to liue among men These how faire soeuer be they children or men that cary one thing in their tongue and another in their heart be they that deserue to be hunted out of all ciuill societie that are ingrate for benefites receiued who hurt or seeke to hurt them that haue done them good and hate them onely because they cannot but know themselues to be bound vnto them These be they that in very truth are crooked mis-shapen and monstrous and might well be condemned to be buried quicke not simple innocent babes who hauing no election can yeeld not tokens either of good or euill against whom to pronounce sentence of death before they haue offended is great iniustice and exceeding crueltie And this loe is the sentence of this author touching the doubt proposed wherein if you rest satisfied I will proceede All the companie assented to the same and then Master Dormer said Now then I pray you let vs heare you declare what this end is whereof you were discoursing when this doubt was proposed and withall we must expect that you shall shew vs and set vs in the way wherein we are to trauel for the attaining thereof and giue vs precepts whereby that perfection may be purchased vnto which all men desirous to become happie in this life direct their actions and their endeuours Of this expectation quoth I you need not feare to be frustrated for here shall you haue enough I assure my selfe to fulfill your desire and therewith perusing my papers I thus followed The end of man in this life is happinesse or felicitie and an end it is called as before was said because all vertuous actions are directed thereunto and because for it chiefly man laboureth and trauelleth in this world But for that this felicitie is found to be of two kinds wherof one is called ciuill and the other contemplatiue you shall vnderstand that the ciuill felicitie is nothing else then a perfect operation of the mind proceeding of excellent vertue in a perfect life and is atchieued by the temper of reason ruling the disordinate affects stirred vp in vs by the vnreasonable parts of the mind as when the time shall serue will be declared and guiding vs by the meane of vertue to happy life The other which is called contemplation or contemplatiue felicitie is likewise an operation of the mind but of that part thereof which is called intellectiue so that those parts which are void of reasō haue no intermedling with the same for he which giueth himselfe to follow this felicitie suppresseth all his passions and abandoning all earthly cares bendeth his studies and his thoughts wholy vnto heauenly things and kindled and inflamed with diuine loue laboureth to enioy that vnspeakable beauty which hath bin the cause so to inflame him and to raise his thoughts to so high a pitch But forasmuch as our purpose is now to intreate onely of the humane precepts and instructions and of that highest good which in this vale of misery may be obtained ye shall vnderstand that the end whereunto man ought to direct all his actions is properly that ciuill felicitie before mentioned which is an inward reward for morall vertues and wherein fortune can chalenge no part or interest at all And this end is so peculiar to reason that not onely vnreasonable creatures can be no partakers thereof but yong children also are excluded from the same For albeit they be naturally capable of reason yet haue they no vse of her through the imperfection of their yong age because this end being to be attained by perfect operations in a perfect life neither of which the child nor the yong man is able to performe it followeth that neither of them can be accounted happie And by the same reason it commeth to passe that though man be the subiect of felicitie yet neither the child nor the yong man may be said properly to be the subiect therof but in power and possibilitie only yet the yong man approcheth nearer thereunto then the child And thus much may suffice for a beginning to satisfie the first part of your demaund Then said Captaine Carleil seeing you haue proposed to vs this end which is the marke as it were whereat all ciuill actions do leuel as at their highest or chiefest good we will now be attentiue to heare the rest and how you will prescribe a man to order his life so as from his childhood and so forward from age to age he may direct his thoughts and studies to the compassing of this good or summum bonum as Philosophers do terme it That shal you also vnderstand quoth I but then must the discourse thereof be drawne from a deeper consideration Those men that haue established lawes for people to be ruled by ought to haue framed some among the rest for the foundation of mans life by which a true and certaine forme of life might be conceiued and such as beginning to leade him from his childhood might haue serued him for a guide vntill he had attained to those riper yeares wherein he might rather haue bin able to instruct others then need to be himselfe instructed For the foundation of honest and vertuous liuing beginneth euen in childhood neither shal he euer be good yong mā that in his childhood is naught nor a wicked yong man lightly proue good when he is old For such as are the principles and beginnings of things such are the proceedings Whereupon the wisest men of the world haue euer thought that the way to haue cities and common-wealths furnished with vertuous and ciuil men consisted in the bringing vp of childrē commendably But among all the lawes of our time there is no one that treateth of any such matter There are orders and lawes both vniuersall and particular how to determine causes of controuersie to end strifes and debates and how to punish malefactors but there is no part in the whole body of the law that setteth downe any order in a thing of so great importance Yet Plato held it of such moment as knowing that the well bringing vp of children was the spring or wel-head of honest life he thought it not sufficient that the fathers onely should take care of nurturing their children but appointed besides publike magistrates in the common-wealth who should attend that matter as a thing most necessary For though man be framed by nature mild and gentle yet if he be not from the beginning diligently instructed and taught he becometh of humane and benigne that he was more fierce and cruell then the most wild and sauage beast of the field Wheras if he be conueniently brought vp and directed to a commendable course of life of benigne and humane that he is he becometh through vertue in a sort diuine And to the end the cause may be the better knowne why so great diligence is needful and requisite you must vnderstand that although our soule be but one in substance and properly our true forme yet
father and of the rest of the family be it neuer so vertuous there must also concurre the goodnesse of his conuersation abroade to make his domesticall familiaritie worke due effect since many times I haue seene it fall out that the haunting of ill company from home hath done a young man much more hurt then all the good instructions or vertuous examples domesticall could do him good So soft and tender are the minds of yong men and apt as was formerly said to be wrought like waxe to vice And this cometh to passe by reasō that the sensitiue part calling youth to delight and diuerting it from the trauell and paine which learning and vertue require is hardly subdued and brought vnder the rule of reason by which it esteemeth it selfe forced when it is barred from that it desireth And if by any exteriour occasion it be pricked forward it fareth as we see it oftentimes do with young hard-headed colts who take the bit in the mouth and run away with the rider carrying him will he nill he whether they list It ought therefore to be none of the least cares of the father to prouide that the forraine conuersation of his son may be such as shall rather help then hinder his care and home-example To which effect it would be very good if it might be possible that the young man were neuer from his fathers side But forasmuch as many occasions draw men to attend other waightier affaires as well publike as priuat wherby they are driuen to haue their minds busied about exterior things and to neglect their childrē who are their owne bowels Therefore is it their parts in such cases to appoint for their children when they are past their childish yeares some learned and honest man of vertuous behauiour to gouerne them and take care of them whose precepts they may so obey as they shall feare to do any thing that may breede reproch or blame vnto them For such things are mortall poison to yong mens minds and not only put them astray from the path that should leade them to vertue but imprint in them also a vitious habit that maketh them vnruly and disobedient to all wholesome admonitions and vertuous actions This man so chosen to haue the charge of youth must be carefull among other things to foresee that his disciples may haue such companions as the Persian Princes had prouided for them to wit equall of age and like of conditions with whom they may be conuersant familiar For such similitude of age and conditions doth cause them to loue and like one another if some barre or impediment fall not betweene them The auncient wise men assigned to youth the Plannet of Mercury for no other cause as I suppose but for that Mercury being as Astronomers say either good or bad according as he is accompanied with another plannet good or euil euen so youth becommeth good or bad as the companies to which it draweth or giueth it selfe And therefore ought not yong men to haue libertie to haunt what companie they list but to be kept vnder the discipline of wise men and trained vp in the companie of others of their age well bred vntill it may be thought or rather found by experience that they be past danger and become fit to guide themselues hauing brought their mind obedient to reason so farre as it cannot any more draw him to any delights but such as are honest and vertuous This delight in vertue and honestie is best induced into a yong mans mind by that true companiō of vertue that breedeth feare to do or say any thing vnseemely or dishonest which companion Socrates sought to make familiar to his scholers when he would tell them how they should endeuour themselues to purchase in their minds prudence into their tongues truth with silence and in their faces bashfulnesse called by the Latins verecundia deriuing it from the reuerence which yong men vse to beare to their elders This we call shamefastnesse and is that honest red colour or blushing which dieth a yong mans cheekes when he supposeth he hath done or said any thing vnseemely or vnfit for a vertuous mind or that may offend his parents or betters a certaine token of a generous mind and well disciplined of which great hope may be conceiued that it will proue godly and vertuous For as a sure and firme friend to honestie and vertue like a watch or guard set for their securitie it is euer wakefull and carefull to keepe all disordinate concupiscences from the mind whereby though of it selfe it be rather an affect then a habit neuerthelesse she induceth such a habite into a yong mans mind that not onely in presence of others he blusheth if he chance to do any thing not commendable but euen of himselfe he is ashamed if being alone he fall into any errour For though some say that two things chiefly keepe youth from euill correction and shame and that chastisement rather then instruction draweth youth to do well yet I for my part neuer think that yong man well bred or trained vp who for feare of punishment abstaineth from doing things shamefull or dishonest punishment being appointed but for them that are euill which made the Poet say For vertues sake good men ill deeds refraine Ill men refraine them but for feare of paine For the wickednesse of men hath caused lawes to be deuised and established for the conseruation of honest and vertuous societie and ciuil life whereunto man is borne which lawes haue appointed penalties for the offenders to the end that for feare thereof as Xenocrates was wont to say men might flie from ill doing as dogs flie harme doing for feare of the whip And because Plato formed his Common-weale of perfect and vertuous men therfore set he downe no lawes in his bookes de Repub. because he supposed the goodnesse of the men to be sufficient for the gouernement thereof without a law either to commaund good order or to punish offenders Neuertheles the same diuine Philosopher considering how the imperfection of mans nature will not suffer any such Common-wealth to be found he wrote also his bookes of lawes to serue for the imperfection of other Common-weales which were composed of men of all sorts good and bad meane or indifferent in which both instruction and punishment were needfull as well to make the euill abstaine from vice as to confirme the good and to reduce those that were indifferent to greater perfection Lawes therefore haue appointed punishments that vertue might be defended and maintained ciuill societie and humane right preserued But young men bred as our author would haue them are by all meanes to be framed such as for vertues sake for feare of reproch for loue and reuerence to honestie and not for feare of punishment to be inflicted on them by the magistrates or their superiours for doing of euill they may accustome themselues neuer to do any thing for which they should neede to blush
