuy that he must of necessitie vndergoe that like a blaze vpon a Mountain stands neerest in grace to his Prince or like a vigilant Sentinell in a Watch-tower busies and weakens his owne naturall and vitall spirits to administer Equalitie and Iustice to all according to the requisition of his office It is lamentable and much to bee pittyed when places of Authority in a CoÌ„monwealth are disposed of to some whose vnworthinesse or disabilitie brings a scandall a scorne and a reproch to both the place and the Minister The best Law-makers amongst the Ancients were so curious in their choice of men in Office in the Commonwealth that precisely and peremptorily they repuâ—ed that STATE plagued whipped tormented wounded yea wounded to death where the subordinate Gouernours were not aswell vnblemished in their liues and actions as in their names and reputation A PVBLIKE MAN hath not more neede to be Bonus Ciuis a good Statist then Bonus Vir good in himselfe a very faire and large Line is limmed out to square by it a direct path that leades to a vertuous Name if a man acquite himselfe nobly iustly and wisely in well steering the Helme of State that he sits at otherwise his Honours are a burthen his Height a Curse his Fauours a Destruction his Life a Death and his Death a Misery A Misery in respect of his after Defamation aswell as of his after accompt Far from the present purpose it is to diue into the depth of Policie or to set downe any positiue rules what a right Statesman should be for that were with Phormio the Philosopher to read a Lecture of Souldierie to Hannibal the most cunningest Warriour of his time consequently as Phormio was by Hannibal to be iustly laughed at so aswell might Seneca haue written to Nero the Art of Crueltie or Cicero to his brother Quintus the Commendation of Anger The summe of these briefe Collections is intended to recreate the minde not to informe Knowledge in practice but to conforme Practice to Knowledge Whereto no indeauor can bee found more requisite more auaileable then an vndeceiuing lesson of an impartiall obseruation wherin if our studies erre not with many and those most approued thus we haue obserued First of publique men there are two generall sorts The one such as by the speciall fauour of their Prince which sauour cannot
concealement and extenuation Let it be spoken with some authority borrowed from experience of the elder times that men in high places are like some hopelesse marriners set to sea in a leaking vessel there is no safetie no securitie no comfort no content in greatnesse vnlesse it be most constantly armed in the defensiue armor of a selfe-worthie resolution especially when their places they hold are hourely subiect to innouation as their names if they preuent not their dangers by leauing them and their liues at once are to reproach and the libertie of malice Flatterie to either publique persons is not more inductious on the one side then enuie on the other is vigilant Great men are by great men not good men by good men narrowly sifted their liues their actions their demeanors examined for that their places and honours are hunted after as the Beazar for his preseruatiues And then the least blemish the least slide the least error the least offence is exasperated made capitall the dangers ensuing euer prooue like the wound of an enemies sword mortall and many times deadly Now in this case when the eye of iudgement is awakened Flatterie is discouered to be but an Inmate to Enuie an Inmate at least consulting together though not dwelling together the one being Catarer to the others bloudie banquet And some wise men haue been perswaded that the pestilence the rigour of Law Famine Sicknes or War haue not deuour'd more great ones then Flattery and Enuie Much amisse from the purpose it cannot bee to giue instance in three publike Presidents of three famous Nations all chancing within the compasse of twentie yeares In England not long agoe a man supereminent in Honours desertfull in many Seruices indeared to a vertuous and a wise Queene ELIZABETH of glorious memorie and eternall happinesse A man too publikely beloued and too confident of the loue he held ROBERT EARLE OF ESSEX and Earle Marshall of the Kingdome He euen he that was thought too high to fall and too fixed to bee remoued in a verie handfull of time felt the misery of Greatnesse by relying on such as flattered and enuyed his Greatnesse His end was their end and the execution of Law is a witnesse in him to Posteritie how a publike person is not at any time longer happie then hee preserues his happinesse with a Resolution that depends vpon the guard of innocēcie goodnes CHARLES DVKE OF BYRON in France not long after him ranne the same Fate A Prince that was reputed the inuincible Fortresse to his King Countrey great in desert and too great in his Greatnesse not managing the fiery chariot of his guiding the Sunne of that Climate with moderation gaue testimonie by an imposed and inexpected end how a publike man in Authoritie sits but in Commission on his own Delinquencie longer then Resolution in noble actions leuels at the immortalitie of A Line of life Lastly SIR IOHN VANOLDEN BARNEVELT in the Netherlands whose ashes are scarce yet colde is and will bee a liuely president of the mutabilitie of