may I say of my selfe that am tied to declare to you in our lāguage inferior much to the Italian al that he hath set downe touching the same Sure it is that if I were able to set before the eyes of your mindes a liuely image of this excellent end you wold be so delighted therewith that in regard thereof you would contemne and set light by all other pleasures in the world But howsoeuer my vtterance be which I will do my best to fit as wel as I can to so high a subiect you shall heare what he in substance saith therupon and I assure my self that the quality of the matter will easily supply whatsoeuer defect you may find in my phrase or maner of speech You are therefore to vnderstand that as they whose iudgements are corrupted and minds informed with an il habite to make them liue after the maner before mentioned do swarue frō the nature of man so much as they become like brute beasts or insensible plants voide of reason euen so are they among men as diuine creatures who apply themselues to liue according to reason And such haue aunciently bin called Heroes because they approched in their actions neerer to God then others that liued not so For they put all their endeuours to adorne and set foorth that part of man which maketh him like vnto the diuine nature or rather partaker of the same teacheth him what is good comely honest and honorable and inuiteth him continually to that which may conduct him to the highest and supreme good This part is the minde with the vse of reason proceeding from it as from a roote But because two speciall offices appertaine to the vse of reason so farre foorth as serueth to this purpose the one contemplation and the other action Touching the first it raiseth vs by the means of Arts and sciences which purge the minde from base and corrupt affections to the knowledge of those things that are vnchangeable and still remaine the same howsoeuer the heauens turne time runne on or fortune or any other cause rule things subiect vnto them By means of which sciences the minde climbing by degrees vp to the eternall causes considereth the order maner wherewith things are knit together linked in a perpetual bād And thence it comprehendeth the forme of regiment which the Creator and mouer of all things vseth in the maintaining and keeping them euerlastingly in their seuerall offices and duties And out of the consideration hereof we learne that he that directeth not his course of gouernment by this rule as neere as he can to guide himselfe his family and the Common-wealth can seldome or neuer attaine a good and happie end Wherefore he draweth the celestiall gouernement to the vse of humane and ciuill things so farre as mans frailtie will permit As Socrates did who was said to haue drawne Philosophie from heauen to the earth to reforme the life and māners of men Thus turning himselfe to the knowledge of his owne nature and finding that he is composed of three seuerall natures whereof ech hath her seuerall end yet seeketh he to draw the ends of the two lesse perfect to the end of that which is most perfect and proper to him But finding that continuall contemplation of higher things would be profitable onely to himself and to none other in that he should thereby purchase no happinesse to any but to himselfe And because he knoweth that he is not borne to himselfe alone but to ciuill societie and conuersation and to the good of others as well as of himselfe he therefore doth his endeuour with all care and diligence so to cary himselfe in words and in deeds as he might be a patterne and example to others of seemly and vertuous speeches and honest actions and do them all the good he could in reducing them to a good and commendable forme of life For the performance whereof he perceiueth how requisite it is that honestie and vertue be so vnited with profite and pleasure that by a iust and equall temper of them both himselfe and others may attaine that end which is the summum bonum and the thing wherupon all our discourse hath bin grounded This end is not to be attained but by the meanes of morall vertues which are the perfection of the minde setled habits in ruling the appetite which ariseth out of the vnreasonable parts of the soule for vertues are grounded in those parts which are without reason but yet are apt to be ruled by reason He therefore seeing morall vertues are not gotten by knowing onely what they be but through the long practise of many vertuous operations whereby they fasten themselues so to the mind as being conuerted once into an habite it is very hard afterwards to lose the same euen as of vicious actions on the other side the like ensueth therefore with all carefulnesse and diligence possible he laboreth to embrace the one and to eschue the other euermore striuing to hold himselfe in the meane and to auoide the approching of the extremes to which profite and delight vnder deceitful maskes of good would entise and allure him I pray you said Captain Norreis tel vs since you say that vertue is in the mids betweene two extremes whether that meane you speake of wherin vertue sits be so equally in the midst as the extremes which be vicious be alike distant from the same or no No said I they are not in that manner equidistant for oftentimes vertue approcheth neerer to one of the extremes then to the other As for example Fortitude which consisteth in a meane betweene fearefulnesse and foole-hardinesse hath yet a neerer resemblance to foole-hardinesse then to cowardise and consequently is not alike distant from them both and is in this manner to be vnderstood that albeit vertue consist in a meane between two extremes whereof the one is a defect and the other a superabundance yet she is neither of them both as by our example of Fortitude appeereth which is neither foole-hardines nor yet cowardise but onely a commendable meane or temper betweene them both And therfore Aristotle said right well that the meane of vertue betweene two extremes was a Geometricall meane which hath a respect to proportion and not an Arithmeticall meane which respecteth equall distance so as you must vnderstand that vertue is not called a meane betweene two extremes because she participateth of either of them both but because she is neither the one nor the other And why said Captaine Norreis is the Geometricall proportion rather to be obserued therein then the Arithmeticall Because said I though vertues are in the meane yet do they bend oftentimes towards one of the extremes more then to the other as hath bin said already and by proportion Geometricall they are in the middest which by Arithmeticall would not be so For thereby they must be in the iust middest and equally distant from both the extremes As for example let vs
Suppose here be two vessels the one greater then the other and that you fill them both with wine or other liquor the lesser shall neuertheles be as well full as the greater and if they both had speech and vnderstanding neither could the one complaine for hauing too much nor the other too little both being full according to their capacitie and so receiuing his due In this sort doth Iustice distribute to euery one that which is his due She produceth lawes by which vertue is rewarded and vice punished She correcteth faults and errours according to their qualitie She setteth vs in the direct way that leadeth to felicitie She teacheth rulers and magistrates to commaund and subiects to obey and therefore she is the true rule which sheweth the inferiour powers and faculties of the soule how to obey Reason as their Queene and mistris Which commaund of Reason Plotinus esteemed to be so important to be exercised ouer the passions as he esteemed them only to be worthily called wise men who subiected their passions in such sort to reason that they should neuer arise to oppose themselues against her She instructeth man to rule not onely himselfe but his wife his children and his family also She preserueth and maintaineth States and Common-weales by setting an euen course of cariage betweene Princes and their subiects She maketh men vnderstand how the doing of iniury is contrary to the nature of maÌ„ who is borne to be mild benigne gentle and not to be as wild beasts are furious fierce and cruel for such they are that hurt others wittingly And when iniuries happen to be done she distinguisheth them she seeketh to make them equall or to diminish them or to take them cleane away euermore teaching vs this lesson that it is better to receiue an iniury then to do it It is she that maketh those things that are seuerally produced for the good of sundry nations common to all by the meane of commutation of buying and selling and hauing inuented coine hath set it to be a law or rather a iudge in cases of inequalitie to see that euery man haue his due and no more Finally she tempereth with equitie which may be termed a kind of clemency ioyned to iustice things seuerely established by law to the end that exact iustice may not pâ—oue to be exact wrong And where as lawes not tempered by discreet Iudges are like tyrants ouer men this equitie was held by Plato to be of such importance that when the Arcadians sent vnto him desiring him to set them downe lawes to be ruled by he vnderstanding that they were a people not capable of equitie refused flatly to make them any lawes at all Agesilaus said that to be too iust was not onely farre from humanitie but eueÌ„ crueltie it self And Traian the Emperor wished Princes to link equitie iustice together saying that dominions were otherwise inhumanely gouerned The Aegyptians also to shew that lawes are to be administred with equitie expressed iustice in their Hieroglifikes by a left hand opeÌ„ meaning that as the left hand is slower and weaker then the right so that iustice ought to be aduisedly administred and not with force or fury And the opinion of some was that the axes and rods which were accustomably borne before the Romane Consuls were bound about with bands to declare that as there must be a time to vnbind the axes before they could be vsed to the death of any man so ought there to be a time to deliberate for them that execute the law wherein they may consider whether that which the rigor of law commaundeth may not without impeachment of Iustice be tempered and reduced to benignitie and equitie To conclude Iustice is she that maintaineth common vtilitie that giueth the rule the order the measure and manner of all things both publike and priuate the band of humane conuersation and friendship She it is that maketh man resemble God and so farre extendeth her power in the coniunction of mens minds that she not onely knitteth honest men together in ciuill societie but euen wicked men and theeues whose companies could not continue if among their iniustices Iustice had not some place She is of so rare goodnesse and sinceritie that she maketh man not onely to abstaine from taking anothers goods but also from coueting the same Indeed said M. Dormer if Iustice be such a vertue as you haue described me thinke that we haue smal need of other vertues for she comprehendeth them all within herselfe So doth she answered I if she be generally considered as before hath bin said But if we call her to the company of the other vertues as here we place her she hath as much need of them as they of her if she shall produce those effects which we haue spoken of For as one vice draweth another after it as do the linkes of a chaine the one the other euen so are the vertues much more happily linked together in such sort as they cannot be seuered But though a man be endued with them all yet is he called a iust man a valiant a prudent or a temperate man according as he inclineth more to this then to that or in his actions maketh more shew of the one then of the other for our naturall imperfection wil not suffer any one man to excel in them all which made me say a while sithens that it is so hard a thing to be magnanimous since the vertue of Magnanimity must be grounded vpon all the rest But to excell in iustice is a thing most glorious for it is said of her that neither the morning starre nor the euening star shineth as she doth And Hesiodus called her the daughter of Iupiter Wherupon Plato supposing that who so embraced Iustice contracted parentage with Iupiter the King of Gods and men accounted the iust man had gotten a place very neere vnto God Verily said M. Dormer and not without cause For it behoueth him that will be iust to be voide of all vice and furnished with all other vertues And therefore me thinketh he that said Iustice might wel be without PrudeÌ„ce considered ill what belonged to Iustice For Prudence is most necessary to discerne what is iust froÌ„ what is vniust and a good iudgment therin can no man haue that wanteth Prudence without which iudgment Iustice can neuer rule wel those things that are vnder her gouernment And as Agesilaus said of Fortitude so thinke I of Iustice that if she be not guided by Prudence which is aptly called the eie of the mind she works more harme theÌ„ good You thinke truly said I and of this vertue the course of our author draweth me to treate to declare of what importance she is to humane things and how beneficial But let me first put you in mind that hitherto hath bin spoken but of those vertues which haue their foundatioÌ„ in the vnreasonable parts of the mind of which mind they are the habits consisting in the
toilesome place I held and gathered my selfe into a little compasse as a snaile into his shell my purpose is if God shall please to giue me his gracious assistance to spend my time in reading such bookes as I shall find fittest to increase my knowledge in the duties of a Christian man and direct me in the right path of vertue without tying my selfe to any particular kind And as I haue God be thanked some store of all sorts so shall I dispense my time accordingly sometime in perusing such as may instruct me more and more in the true maner of seruing God sometime in reading of histories which are as mirrours or looking-glasses for euery man to see the good and euill actions of all ages the better to square his life to the rule of vertue by the examples of others and sometimes and that for the most part as thus aduised in the study of Morall Philosophie which frameth men fittest for ciuill conuersation teaching them orderly what morall vertues are and particularly what is the proper action of euery one and likewise what vice is and how vnseemly a thing and how harmefull to a good mind the spot and contagion thereof is To this haue I euer had a speciall inclination and a greedy desire to instruct my selfe fully therein which hitherto partly through the course I held whiles I was a scholer as before I said I could not wel do and euer sithens my continuall busines and attendance about mine office haue diuerted me therefro And to professe plainly the truth not any one thing hath so much preuailed to make me resolue the giuing ouer that place as the longing I had and haue to returne to the course of reading Morall Philosophy which I was euen then newly entred into when I was called to be employed in that office and the delight whereof was so great vnto me for that little which I had begun to reade and the expectation such which I had conceiued of the vse thereof as by which a man learneth not onely to know how to carry himselfe vertuously in his priuat actions but also to guide and order his family and moreouer to become meete for the seruice of his Prince and countrey when occasion of employment may be offered vnto him that I was halfe doubtfull when I was summoned to come and take the place whether I should accept thereof or no. Then said M. Dormer Yea but it seemeth to me that these your words imply a contradiction when saying that you haue so earnestly desired to withdraw your selfe from the exercise of your office wherin you had so good meanes not only to make shew of your owne sufficiency and vertue and to do your Prince and countrey seruice and withall to pleasure many of your friends you seeme neuertheles to direct your studies to such an end as aimeth not onely at the knowledge of vertue but also at the practise thereof whereby a man is made fit and enabled for such employments as the Prince or State shall lay vpon him For indeed it is an approoued saying among Philosophers Virtutis laus actio and you know what Tullie saith and Plato before him Non nobis nati sumus partem patria partem parentes partem amici sibi vendicant So as M. Smiths accusation for ought I see may be held as yet very reasonable against you vnles you can alledge vs some better reason in your defence then hitherto you haue done In faith quoth I if you be all against me I shall haue much adoe to defend my selfe since the old prouerbe is that Ne Hercules quidem contraduos and how can I then resist so many But I hope that some of this companie will take my part though he haue forestalled me of the two chiefe men whose patronage might best haue serued me hauing gotten you two lawyers to pleade for him Yet because I suppose you haue not bin entertained by him for that purpose with any fee and that you are here not as lawyers or aduocates to maintaine his cause but rather as indifferent Iudges to determine who hath the best right on his side I hope that vpon better information you will be drawne to iudge vprightly and not be caried away with apparances which oftentimes hide and cast a cloud ouer the truth And to answer therefore to your obiection which carieth with it some probabilitie I would easily confesse my selfe in fault if this resigning of my office had bin an absolute retiring my selfe from action or that I had as they say forsworne any employment for the seruice of the State or my Prince But if you please to consider how this my resolution hath bin grounded vpon a desire to be freed onely from a place of such continuall toile and attendance as suffered me to haue no time to spare wherein I might almost breathe or take any reasonable recreation and not to liue idle or sequestred so from action as I should onely spend my time in reading or contemplation I doubt not but you wil find my words to agree wel inough without any contradiction and my course of life well enough fitting a man that meaneth not to liue to himselfe alone For if such had bin my purpose I would haue sought out a meeter dwelling then this so neare the citie and I could well enough haue deuised to haue bin farre from such cōptrollers as M. Smith and to haue auoided this iudgement that I am now subiect vnto not without hazard of my reputation hauing two such persons to assist my accuser and beare vp his cause You see that I haue not so estranged my selfe from all employments but that I can be content to take paine in the increasing of her Maiesties reuenue by the care I haue of her impost I refuse not any other ordinary employments as of trauelling in such commissions as the Lord Deputie and Councel oft times direct vnto me for the examining of sundrie causes neither do I so giue my selfe to be priuate but that you and other my friends who vouchsafe of their courtesie sometimes to visite me find me apt enough to keep them companie either here at home or else abroad so as though I desire to know how to do these things as perfectly well as I might and to that end frame my selfe as much to study as conueniently I can yet do I not therin contradict the reasonable and iust disposition I haue to employ my selfe for the seruice of her Maiestie when occasion serueth neither doth my endeuour in that behalf any way oppose it selfe to my desire of retiring from a painefull employment to a more quiet life which now I thanke God I enioy wherein I may frankly and truly protest vnto you I find more sweetnes and contentment in one dayes expence then I could taste in seuen yeares before whiles I was Clerke of the Councell And were it but in regard of that same contentment I know not what man of reasonable sense and vnderstanding would
without any endeuour of our owne her vertue and operation if food and nourishment faile not is in her ful force chiefly in childhood and as soone as the child is borne stirreth vp the desire of food to the end that by little and little it might gather strength of body to become apt for the vse of the soule whose organ or instrument it is for the accomplishing of the more noble operations meet for man And because the milk of the mother or of the nurse is the first fit food for the infant it were to be wished that it should receiue the same rather from the mother then from any strange woman for in reason the same should be more kindly and natural for the babe then any other In consideration whereof the instructors of ciuill life haue determined and taught that it is the fathers office to teach and instruct the child but the mothers to nourish it For wise men say that Nature hath giuen to women their brests not so much for defence of the hart as because they should nourish their children and that she hath giuē them two paps to the end that they might nourish two if by chance they shold be deliuered of two at once And truly it cannot be but that would much increase both the loue of the mother to the child and likewise that of the child to the mother Neuertheles if it fal out as oftentimes it doth that the mother cannot giue sucke to her child or for other considerations she giue it forth to be nursed to another woman yet is there special regard to be had in getting such a nurse as may be of good complexion and of louing nature and honest conditions that with milke it may also suck a disposition to a vertuous and commendable life By your licence said M. Dormer let me aske you a question whether you thinke that the mind taketh any qualitie from the nutriment of the body for if the mind be diuine me seemeth it is against reason that it should not be of greater power then to receiue corruption from the nutriment of the body You say very well quoth I and here shall you be resolued of that doubt That the mind is a diuine thing cannot be denied And if the vertue of the mind which is reason could be freed from the company of those other two faculties of the soule void of reason in respect of themselues it would doubtlesse remaine still in perfection of one nature and not receiue any vice from that nutriment which yeeldeth matter to the basest facultie of the soule to maintaine and increase the body but euermore practise her proper operations and vertue but because it hapneth too often partly by the ill qualitie of the nutriment and partly for want of care in the education that the part wherein the vegetatiue power lieth getteth ouermuch strength and allured by the delights of the sensible part giueth it selfe wholy to follow the pleasures of the senses the mind being oppressed cannot performe the offices and functions pertaining thereunto And for this cause Plato affirmed that vnhealthfull bodies make the minds weake And the body can neuer be sound or healthfull when it is giuen to follow that baser part of the soule and the lusts and sensualities of the same whereby it forceth the mind preuailing against reason Not but that the mind is neuertheles diuine but because the body being the necessary instrument of the mind when it is wrested and drawne to an ill habit the mind cannot vse it as it would and the light of reason is darkned hindred not through any defect of the mind but onely in respect of the instrument that is become rebellious Euen as if a candle should be put into a close vessell that the light thereof could not appeare for the not yeelding of light should not proceed from the defect of the candle but of the vessell that inclosed the same To the end therefore that the child receiue not any vicious habit by the qualitie of his first food and nourishment wise men haue aduised that the nurse to be chosen for a child should not be base or of vile condition that the child might be the apter to be brought vp to vertue that she be not of strange nation lest she should giue it strange or vnseemely manners vnfit or disagreeable to the customes and conditions of the house or citie wherein it is borne and wherein it is to liue and lastly that she be of good and commendable behauiour to the end that with the milk it may suck good conditions and an honest disposition to vertuous life And because the nurse may be kept in house or suffered to carry the child to her owne dwelling place of the two it is to be wished that the parents should rather keepe her in their owne house to the end that euen from his infancy it might learne to know the father and mother and the rest of the family and take by little and little the fashions and manners of the house For the minds of children whiles they be yong are like to the yong tender slips of trees which a man may bend and straighten as he list and are fashioned to such customes and conditions as may best beseeme them For looke what behauiour they first learne the same they retaine and keepe a long while after Wherefore Phocilides said right well Whiles yet in tender yeares the child doth grow Teach him betimes conditions generous Great is the care then that fathers ought to vse in framing the manners and disposition of their children when they be yong and tender in their owne houses and are yet in their nurses laps Hauing regard not to vse them either ouer-curstly or ouer-fondly for as the first ouer-aweth them maketh them dull and base and vile minded by taking away the generositie of their minds the other bringeth them to be wantons and waiward so as they will neuer be still but euer crying and wrawling for they wote not what For being yet but new in the world and not acquainted with those things the images whereof are presented to them by the senses of hearing and seeing they easily giue themselues to waywardnes and crying when they see any strange sight or images or heare a fearfull sound or noise the rather by reason of the melancholy humor which they bring with them from the mothers womb reason hauing yet little or no force in them and their iudgments being too weak to distinguish good from euill or what is hurtfull from what may do them good not that naturally they be so for that tender age is rather sanguine and aëriall but thorough the remnant of that bloud from which they receiued their nutriment in their mothers belly vnto which their crying the vsuall remedy is the mouing them from place to place the rocking of them in their cradles the dandling of them for such motions do diuert them from those fearfull impressions and make them the