Greatnesse Hee was the only one that traffiqued in the Coūsels of forreine Princes had factors in all Courts Intelligencers amongst all Christian nations stood as the ORACLE of the Prouinces and was euen the Moderator of Policies of all sorts was reputed to bee second to none on Earth for soundnesse of Designes was indeed his Countreyes both Mynion Mirror and Wonder yet enforcing his publike Authoritie too much to bee seruant to his priuate Ambition hee left the Tongue of Iustice to proclayme that long life and a peacefull death are not granted or held by the Charter of Honours except vertuous RESOLVTION renew the Patent at a daily expence of proficiencie in goodnesse Others fresh in memorie might bee inserted but these are yet bleeding in the wounds which they haue giuen themselues and some now liuing to this day who both haue had and doe enioy as great Honours and are therefore as incident to as many wofull changes but that they wisely prouide to proppe their greatnesse with many greater deserts Here is in Text Letters layd before vs the hazard perill and casualty of A PVBLIKE MAN the possibilitie what Miserie Calamity Ruine Greatnesse and Popularitie may winde him into Heere is decyphered the vnauoydable and incessant Persecutors of their Honors and Ioyes Flatterie and Enuie two ancient Courtiers It comes now to conclusion that it cannot be denyed but those publike men haue notwithstanding these chiefe and immediate meanes in their owne powers if they well and nobly order their courses to make their Countrey their Debtors and to enroll their names in the glorious Register of an euer-memorable Glorie especially if they be not too partially doting on euery commendable Vertue which in priuate men is reputed as it is a Vertue but in them a Miracle Certainly without disparagement to desert in great men there are many particular persons fit for publike imployments whose ablenesse and sufficiencie is no way inferiour to the prayses of the mightiest but that they are clouded in their lownesse obscured in their priuatnesse but else would could giue testimony to the World that all fulnesse and perfection is not confined to Eminence and Authoritie A PVBLIKE MAN therefore shunning the Adulation of a Parasite which hee may easily discouer if hee wisely examine his merit with their Hyperbolical insinuations then keeping an euen course in the processe of lawfull and iust actions auoyding the toyles snares and trappes of the enuious cannot chuse in his own lifetime but build a monument to which the Triumph and Trophies of his memorie shall giue a longer life then the perpetuitie of stone Marble or Brasse can preserue Otherwise if they stand not on the guard of their owne Pietie and Wisedome they will vpon trifles sometime or other bee quarrelled against and euicted Neyther may they imagine that any one taint howsoeuer they would bee contented to winke at it in themselues supposing it to be as perhaps it is little and not worthy reprehension can escape vnespyed For the Morall of the Poets Fiction is a goodly Lesson for their instruction It is said that Thetis the Mother of Achilles drencht him being an Infant in the Stygian Waters that thereby his whole bodie might bee made invulnerable but see the seueritie of Fate for euen in that part of the heele that his Mother held him by was hee shot by the Arrow of Paris of which wound he dyed In like case may euery Statesman bee like Achilles in the generall body of his Actions impassible and secure from any assault of wilfull and grosse ennormitie yet if he giue way to but one handfull as it may be termed of Folly not becomming the grauity and greatnes of his Calling hee shall soone meete with some watchfull Paris some industrious Flatterer or ouer-busie enuious Cōpetitour that will take aduantage of his weaknesse and wound his infirmitie to the ruine of his Honours if not to the ieopardy
of his life The period of all shal be knit vp with the aduise of a famous learned Philosopher as he wrote to his familiar friend let vs transcribe to men in Authoritie Let a publike man reioyce in the true pleasures of a constant Resolution not in the deceiuable pleasures of vanitie and fondnesse By a good conscience honest counsells and iust actions the true good is acquired Other moment any delights only supple the forehead not vnburthen and solace the heart They are nothing alasse they are nothing it is the minde must be well disposed it is the minde must bee confident it is the mind aboue all things must be rectified and the true comfort is not easily attayned and yet with more difficulty retayned But hee he who directs all his whole priuate life in hononurable proiections cannot any way misse our LINE OF LIFE which points at the immortalitie of a vertuous name by profitably discharging the burthen of such imployments as are vsually imposed vpon those whom their callings haue entitled Publike men A GOOD MAN is the last branch of Resolution and by him is meant as is said before such a man as doth beside the care he hath of himselfe in particular attend all his drifts and actions to bee a seruant for others for the good of others as if it were his owne School-boyes newly trayned vp in the Principles of Grammer can resolue what a good man is or who Who Qui consulta patrum qui leges