place not to fauour or giue reputation to the diuels works among which there is none more wicked then this but to execute his will to which the combat is directly and expresly contrary though it haue bin accepted and allowed by ill vse or rather abuse and bene entituled by the name of a custome by such as defend the same who consider not that custome is to be obserued in good and cōmendable things and not in wicked and vnlawfull as this is And if it happen that any abuse do grow and shrowd it selfe vnder the name of a custome the same ought to be taken away and abolished and thereto do all Philosophers agree Of which kind this combat being manifestly one it should be rooted out and not suffered to continue vnder that name For good customes are agreeable to Nature in which respect it is said that custome is another nature But that which is contrary to nature as this is ought not to be named a custome but a vile abuse be it neuer so much cloked with the name of custome the rule whereof is prescribed by Aristotle in his second booke of Politikes and should therefore not only not be permitted or maintained but being crept in be remoued and banished as a most pestilent and dangerous thing And wheras Aristotle in his Rhetorikes saith that reuenge is better then pardon that is to be ruled according to the ciuill orders and constitutions of good common-weales For he sayth not so vniuersally but onely in respect of an Orator and as is said already he in his Rhetorikes teacheth but what is requisite for an Orator to consider to perswade and not what is meete in ciuill life as he doth in his Ethikes And thus much this author hauing said effectually to the purpose of your demaund I may if you please proceed to the former matter from which this question hath occasioned him and vs to digresse All the companie agreed thereunto and hauing well allowed of the discourse framed themselues attentiuely to heare the rest Wherefore I said You remember well I doubt not that the next was to speake of the third master of the Kings son who after the good instructions giuen by the former two to their disciple taught him that his appetite was in all things to be subject to reason and that he ought neuer to suffer himselfe to be drawne from that which was honest by any inticement for that honestie was the end and scope of all vertue He sought to perswade him that the chiefest thing that maketh a King to be knowne for a King was to know how to rule himselfe before he ruled others and to master his owne appetites rather then other mens So the first hauing fashioned him to Religion and the second to truth this third framed him to be temperate and iust Whereby it came to passe that although he know himselfe to be aboue the law yet did he not onely not seeke to ouer-rule the law but became a law to himselfe so as he was neuer led either by loue or hatred in his iudgements whether he punished or rewarded nor by anger or desire to benefite any man from that which was iust and honest Thus holding vnder reasons awe the disordinate appetites of his mind with the direct rule of iustice vnder which Plato saith all vertues are contained because it is grounded vpon truth he alwayes directed his actions to the marke of honestie euer doing good but neuer harming any And knowing that who so is subject to his owne appetites deserueth not the title of a free man much lesse of a King he framed himselfe to be most continent and shewed in himself an example of honest life and behauior to all his subjects His benignitie he declared to them by his liberalitie and by shewing more care of the publike good then of his owne and that he would rather giue of his owne then take from them their goods With his mildnesse and affabilitie he made himselfe singularly beloued and wan their hearts and with gentlenesse in word and deed and with loue towards his people truth in al his actions he made them vnderstand that indeed he approched as neare to God in these excellent qualities as a mortall man could do By meanes whereof no man fearing harme from him he was beloued and reuerenced as a God among them Now hauing learned of his three first masters Religion Prudence and Wisedome Truth Iustice and Temperance with those other vertues belonging vnto them the fourth then taught him all that appertained to Fortitude and made him vnderstand that onely he is to be esteemed a man of fortitude and valour who can hold a meane betweene furie and feare And that when occasion of perill and danger is offred vnto him bearing with it honestie and wherein he might make shew of his vertue and courage did readily embrace and take hold of the same And that albeit he were deare to himselfe in respect of those vertues which he knew himselfe to be possessed of yet esteeming more an honest and a glorious death then a naturall and reprochfull life he would make no difficultie to hazard his life for the benefite of his countrey knowing that an honorable end would be crowned with immortall fame And forasmuch as it is seldome seene that men can vse this princely vertue as it ought to be vsed and when it should be vsed with such other circumstances as are requisite thereto therefore did his master instruct him and make him vnderstand that he which matcheth not his naturall courage with Prudence and those other vertues which the former masters had taught him could not rightly be called a valiant man And how that this vertue being stirred vp by magnanimitie stoutly pursued honest things without respect of difficulties and that though things formidable and terrible be naturally shunned of men yet the valiant man despiseth them and feeleth them not in respect of iustice and honestie whereby such men became equall to the Gods as Poets fained And that if Prudence and Temperance were not ioyned with this royall vertue of Fortitude the same was turned into foolish hardinesse And because his disciple should know how to auoid this vice he declared to him how such men as to auoyde infamie onely exercised their valour and exposed their liues to perill or onely to purchase honour were not to be called properly valorous men but they onely who for honesties sake made triall of their valour because honestie is the onely end of vertue by which humane felicitie is to be atchieued And that he likewise was not to be accompted valiant who for feare of paine or punishment tooke in hand fearefull and dangerous enterprises nor yet they that through long experience in warfare or because they haue bin often in the brunt and danger of battels went cheerfully or couragiously into the warres to fight as it were by custome for that they did it rather by art and practise then by free election without
those qualities which you haue sayd wine is to be commended for If the wine be good said I you may be sure I am right glad as well because I haue it to content such my good friends as because I haue made my prouision for my self so well whereby I hope you will all thinke me worthy to be a taster for the Queenes aduantage and my office to be well bestowed vpon me since I can taste a cuppe of wine so well for it is indeed of mine owne choice Marry sir said M. Dormer who had euen then finished his draught me thinkes it fareth not with you according to the common prouerbe which saith that none goeth worse shod then the shoomakers wife for in good sooth this is a cup of wine fit to recommend your taste and consequently your selfe to be employed in your office But since you asked my Lord Primate the meaning of vinum Cos and withall said that you neuer heard that question answered to your contentment let vs I pray you heare what is your conceit therein and whether you can giue any more probable sence thereof then those which he hath told vs. Nay in good faith said I that wil I not presume to do for I am not so affected to mine owne conceits as to preferre them before other mens A better interpretation I will not therefore offer vnto you but if you will needs haue me tell you how I among others conceiue of that vinum Cos which is read of I thinke that it was so called for that the custome being in those dayes that wheresoeuer the Romane Consul came when he went in his iorney towards his gouernment or els within his prouince they of the good townes or cities presented him with such dainties as the place affoorded and specially with the choisest wines that were there to be had thereupon the best and most excellent wine was termed vinum Consulare to wit such as of choise was taken for the Consul himselfe And the common abbreuiation of Consul being written in all auncient authors with these three letters Cos so commeth vinum Cos to be vnderstood as I haue said for vinum Consulare which was the best And this is my opinion which if it be worthy to be admitted to go in companie with the rest I will not desire it should go before them and if you will be pleased to accept of this my interpretation of vinum Cos together with the wine which you say is so good and let the same supply the badnesse of your fare wherein my wife hath the greatest fault I shal go the more cheerfully to the rest of my taske which I am comforted by your speeches you are so well disposed vnto as it maketh you hasten to make an end of your bad dinner Fruite therefore being brought and the table taken vp sir Robert Dillon said It is an approoued opinion of all antiquitie that after dinner a man should sit a while and after supper walk a mile we must not therefore so suddenly rise from dinner to go to our rerebanket yet may we gather vp some of the crums of yesterdayes feast how full soeuer our bellies be with the good meate we haue eaten here I remember then that the substance of a childs education that was to be set in the right way to his ciuill felicitie was yesterday declared by the example of the order held by the Kings of Persia in the training of their sons which were to succeed them in their kingdome Which order though it were both pleasing and profitable to be vnderstood and that with change of circumstances it might well serue for the direction of a priuate gentleman how to bring vp his child yet I for my part thinke that it would haue bin very good that there had bin set downe a course more particularly in what learning or study of the liberal arts the child should haue bin exercised For I haue found by experience that the care and diligence of parents may aduance very much the forwardnesse of their children so as some being well plied shall not onely reade perfectly but be also well forward in his Grammer when the other of like wit and capacitie shall for lacke of plying drag and come very farre behind That is said I most true and I can verifie it in my self for such was my fathers care who not onely in the education of his children but also in the ordering of his houshold was second to no man of his degree that euer I knew as before I was full fiue yeares of age I had gone through mine Accidence was sent to schoole to Tunbridge 20 miles frō London and if either the aire of the place or some other disposition of my body had not hindred my health by a quartaine ague that tooke me there I might haue bin a forward scholer in my grāmer at 6 yeres old and haue bin ready to haue accompanied my learning with those corporall exercises which by some are set downe as fit to be vsed by children betweene the yeares of fiue and ten as well to harden their bodies and to make them apt for the wars if their disposition be thereunto as for health But by that vnhappie accident not onely the health and strength of my body but my learning also met with a shrewd checke which I could neuer sithens recouer sufficiently Neuerthelesse as much as my father could performe he omitted not to haue me trained both to my booke and to other exercises agreeable to his calling abilitie following as I suppose such precepts as he had found set downe by some worthy authors treating of that matter The exact forme of which education perhaps is hard to be obserued but by such as haue together with a fatherly and vigilant care wealth and meanes answerable to finde in their owne houses schoole-masters to instruct and fashion their children according to those rules and precepts For by them before the child attaine the age of 14. yeares he should not only haue learned his Grammer but also Logike Rhetorike Musike Poetrie drawing and perspectiue and be skilfull at his weapons nimble to runne to leape and to wrestle as exercises necessary vpon all occasions where fortitude is to be employed for the defence of his countrey and Prince his friends and of his faith and religion And this is that which I conceiue your meaning was when you said that you thought it had bin needfull there had bin some more particular course set downe for the dispensing of the childs time in his learning All which Piccolomini hath so exactly set downe in his learned booke of Morall institution written first in the Italian tongue as it may seeme he rather proposed or set foorth a perfect child as Cicero hath a perfect Orator and Castiglione a perfect Courtier then that it were easie to bring vp or traine any in that sort or according to that patterne And therefore since that which our author hath sayd of
of the disciples of Socrates did so degenerate from the doctrine and behauior of his master that he became a parasite to Dionysius tyrant of Sicile esteeming more the profit he got that way thē the reputation he might haue won by the profession of Philosophie and grew in the end to be of so base a mind that although the Tyrant did spit in his face yet would he not be angry but being rebuked for enduring so vile a disgrace he laughing at them that rebuked him sayd If fisher-men to take a small fish can be content to go to sea and to be washed all ouer with the waues shall not I endure that the King with a little spittle wet me to the end I may catch a Whale This same Aristippus seeing Diogenes on a day to wash a few herbes which he had gathered for his supper he said to him Go to sirra if you would frame your selfe to follow the humor of Princes you should not need to feed vpon herbes Neither thou said Diogenes if thou knewest thy selfe to be I will not say a Philosopher but a man thou wouldst not be as thou art the dog of Dionysius For dogs for their meate fawne vpon their masters and so did this Philosopher shew how base and vile a thing it is to be a flatterer Which by this digression my author hath in like sort laboured to make apparant by reasons and examples But now returning to his former matter because he hath rather shewed the harme that comes by flattery and how it increaseth vice in yong mens minds then instructed them which way to roote it out you shall heare how he goeth about to pull vp the ill weeds that choke the naturall good seeds in their minds that by the increase of the good they may haue sufficient store to furnish them in the way of their felicitie It is already declared what bad qualities and conditions the two worser powers of the soule stirre vp in yong mens minds for that they be mightie and vehement and apt to oppose themselues against reason and to resist her And how reason in yong folkes is scarce felt or perceiued such is the force of the two foresaid faculties which draw them to lustfull appetites and disordinate passions The cause whereof Heraclitus ascribeth to the humiditie wherwith these two ages abound for it seemed to him that drinesse was the cause of wisedome and therefore sayd that the wisest mind was nothing else but a drie light To which opinion Galen leaning thought the starres to be most wise because they be most drie But leauing them with their opinions and imputing the cause onely to the worser powers or faculties of the soule let vs follow our two first chosē guides Aristotle Plato They say then that the soule which giueth sense or feeling and containeth in it the other that giueth life is not yet so rebellious against reason but that she maybe subdued and brought to be obedient So as you must not think but that youth though it be incombred with those passions and desires before mentioned may neuerthelesse be directed to that good course which leadeth man to his most perfect end in this life and for which all vertues are put in action For aboue or ouer these two powers or faculties is placed a third like a Ladie or Queene to commaund if she be not hindred in the execution of her charge And if these two vnruly and wild powers which are the spring and fountaine head of all disordinate affections be once wel tamed and broken they do no lesse obey her cōmaundements then the wel taught horses obey the coach-man For we are all drawne as it were by two vnbridled colts in this life by these two baser powers of the soule Wherof the one sheweth it self in most vigour and strength in childhood and the other in youth Concerning the first of which Aristotle and his master do disagree But when they both are ioyned together and strong they become the more vnruly vnlesse the former as was said yesterday be well tamed and made meeke by good instruction and diligent care of education For if childhood be fashioned according to the good precepts of the learned that first power commeth humble obedient to be coupled with the other and thereby is there the lesse labor requisite for him that shall haue the guiding of them both in youth But in youth described euen now as you haue heard in whom both these faculties are rude and vndisciplined the passions are altogether incited and ruled by the naturall powers For though nature if she be not hindred bring forth her effects perfectly in respect of their substances yet are they often vnperfect in regard of the accidents And for this cause is Art and industry needful to induce vertuous habits to supply that wherin nature accidentally may be defectiue Whereby it cometh to passe that although the vertues and faculties of the soule haue all that which nature can giue vnto them yet haue they need of mans wit and discipline to bring forth laudable and perfect operations And this is done by that part of Philosophie which is called Morall because from it we do draw the forme of good manners which being actually brought into the mind of a yong man as well as by the doctrine and wise instruction of others and so by long custome conuerted into an habite do breake and make supple those parts which by nature are rebellious to reason And of so great importance is the well training vp of childhood euen from the first that it may be assuredly beleeued that the youth succeeding such a childhood as was yesterday prescribed must needs be ciuill and well disposed and on the contrary side that the life of such youths will be wicked and disordered as hauing bin ill brought vp in their childhood do enter into so hopelesse a course as may be likely to be the foundation of all vice and wickednesse during the whole life to come And hopelesse may they be thought indeed who by ill doing beginne euen from their tender yeares to induce an ill habit into their minds for from age to age after it increaseth and taketh roote in such sort as it is almost impossible to be rooted out or taken away Neither can there be any greater euil wished to any man then that he be ill-habituated which thing by Aelianus report the Cretans were wont to wish to their enemies whom they hated most extremely and not without cause For he that is fallen into an ill habite is no lesse blind to vertuous actions then he that wanteth his sight to things visible And as the one is euer plunged in perpetual darknes so doth the other liue in euerlasting night of vice after he hath once hardned himselfe to euil And this is the worst kind of youth that may be which Aristotle aduised should be driuen out of the citie when neither for honesties respect nor for admonitions nor shame nor for
no not to themselues alone Which thing they shal the better performe if they vse to forbeare the doing of any thing by themselues which they would be ashamed of if they were in company It is written that among the auncient Romanes one Iulius Drusus Publicola hauing his house seated so as his neighbours might looke into it a certaine Architect offered him for the expence of fiue talents to make it so close as none of his neighbors should looke thereinto or see what he was doing But he made him answer againe that he would rather giue him ten talents to make it so as all the citie might see what he did in his house because he was sure he did nothing within doores whereof he neede be ashamed abroade though euery man should see him For which answer he was highly cōmended True it is that Xenophon esteemeth this blushng to a mans self to be rather temperance then bashfulnes but let it be named how it wil it is surely the propertie of a gentle heart so to do And therefore Petrarke said well Alone whereas I walkt mongs woods and hils I shamed at my selfe for gentle heart Thinkes that enough no other spurre it wils Yet would I not neither that our young man should be more bashfull then were fit as one ouer-awed or doltish not able to consider perils or dangers when they present themselues not yet to loose his boldnesse of spirit For Antipater the sonne of Cassander through the like qualitie cast himselfe away who hauing inuited Demetrius to supper with him at such a time as their friendship was not sure but stood vpon doubtful termes and he being come accordingly when Demetrius afterwards as in requital of his kindnesse inuited Antipater likewise to supper though he knew right well what perill he thrust himselfe into if he went considering the wyly disposition of the said Demetrius yet being ashamed that Demetrius should perceiue him to be so mistrustful would needs go and there was miserably slaine This is a vice named in the Greeke Disopia and which we may in English call vnfruitfull shamefastnesse wherewith we would not wish our yong man should be any way acquainted but onely with that generous bashfulnesse that may serue him for a spurre to vertue and for a bridle from vice But because Plato saith that though bashfulnesse be most properly fit for young men yet that it is also seemly inough for men of al yeares And that Aristotle contrariwise thinketh it not meete for men of riper years to blush it may therefore be doubted to whether of these two great learned mens opinions we should incline For cleering hereof you must vnderstand that the Platonikes say two things among others are specially giuen to for a diuine gift vnto man Bashfulnesse the one and Magnanimitie the other the one to hold vs back from doing of any thing worthy blame reproch the other to put vs forward into the way of praise and vertue whereby we might alwayes be ready to do well onely for vertues sake to the good and benefit of others and to our owne contentment and delight Of which course the end is honour in this world and glory after death But because the force of the Concupiscible appetite is so great and setteth before vs pleasure in so many sundry shapes as it is hard to shun the snares which these two enemies of reason set to intrap vs and that the coldnesse of old age cannot wholy extinguish the feruour of our appetites for my part I think that as in all ages it is fit that Magnanimitie inuite vs to commendable actions so also that we haue neede of shamefastnesse to correct vs whēsoeuer we shal go beyond the boūds or limits of reason in what yeares soeuer and to check vs with the bridle of temperāce For though Aristotle say that shame ought to die red in a mans cheekes but for voluntary actions only yet Plato considering that none but God is perfect without fault and that euery man euen the most vertuous falleth sometimes through humane frailtie thought according to Christianitie that ripenesse of yeares or wisedome should be no hinderance to make them ashamed but rather make them the more bashfull whensoeuer they should find in themselues that they had run into any errour vndecent or vnfitting for men of their yeares and quality Not intending yet thereby that the errors of the ancienter men were to be of that sort that yong mens faults commonly are who through incontinencie runne oftentimes into sin wilfully whereas men of riper yeares erre or ought to erre only through frailty of nature Much better were it indeede for men of yeares not to do any thing of which they might be ashamed if the condition of man would permit it then after they had done it to blush thereat and much more reprochfull is his fault if he offend voluntarily then the young mans But since no man though he haue made a habite in wel-doing can stand so assured of himselfe but that sometime in his life he shal commit some error it is much better in what age soeuer it be that blushing make him know his fault then to passe it ouer impudently without shame And accordingly Saint Ambrose said in his booke of Offices that shamefastnesse was meet for all ages for all times and for all places And for the same cause perhaps haue wise men and religious held that an Angell of heauen assisteth euery man to call him backe from those euils which the ill Angell with his sugred baite of delight and disordinate appetite inticeth him vnto onely for his ruine For they thought that our forces were not able to resist so mighty prouocations As for Plato and Aristotle seemeth they differed in opinion for that the one considered humane nature as it ought to be and the other as it commonly is indeed Which may the better be beleeued because Aristotle in his booke of Rhetorike restrained not this habite of shamefastnesse so precisely to young men but that it may sometimes beseeme an aged mans cheekes also though so farre as grace and wisedome may preuaile it would best beseeme him neuer to do the thing whereof he need be ashamed as before was sayd And the same rule ought young men also to propose to themselues whereby they shall deserue so much the more commendation as the heate of their yeares beareth with them fierie appetites and they the lesse apt to resist so sharpe and so intollerable prickes The way to obserue that rule is to striue in all their actions to master themselues and to profit in vertue whereunto will helpe them chiefly that they endeuour themselues to bridle such desires as they find most to molest them not suffering them to transport them beyond the limits of honestie But because the day goeth away and that to treate particularly of all that might be said concerning the direction of youth to vertue which leadeth him to his felicitie would require more time then is