iuraque seruat Such an one as not indeed singly obserues what he should doe but doth euen that which hee obserues hee should doe This man not only liues but liues well remembring alwayes the old adage that God is the rewarder of Aduerbes not of Nownes His intents are without the hypocrisie of applause his deedes without the mercenary expectation of reward the issue of both is all his workes are crown'd in themselues and yet crowne not him for that hee loues Vertue for it selfe This man neuer flatters Folly in greatnesse but rather pitties and in pittie striues to redresse the greatnesse of Folly This man neuer enuies the eminence of Authoritie nor feares the Enuious His reprehensiōs are balms his Prayses Glories and he is as thankfull to bee rebuked as to bee cherished From such a Man all things are to be gratfully accepted His desire to doe good to all hath not a like successe to all notwithstanding in him to will is commendable and not to be able to doe pardonable For it is not only the propertie of true Vertue but also of true Friendship as well to admonish as to bee admonished For amongst good men those things are euer well taken that are well meant yet euen this man that vncompeld vn-required not exacted interposes himselfe to set at vnitie the disorders of others not so inclinable to goodnesse is not free from enmity with those whom in a general care he labours to deserue as friends The Reason Flattery procures friēds Truth hatred How Truth Hatred Yes for from Truth is Hatred borne which is the poyson of Friendship as Laelius wel obserued But what ensues Hee whose eares are so fortified and barrocaded against the admitment of Truth that from his Friend he wil not heare the Truth this mans safetie is desperat wherfore if any one will only relish words of Downe and Honey as if wee loued to speake nothing but pure Roses as the Prouerbe is let such a one learn from the skilfull Artists of Nature that the Bees doe annoint their Hiues with the iuyce of the bitterest Weeds against the greedinesse of other Beasts Let him learne from the skilfullest Phisicians that the healthfullest Medicines smart most in the Wound Let him learne from the Prince of Philosophie that Anger was giuen to men by Nature as hee writes as a Whetstone of Valour and then he cānot but consider that any paines which a good Man vndergoes for reconciliation be they either by way of admonition or reprehension tend both to one end that hee may make all like vnto himselfe that is Good Men. This very word GOOD implyes a description in it selfe more pithy more patheticall then by any familiar exemplification can bee made manifest Such a man as makes the generall commoditie his particular benefit may not vnfitly bee stiled a PRIVATE STATES-MAN His endeuours are publike the vse publike the profit publike the commendation publike But the person priuate the Resolution priuate the end priuate and the reward peculiar It is impossible that the wretched and auaricious banking vp of wealth can draw him into a conceipt that hee can euer make friends of mony after his death considering that the World was created for the vse of men and men created into the World to vse it not to enioy it This mans bounty is giuing not lending and his giuing is free not reserued He cherisheth Learning in the Learned and incourageth the Learned to the loue of Learning by cherishing them He heartneth the vpright in Iustice ratifies Iustice in the vpright He helpes the distressed with counsell and approoues the proceedings of wise Counsellors He is a patterne to all what they should bee as to himselfe what he is Finally try all his desires his actions are the seasoners of his speeches as his profession is of his actions Hee is a Physitian to other mens affections as to his own by comprimitting such passions as runne into an insurrection by strengthening such as decline by suppling such as are inflamed by restrayning such as would runne out by purging such as ouer-abound His Ambition climbes to none other cure then to heale the wounded not to wound the whole beeing neither so vnwise to doe any thing that he ought not to doe nor so vnhappy to doe any thing what hee does not His singular misfortune is that with Drusus an excellent man he attempts many times with a more honest and good mind then good fortune and successe insomuch as it often comes to passe that other mens mischiefes are preferred before his Vertues yet still as he is a good Man iniuries can no more discourage him then applause can ouer-weene him Euen this man hath his particular aduersaries to threaten him and if it could be possible to terrifie him and deter him from the soliditie of his temper Scandal to defame him and imposture to traduce him Flatterie and enuie are not a more pestilent broode set in armes against a publique man then those two miscreant monsters are against a good man But is his resolution any way infracted for that some refractaries are like Knights of the post hired to witnesse against him Doubtlesse no but much the rather confirmed to run by a LINE OF LIFE to the Goale of Life His owne solace is to him as an inexpugnable castle of strength against all the forcible assaults of diuellish cōplots built onely vpon this foundation that he is conscious to himselfe of an vnforced sinceritie