iudgement of whom the wisest men of al ages haue esteemed that to be old with a yong mans mind is all one as to be yong in yeeres For it is not grey haires or furrowes in the face but prudence and wisedome that make men venerable when they are old neither can there be any thing more vnseemly then an old man to liue in such maner as if he begā but then to liue which caused Aristotle to say that it imported little whether a man were young of yeeres or of behauiour Neuerthelesse because dayly experience teacheth vs that yeares commonly bring wisedome by reason of the varietie of affaires that haue passed thorough old mens hands and which they haue seene managed by other men and that commonly youth hath neede of a guide and director to take care of those things which himselfe cannot see or discerne Therefore haue lawes prouided tutors for the ages before mentioned vntill they had attained the yeers by them limited thenceforth left men to their owne direction vnlesse in some particular cases accidentall as when they be distraught of their wits or else through extreme olde age they become children againe as sometimes it falleth out Knowledge then is the thing that maketh a man meete to gouerne himselfe and the same being attained but by long studie and practise wise men haue therefore concluded that youth cannot be prudent For indeed the varietie of humane actions by which from many particular accidents an vniuersall rule must be gathered because as Aristotle sayth the knowledge of vniuersalities springeth from singularities maketh knowledge so hard to be gotten that many yeares are required thereunto And from this reason is it also concluded that humane felicitie cannot be attained in yong yeares since by the definition thereof it is a perfect operation according to vertue in a perfect life which perfection of life is not to be allowed but to many yeers But the way vnto it is made opē by knowledge and specially by the knowledge of a mans selfe To which good education hauing prepared him and made him apt when he is come to riper iudgement by yeares he may the better make choise of that way which shall leade him to the same as the most perfect end and scope of all his actions And this by cōsidering wel of his own nature which hauing annexed vnto it a spark of diuinitie he shal not only as a meere earthly creature but also as partaker of a more diuine excellency raise himself haue perfect light to see the ready way which leadeth to felicitie To this knowledge of himselfe so necessary for the purchasing of humane felicitie is Philosophie a singular helpe as being called the science of truth the mother of sciences and the instructor of all things appertaining to happie life and therefore should yong men apply themselues to the studie thereof with all carefulnesse that thereby they may refine their mindes and their iudgements and find the knowledge of his wel-nigh diuine nature so much the more easily And as this knowledge is of all other things most properly appertaining to humane wisedome so is the neglecting thereof the greatest and most harmefull folly of all others for from the said knowledge as from a fountaine or well head spring all vertues and goodnes euen as from the ignorance thereof slow all vices and euils that are among men But herein is one special regard to be had which is that self loue cary not away the mind from the direct path to the same for which cause Plato affirmed that men ought earnestly to pray to God that in seeking to know themselues they might not be misled by their selfe loue or by the ouer-weening of themselues M. Spenser then said If it be true that you say by Philosophie we must learne to know our selues how happened it that the Brachmani men of so great fame as you know in India would admit none to be their schollers in Philosophy if they had not first learned to know them selues as if they had concluded that such knowledge came not from Philosophie but appertained to some other skill or science Their opinion said I differeth not as my author thinketh from the opinion of the wise men of Greece But that the said Brachmani herein shewed the selfe same thing that Aristotle teacheth which is that a man ought to make some triall of himselfe before he determinate to follow any discipline that he may discerne and iudge whether there be in him any disposition wherby he may be apt to learne the same or no. And to the same effect in another place he affirmeth that there must be a custome of wel-doing in thē that wil learne to be vertuous which may frame in them an aptnesse to learne by making them loue what is honest and commendable and to hate those things that are dishonest and reprochfull For all men are not apt for all things neither is it enough that the teacher be ready to instruct and skilfull but the learner must also be apt of nature to apprehend and conceiue the instructions that shall be giuen vnto him And this knowledge of himselfe is fit for euery man to haue before he vndertake the studie of Philosophie to wit that he enter into himselfe to trie whether he can well frame himself to endure the discipline of this mother of sciences and the patience which is required in al those things besides which appertaine to honestie and vertuous life For he that will learne vertue in the schoole of Philosophie must not bring a mind corrupted with false opinions vices wickednesse disordinate appetites ambitions greedie desires of wealth nor wanton lusts and longings with such like which will stop his eares that he shall not be able to heare the holy voice of Philosophie Therefore Epictetus said very well that they which were willing to study Philosophie ought first to consider well whether their vessel be cleane and sweet lest it should corrupt that which they meant to put into it Declaring thereby withall that learning put into a vicious mind is dangerous But this maner of knowing a mans selfe is not that which I spake of before though it be that which the sayd Indian Philosophers meant and is also very necessary and profitable For to know a mans selfe perfectly according to the former maner is a matter of greater importance then so Which made Thales when he was asked what was the hardest thing for a man to learne answer that it was to know himselfe For this knowledge stayeth not at the consideration of this exteriour masse of our body which represents it selfe vnto our eyes though euen therein also may well be discerned the maruellous and artificiall handy-work of Gods diuine Maiestie but penetrateth to the examination of the true inward man which is the intellectuall soule to which this body is giuen but for an instrument here in this life And this knowledge is of so great importance that man guided by the light of
perfect end the inquiry wherof is the occasion of all this discourse And because we are not of a simple nature but compounded of seuerall qualities and as we may say liues according to that which in our first dayes discourse was declared it is also necessary that these powers faculties of the soule which are in vs and by which we participate of the nature of all things liuing should haue their ends and seuerall goods as I may terme them and that those ends should orderly answer ech to his seuerall power or facultie of the soule though Aristotle thinke otherwise These ends or goods are first profite which respecteth the vegetatiue power next delight or pleasure peculiar to the sensitiue power and lastly honestie proper to the reasonable part or facultie of the soule Wherefore Zeno may wel be thought to haue bin astray when he assigned one onely end or good to nature and the same to be honesty For albeit I cannot nor meane to denie but that honestie is not onely a good but also the greatest good among all those that concurre to our felicitie and without which there can be no vertue yet to say it is the onely good I cannot be perswaded For perusing euery thing that hath life common sense it self sheweth vs that ech kind of life hath his peculiar and seuerall end and good and that honestie is the only proper good of creatures capable of reason and not of other sensible creatures or of plants and vegetables And because it is a greater good and containeth both the other therefore is it more to be prised and valued then they And man being the most perfect creature of the earth is by nature framed to haue a desire and an instinct vnto them all and to seeke to purchase them all three for the perfection of his felicitie in this life Now forasmuch as all these three powers are in vs to the end we may enioy the benefite that redoundeth from them we cannot seuer them one from another if we meane to be happie in this life neither yet ought we so to apply our selues to any one or two of thē lesse proper vnto vs that therefore we forsake or neglect that other which is of most worth and proper to our nature and that is honestie which neuer can be seuered frō vertue For that is it that giueth to vs dignitie and excellency not suffering vs to do any thing vnseemely but stil directing vs in all our actions which proceed from reason For he that stayeth himself only vpon profit or vpon pleasure or vpon them both sheweth plainly that he knoweth not himselfe and therefore suffereth those things that are not proper to his nature to master and ouer-rule him And not knowing himselfe he cannot vse himselfe nor take hold of that which is his proper good and end Thus following through the not knowing of himselfe that which is good to other natures he looseth his owne good and falleth into euill by the desire of profit or disordinate appetite to pleasure The consideration hereof perhaps caused some of the auncient Poets to faine that men were turned into brute beasts and into trees to signifie vnder that fictiō that some proposing to themselues onely profite some onely delight without regard to reason and their owne proper good had lost the excellent shape or forme of men and were transformed into beasts or trees hauing made the most excellent part of man which is the mind and reasonable soule subiect to the basest and sensual parts and pleasures of the bodie And this ignorance concerning the knowledge of a mans selfe is the cause that he cannot tell how to vse himself For these vnreasonable affections do so darken the light of reason that he is as a blind man and giueth himselfe ouer to be guided as one that hath lost the right way to as blinde a guide as himselfe and so wandreth astray which way soeuer his bad guide doth leade him For he hath lost the knowledge of truth which Plato sayeth is the best guide of men to all goodnesse and is comprehended by the mind onely which according to the saying of Epicarmus doth only see heare all the rest of the parts of man being blind and deafe They then which follow profite only liue the basest life of all may well be resembled to flies gnats the most imperfect among liuing creatures or like to the shel-fishes that cleaue to the rockes as these men do to their pelfe and so hauing proposed to themselues the basest end of all others they may worthily be esteemed the basest sort of men Nay in good faith sir said Captaine Dawtry not so for I see them onely honored and esteemed that are rich and I haue knowne and yet know some of very base and abiect condition who being become rich are cherished and welcome in the best companies accepted among honorable personages therefore me thinketh he spake aduisedly that said Honour and friends by riches are acquired But who is poore shall ech where be despised And I remember I haue read that sometime there was a citizen in Rome who was commonly held for a foole and therefore in all companies his words were litle regarded the rather because he was also poore but after that by the death of a rich man to whom he was heire he possessed wealth he grew to be had in great estimation euen in the Senate and his opinion euermore specially required in matters of greatest moment Yea marry said M. Dormer and Aristotle also affirmeth that the end of the father of a families care is the purchasing of riches which being so they are not so sleightly to be regarded as your author sayes Did I not tell you said I that truth being gone the true light and knowledge of things is taken out of the world for it is she only that giueth vs light to know what and of what price all things are And euen as if the Sunne were taken away from the earth there would remaine nought but darknes and blindnesse among men so truth being taken away man is blinded from discerning any thing aright This I say because rich men onely for their wealth are esteemed worthy honour and dignity by such chiefly as want the light of truth which is the vulgar sort whose iudgement is so corrupt and crooked that they cannot discerne what true honor and dignity is For they being weake minded and imperfect admire showes and shadowes being dazeled with the bright glistring of gold and precious stones and cannot distinguish betweene things necessary and superfluous Which ignorance of theirs Byas one of the seuen sages of Greece considering answered one of those base minded fellowes who wold needes perswade him that they were happie that could compasse great wealth My friend quoth he much more happie are they that do not desire the same The iudgement of the wiser sort hath euer bin farre different from this vulgar opinion For they vnderstand that
rather an accidentall then a sound and true friendship For among many such few will be found that will expose themselues to perils or dangers for their friends or in respect of their friends safetie will set light by their goods yea their owne liues as these few recorded in auncient writings haue done This made Demetrius Falareus to say that true friends went willingly to be partakers of their friends prosperity if they were called therunto but that if aduersitie or misfortune did befal them they taried not then to be called but ran of themselues to offer their helpe and comfort And Anacarsis esteemed one good friend worth many common ordinary such as we dayly see called friends either for countries sake or because they keepe company together in trauell by land or sea or traffike or serue together in the warres or such like occasions all which are in truth but shadowes rather of friendship then friendship indeed A friend is not so easily to be discerned but that a man must as the prouerbe saith eate a bushell of salt with him before he account him a true friend Wherupon followeth that there can be no perfect friendship but after long experience and conuersation Plato respecting this said that friendship was an habit gotten by loue long time growne and in another place that it was an inueterate loue which is all one to wit that it must be purchased and confirmed by long tract of time Neuertheles though loue be the meane to knit friendship yet is it not friendship it selfe but the roote rather of the same And as without the root nothing can prosper nor grow so without loue no friendship can prosper Thus then you may vnderstand that true friendship is not gotten by publike meetings walkings or trading nor in one day or two and that all sorts of beneuolence or mutuall offices of courtesie and ciuilitie or euery shew of loue maketh not vp a friendship For once againe I will tell you that friendship is so excellent a thing as it cannot be in perfection but onely betweene two good and vertuous men of like commendable life and behauiour That it is the greatest externall good that can be purchased in this life and that it is the same which Aristotle said was more needfull then iustice and therefore highly to be prised of the man that laboured for ciuill happinesse Who although he haue all those exteriour goods which appertaine to ciuil life as wealth health children and such like without which Aristotle holdeth that no man can be perfectly happie in this world yet if he want friends he lacketh a principal instrument for his felicitie not only in respect of the many benefits which friends bring with thē but chiefly for the delight of his own vertuous operatiōs and the exercise of the like with them when they shall be induced by him to vertuous actions which breedeth an vnspeakable contentment Besides that solitarinesse bereaueth a man of the sweetest part of his life that is the conuersation among friends increasing the contentation of a happie man as he is to be a ciuill man for of that other solitarinesse which appertaineth to contemplation this place serueth not to speake Wee may therefore right well conclude that without friendship a man cannot haue his ciuill felicitie accomplished But if I should say all that might be said concerning friendship I should be too long neither would I haue said so much thereof had it not bin to shew you how solitarinesse cannot serue the turne of him that would be happie in this life Wherfore companie being necessary to felicitie will minister vnto the happie man occasions to vse his liberalitie for sweete and pleasing conuersation and to supply the wants necessities of friends is the true comfortable sauce to friendship It will make him to shew the greatnes of his courage in great things guided alwayes by iudgement and reason and to direct all his actions to the mark of honour a thing esteemed as we haue said among all others the greatest externall good not that he shal set honor for his end for that he knoweth would be vnfitting but honorable and vertuous actions contenting himselfe that honor be the reward of them and vertue be the hire for her selfe For to her others will giue honour as to a diuine thing wheresoeuer they shall see her But Magnanimitie is not a vertue fit for euery man but for such onely as are furnished with all other vertues and among vertuous men are esteemed in the highest degree And he that is not such a man and will yet make a shew of Magnanimitie will be but laughed at and scorned because vice and Magnanimitie for the contrarietie that is betweene them cannot dwell together in any wise the one deseruing all honour and the other all reproch blame For Magnanimitie produceth effects agreeable to all the rest of the vertues which is the cause that so singular a gift of the mind is not attained but with great difficultie but the more trauell is taken in getting it the greater is the praise to him that hath purchased the same He that is adorned with this vertue ioyeth when great honours fall vpon him he little esteemeth any perill when honestie inuiteth him thereunto and not anger nor fury nor desire of reuenge nor onely respect of honour In matter of riches he alwayes obserueth a due temper as wel as the liberall man whom he excelleth in this that the Magnanimous man exerciseth his vertue in high matters that beare with them dignitie and importance whereas the liberall man is busied in things of lesse moment He hath also a due regard concerning honours in the purchase whereof he is not iniurious or threatning nor puffed vp with pride or ambition but knowing right well that who so offereth iniury to another cannot be rightly called Magnanimous he abstaineth from doing any and if any man haue offered him iniurie he holdeth it for the greatest and honorablest reuenge to forgiue though he haue the partie in his power may satisfie himselfe and thinketh that the greatest displeasure he can worke to his enemy is to shew himselfe euermore garnished with vertue Moreouer he is alwayes higher then his fortune be it neuer so great and be she neuer so contrary she cannot ouerthrow him He will neuer refuse to spend his life though it be deere vnto him knowing his owne worth for the defence of his countrey of his friends of his parents of his religion or for Gods cause with whom he is continually in thought though he be bodily here below on earth conuersant among men neuer busied in base conceits or imaginations His reputation is so deere vnto him as he wil sooner loose his life then spot it by any vile act wherefore if he be in the field with his armes for any the causes before said he neuer turneth his backe to flie but fighteth with a firme resolution either to ouercome or die He is much more
meane betwixt two extremes and busied about the affects actions of men Likewise hath bin declared how the affects come from the powers or appetites of the soule to wit the concupiscible and the irascible and how all commendable actions proceed from election before which Counsell must go And albeit we made mention there of Prudence yet it was then referred to a fitter place to talke thereof more largely when the drift of our discourse should bring vs thither Now therefore being come to that place which is proper to her I am to speake of therof But before I proceed any further you must vnderstand that there be two sorts of vertues for some are morall concerning manners of which we haue discoursed hitherto and shewed how they are grounded in those parts of the mind that are deuoide of reason Others are of the mind or vnderstanding in which respect they are called Intellectiue and of them henceforth must be our speech But you must remember that though it was said that those morall vertues were founded in those parts of the mind wanting reason yet were they guided by the light of reason And this light of reason as much as concerneth mens actions is nothing else but Prudence which is a vertue of the vnderstanding and the rule and measure of all the morall vertues concerning our actions and affects euen as sapience or wisedome is the guide and gouernesse of speculation And forsomuch as reason is capable of two intellectiue vertues whereof the one is actiue and the other speculatiue this latter intendeth alwaies the knowledge of truth the first is busied about the knowledge of what is good Which good when it is come to the height of his perfectiō in our actions is the end of them and then haue we attained that furthest and absolute terme or bound vnto which we haue directed all our ciuill actions Hereupon Plotinus said that there were in vs two principles or originall causes of doing whereof the one is the mind which cals vs to contemplatiō the other is reason guiding vs to ciuill actions and from her doth that which is good faire neuer depart And though it may be obiected that both these intellectiue vertues are exercised in or about the knowledge of truth as indeed they be yet is it to be aduertised that it is in diuers respects that they be so exercised For that part which is exercised in contemplatiō is busied about truth simply that is to say about those things that neuer change and are alwayes the same as God first of all then all the vniuersall things which nature hath produced about which Prudence hath nothing to do to busie her selfe because they are not subiect to mans counsell nor to his election and of such things properly is truth the subiect which truth as Plato said is the guide to lead men to al goodnes But Prudence worketh properly about such things as are subiect to change and may be not be may be done or not done and when al is said are fortunable of which there is no certaine and infallible truth as is of things eternall Neuertheles Prudence in this inconstancie of things sensible seeketh alwayes to apply it self to that which is most likely to happen and doth seeme most probable to the discourse of reason And this also is that truth about which she discourseth seeking still to chuse that which is or seemeth to her best and most faire Without Prudence can no vertuous operation be brought to passe For she onely foreseeth and knoweth what is conuenient and seemely and withholdeth a man at all times from vice or any voluntary wicked action so that he that is not honest cannot be prudent It is neither art nor science but an habit of the mind neuer seuered from reason in the discoursing of those things about which man is to vse reason for priuate or publike benefit So as it may well be said that in respect of the subiect it is all one with that science which is called Ciuil but in respect of the reason of the one of the other they be differēt For Prudence is in the prudent man principally for his priuat good and profit and next for the publike weale but the ciuil or politike man considereth that which is profitable to the Common-wealth And though both be busied about the benefit of mankind according to reason yet so farre forth as the prudent man respecteth his priuat good it is called in him Prudence But when it is applied to the vniuersal cōmoditie of the Cōmonweal it is called the ciuil facultie or science Which facultie without prudence wil be of smal effect in gouernment the rule wherof it fetcheth frō Temperance which is called the preseruer of Prudence Neuertheles the prudēt man may at once prouide both for his priuate affaires for the publike though his office be rather to cōmand others to execute things then to do himself And albeit in that point Socrates was deceiued saying that Prudēce was all the vertues together yet is she so inseparable a companiō vnto them all as if she be taken frō them they remaine os smal valew or effect The office of this vertue is to consider what is profitable and to apprehend it and likewise to eschew all that is hurtful And to discourse of things sensible and vsuall thereby to shew what is fit to be chosen and what to be forsaken In regard wherof Plato said that Prudenee guided vs to happines of life and imprudence made vs miserable and vnhappie affirming that she onely directed vs to do all our affaires wel yea to know our selues Among the representations of vertues Prudence is commonly set with a looking-glas in her hand which by all likelihood is done to giue vs to vnderstād that as the glasse being cleere sheweth a man his face so Prudence wel vsed shewes to him himself making him to know what he is and to what end created The knowledge wherof works in him that as he trauels to attain for himself profit goodnes so acknowledging himselfe to be borne for the good also of others endeuoreth to direct the affaires also of his parēts friends and Cōmon-weale to the same end of profit goodnes Now although it hath bin said that Pudence is a science of good and euil yet is it to be vnderstood that she is not properly termed a science but is as was said euē now so far frō it that she is busied about things casual which may happen and not happen wherof there can be no certaine science wheras Science laboreth about things certaine eternal Prudence considereth what is profitable good Science searcheth out truth simply And as these two be different the one frō the other so is there difference between the wise man the prudent For the wise man being stil busied about the causes of things and the maruellous effects which they produce by the meanes of Gods goodnes is as it were
to the vegetatiue soule shee chaungeth it not nor mooueth it from place to place for that is the office of the sensitiue soule and these be the motions which the bodie can haue from the soule sauing generation and corruption which are changes made in an instant therefore inasmuch as she is intellectiue she is not subiect to the consideration of the naturall Philosopher The other reason is for that the naturall Philosopher considereth not the substances separated from the matter and therefore his office is not to consider the excellencie of the Intellectiue soule which is not the actor of the bodie though she be the forme thereof And therefore Aristotle telleth vs in his second booke of Physikes that the terme or bound of the naturall Philosphers consideration is the Intellectiue soule For albeit he may consider the soule so farre as she moueth and is not moued as he may also the first mouer yet doth he not consider her essence nor the essence of the first mouer for this appertaineth to the Metaphysike who considereth of the substances separated and immortall And hence commeth it that Aristotle treating in his booke of Physikes of nature as she is the beginning of all mouings and of rest when he is come to the first mouer who is immoueable yet moueth all that is moued in the world proceeded not any further to shew his nature vnderstanding right well that the naturall Philosophers office was not to consider any thing that is simply immoueable as well in respect of the whole as of the parts as the first mouer is But let vs without questioning further thereupon hold this for certaine not onely by that which Christian Religion teacheth vs but also by that which Aristotle hath held that our soules are immorall For if it were otherwise we should be of all other creatures that nature produceth the most vnhappie and in vaine should that desire of immortalitie which all men haue be giuen vnto vs. Besides that man as man that is to say as a creature intellectiue should not haue that end which is ordained for him which is contemplatiue felicitie Neither is it to the purpose to say that such felicitie is not attained by morall vertues but by wisedome only or that there be but few so wise as to seek this excellent felicitie and infinite the number of those that thinke but little vpon it for all men are borne apt vnto it if they will apply their minds vnto the same And though among all generations of men there should be but three or foure that bent their endeuour to attaine it they onely were sufficient to proue our intention because it is most certaine that the number of foolish men is infinite who not knowing themselues cannot tell how to vse themselues direct their endeuours to that which is the proper end of man Of whom it is said People on whom night commeth before Sunne-set A wicked generation whose whole life-time flieth from them vnprofitably in such sort as they can scarce perceiue that they haue liued For although there be infinitely more such in this world then of quicke and eleuated spirits yet ought not we to endure that their negligence who know not themselues to be men should preiudice the mindes of such as know what they are and raise their thoughts carefully to diuine things And therefore leauing their opinions that will needs say that Aristole impiously and madly hath held the contrary it shall be best to proceed in our discourse of the felicitie that is to be attained by contemplation I pray you said Captaine Carleil since there is a contrarietie of opinions amōg Philosophers concerning the immortalitie of the soule and that the knowledge therof appertaineth to the better vnderstanding of this contemplatiue felicitie let vs heare if your author giue any furder light thereunto since such good fellowes seeke to cast so darke a mist before our eyes vnder the cloke of Aristotles opinion For albeit you spake somewhat of it yesterday so farre as concerned our maner of learning according to Aristotle yet was it but by the way and not as it concerned this felicitie and if such a matter as this were twise repeated it could not but be profitable to vs though it be somewhat troublesome to you Whereupon I said that which my author was not willing to vndertake you presse me vnto as if you were the same persons and had the same sence that those introduced by him had and therefore since you also will haue it so I am content to close vp this your feast with this last dish notwithstanding that the euening draw on and that to speake thereof at large would aske a long time But knitting vp as well as I can a great volume in a little roome I will deliuer vnto you that which the shortnesse of our time wil permit and pray with mine author his diuine Maiestie who hath giuen vs an immortall soule that he wil vouchsafe vs his grace to say so much and no more of this matter as may be to his glory and to all our comforts Know ye then that these men that out of Aristotles writings gather our intellectiue soule to be mortall take for their foundation and ground this that the soule is the actor of the bodie and vseth it but after the maner before mentioned And to maintaine this their opinion they wrest diuers places of his vntruly and contrary to the mind of this great Philosopher as shall be declared vnto you True it is that while the intellectiue soule is the forme of the body she hath some need of him to vnderstand For without the fantasie we can vnderstand nothing in this life since from the senses the formes of all things are represented vnto vs as yesterday was declared And this did Aristotle meane to teach vs when contrary to the opinion of some former Philosophers he said that sense and vnderstanding was not all one although there be some similitude betweene them And because the essences of things are knowne by their operations according to Aristotle and that the intellectiue soule vnderstandeth which is a spiritual operatiō it followeth that simply of her owne nature she is all spirit and therefore immortall for else to vnderstand would not be her propertie Whereunto also Aristotle agreeth in saying that some parts of the soule are not conioyned to the bodie and therefore are separable and that the vnderstanding and the cōtemplatiue power was another kind of soule and not drawne from the power of matter as the other two are whose operations were ordained for the Intellectiue soule insomuch as she is the forme of the bodie which sheweth plainely that she is eternall and immortall And in the twelfth of his Metaphysikes making a doubt whether any forme remaine after the extinguishing of the matter he sayd doubtfully of the other two that not euery soule but the Intellectiue onely remained And here is to be noted that his opinion was not though some
whereby it is offended and cannot performe his office towards the other but runneth into such inconueniences by reason of his infirmity and for want of reasons direction And whereas Hippocrates saith that they that being sicke in minde and touched with anie corporall disease haue little or no feeling of paine it sheweth plainely that it is as I haue said For if you marke it well this word feele explaneth the whole since feeling is a propertie of the Sensitiue soule and the vnderstanding feeleth not And in like manner are the words of Aristotle to be vnderstood where he saith that such whose flesh is soft are apt to learne and they that are melancholy to be wise For that the Sensitiue vertue taketh more easily the formes or kindes of things in such subiects according to their nature and representeth them to the vnderstāding from whence knowledge and vnderstanding proceedeth as yesterday was sayd And this happeneth not onely in these passions but also in all other alterations as of gladnesse of sorow of hope and of feare with such like which appertaine not to the vnderstanding to which sayd Aristotle who would ascribe such affects might as well say that the vnderstanding layed bricke to build or cast a loome to weaue Why say M. Spencer doth your author meane as some haue not sticked euen in our dayes to affirme that there are in vs two seuerall soules the one sensitiue and mortall and the other Intellectiue and Diuine Nothing lesse said I for that I hold were manifest heresie as well in Philosophie as in Christianitie For Aristotle teacheth vs that the Vegetatiue and Sensitiue soule or their powers were in the soule Intellectiue as the triangle is in the square which could not be if the sensitiue were separated from the Intellectiue And speaking of the varietie of soules and of their powers he sayth that the Sensitiue could not be without the Vegetatiue but that this latter might well be without the former and that all the other vertues of all the three soules are in those creatures that haue reason and vnderstanding It cannot therefore be sayd according to Aristotle that the Sensitiue soule in man is seuered from the Intellectiue And because man participateth as hath bene sayd of all the three faculties of the soules I see not why these fellowes that mention two speake not of all three as well seeing that in man are the operations of all three For if they say that it sufficeth to speake of the Sensitiue by which man is a liuing creature and containeth the Vegetatiue why should they not as well say that the Intellectiue alone includeth both the other and then is there no need of seuering at all By which it may appeere that this frantike opinion gathered from the Assirians is not onely contrary to Aristotle but to reason it selfe For Aristotle saith that all things haue their being from their formes and that in naturall things the more perfect containe the lesse perfect when the lesser is ordained for the more and that therefore onely the Intellectiue soule which containeth within it the natures of both the others is the onely and true forme of man malgre all such dolts as would haue man to be by reason of diuers formes both a brute and a reasonable creature who seeke to set men astray from the right way with such fanaticall deuices Let vs therefore conclude with Aristotle that both the passible and the possible vnderstandings are vertues of the Intellectiue soule insomuch as she is the particular and proper forme of euery man and that as a humane soule she is euerlasting impassible not mingled with the bodie but seuered from the same simple and diuine not drawne from any power of matter but infused into vs from abroade not ingendred by seede which being once freed from the bodie because nature admitteth nothing that is idle is altogether bent and intent to contemplation being then as Philosophers call it actus purus a pure vnderstanding not needing the bodie either as an obiect or as a subiect In consideration whereof Aristotle sayd that man through contemplation became diuine and that the true man which both he and his diuine master agreed to be the minde did enioy thereby not as a mortall man liuing in the world but as a diuine creature that high felicitie to which ciuill felicitie was ordained and attained to wisedome science after the exercise of the morall vertues as meanes to guide and conduct him to the same And not impertinently haue the Platonikes following their master in that point sayd that nature had giuen vs sense not because we should stay thereupon but to the end that thereby might grow in vs imagination from imagination discourse from discourse intelligence and from intelligence gladnesse vnspeakable which might raise vs as diuine and freed from the bands of the flesh to the knowledge of God who is the beginning and the end of all goodnesse towards whom we ought with all endeuour to lift vp our minds as to our chiefe and most perfect good for he onely is our summum bonum For to them it seemed that the man whom contemplation had raised to such a degree of felicitie became all wholy vnderstanding by that light which God imparteth to the spirits that are so purged through the exercise of morall vertues which vertues are termed by Plato the purgers of the mind stirring vp therein a most ardent desire to forsake this mortall bodie and to vnite it selfe with him And this is that contemplation of death which the Philosophie of Plato calleth vs vnto For he that is come to this degree of perfection is as dead to the world and worldly pleasures because he considereth that God is the center of al perfections that about him al our thoughts desires are to be turned employed Such doth God draw vnto himselfe and afterwards maketh them partakers of his ioyes euerlasting giuing them in the meane while a most sweet tast euen in this life of that other life most happie and those exceeding delights beyond which no desire can extend nor yet reach vnto the same So as being full of this excellent felicitie they thinke euery minute of an houre to be a long time that debarreth them from issuing out of this mortall prison to returne into their heauenly countrey where with that vertue which is proper to the soule alone they may among the blessed spirits enioy their maker whose Maiestie and power all the parts of the world declare the heauens the earth the sea the day the night whereat the infernall spirits tremble and shake euen as good men on earth bow downe and worship the same with continuall himnes and praises and in heauen no lesse all the orders and blessed companie of Saints and Angels do the like world without end This loe is as much as mine author hath discoursed vpon this subiect which I haue Englished for my exercise in both languages and haue at your intreaties communicated vnto you I will not say being betrayed by M. Spencer but surely cunningly thrust in to take vp this taske whereby he might shift himselfe from that trouble But howsoeuer it be if it haue liked you as it is I shall thinke my time well spent both in the translating of it at the first and in the relating of it vpon this occasion in this manner For as I sayd before I began that I would not tye my selfe to the strict lawes of an interpreter so haue I in some places omitted here and there haply some sentences without which this our Discourse might be complete enough because they are rather points of subtiller inuestigation then our speech required though the Author therein perhaps aymed at the commendation of a great reader or absolute Philosopher and in the descriptions of some of the morall vertues added somewhat out of others And what hath beene sayd concerning ciuill felicitie by him and deliuered in substance by me I thinke you will allow to be sufficient Since therefore my taske is done and that it groweth late with this onely petition that you will be content to beare with the roughnesse of my speech in reporting that vnto you which in his language our Author hath eloquently set downe I end Here all the companie arose and giuing me great thankes seemed to rest very well satisfied as well with the manner as with the matter at the least so of their courtesie they protested And taking their leaues departed towards the Citie FINIS ERRATA PAge 12. line 17. climbing pag. 16. lin 32 auoyde pag. 68. lin 14. speake of pag. 81. lin 4. meere pag. 82. lin 1. Politikes pag. 95. lin 10. men pag. 109. lin 15. Dioxippus pag. 140. lin 15. leaue out to pag. 143. lin 13. supposing that c pag. 145. lin 6. their marching pag. eadē lin 7. they neuer went pag. 163. lin 17. flow pag. 164. lin 4. determine pag. 168. lin 25. hath man pag. 173. lin 9. Platonikes pag. 199. lin 17. leaue out to pag. ib. lin 18. leaue out vvhich pag. 216. lin 5. make shew of pag. ibid. lin 18. that she be Pag. 238. lin 14. himselfe