publick a manner that he is engaged by that which is most dear to him his own glory to revenge the affront It is evident then how good a match they are like to have of it Neither doth their wickednesse stop here t is not against God only they sin but men also they are not only Traytours against the Majesty of Heaven but their trust on earth betraying their own poor people which repose their confidence in them by rendring them obstinate and proud upon hopes of false successe which knew they but the truth and their own weakness might make their peace to the preservation of many of their lives and much of their fortunes and drawing the blood and miseries of their neighbour-nations upon their own heads falsely seduced to embarque with them in their ill-thriving quarrel wherein unawares they often are opprest when they foolishly supposed all cock-sure Yet hath this impious and treacherous piece of policy been acted again and again in our eyes with horrour and amazement may we speak it even by those who would be thought Christians yea may not this clothe many of the Oxford-thanksgiving dayes in red and put our Dutch foes if they have any ingenuity to the blush who not coutent by their emissaries abroad to abuse all Europe with brags and lyes have of late ordered a day of Publick Thanksgiving at home to gull their own people into conceit of victory not without a Piaculum which may cost them dear before it be expiated For he that is High and Mighty indeed neither can be deceived nor will be out-faced by any impudency whatsoever and they had best consider whether they are able to engage with him too whom they dare affront in the sight of Angels and Men Courage then brave Englishmen you see what shifts your enemies are put to you have beaten them out of their confidence in the rock of ages and forced them to make lyes their refuge a wretched defence and such as cannot long protect thē behold what low-spirited foes you have to deal with even such as dare not take notice of a losse alas how far short come these of the Roman Fortitude as well as Piety whom you shall see according to that of their own Virgil Tu ne cede malis sed contrà audentior ito so far from being basely dejected by losses though comming one on the back of another that their courage rather encreased being prick't on with shame and a desire to regain their lost honour which stil buoied them up when in greatest danger of sinking this is that true sober valour grounded on a right sense of honour and due love to the publick which needed neither gunpowder nor brand-wine to make them fight lustick this is that which rendred them victorious and triumphant and which will enable you if you imbrace it But we shall have occasion to speak of this more hereafter let us return therfore to our generous Romans whom we find I say so far from this impious mocking of Heaven That on the contrary upon the least sense or apprehension of their Gods displeasure They sought by all humble and Publick addresses to pacifie and appease their incensed Dieties for this we may see their frequent lustrations and deprecations the first to purge and cleanse themselves the second to avert and turn away their Gods anger Horum Prodigiorum causa decemviri libris adire jussi et novēdiale sacrum factum supplicatio indicta est atque urbs lustrata Liv. Dec. 4. l. 6. Lastly besieging an enemies City they would invoke the Gods of that place imploring their aid and deprecating their anger by inviting them to go with them to Rome with the promise of more magnificent Temples and a more splendid adoration so great a care had they not to provoke Heaven and so fearfull were they to engage against it CHAP. X. Piety and Valour not inconsistent ' Piety rewarded in Heathens and Impiety punished ANd here by the way may be observed that Piety and Valour are not inconsistent and that Religion maketh not men Cowards What Nation ever was more valiant and what more religious than the Roman who were so strict in their divine worship that they would choose rather to lay themselves open to their enemies arms than by omitting the least part of it to their Gods displeasure an eminent example of which we have in that war of the Gauls which succeeded the first Punick in which when Flaminius and Furius the Consuls were gone against the Enemy with great Forces the Augurs having found that some things were omitted in their election They were commanded by letters from the Senate to return presently and abjure their offices which Letters Flaminius not opening until he had fought and routed the Enemy and made a memorable invasion of their Countrey though he returned crowned with victory and laden with spoil not one went out to meet him nay he had much ado to obtain a Triumph which was no sooner past but both He and his Collegue were constrained to lay aside their Consulships because he seemed to have contemned made slight of their holy Rites they esteeming it more conducing to the common safety that their Gods should be observed than their Enemies overcome and rather choosing to leave their Armies without Commanders though in a war reputed so dangerous as that of the Gauls in which their Priests were not exempted from bearing Arms than omit the least Punctilio in their worship so zealous and tender were they in matters concerning their Religion Thus when they were besieged by the Gauls in the Capitol and the day approached wherein their solemn Sacrifice was to be performed in Colle Quirinali the Hill so called rather than to omit their duty to Heaven they ventured through the very midst of their Enemies Camp and having performed their Rites returned with safety their Enemies either being amazed at the boldnesse of the Attempt or mooved with respect to Religion which present death could not deter them from performing And though their Religion were idolatrous yet according to their light being zealous they reaped the reward of a temporal prosperity which some among them despising smarted for to the purpose in their own ruin reaping the reward of their Impiety and contempt of Religion Thus we shall see Crassus who slighting the Curses and Execrations of the Tribune Ateius would make war upon the Parthians where he lost his own and his sons life with most of his Army the poor remainder escaping by a dishonourable flight and thus Pompey the great who would notwithstanding the intreaties and diswafions of the High-Priest enter the Holy of Holies in the Temple of Jerusalem in his comming out fell down and never after prospered but being overthrown by Caesar and flying into Aegypt lost his head his body being left unburied on the sands and though he were no Jew yet being a Roman by Religion he was bound to reverence all Deities as the {non-Roman}
munera duo sunt nempe mortis doloris contemptio We find it defined by the Philosopher {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} to be a vertue keeping a mean in fear and confidence And it is divided into publick and private Private is a noble and patient undergoing of adversity as Cicero 4. Tuscul. Fortitudo est scientia perferendarum rerum vel affectio animi in patiendo et ferendo summae legi parens sine timore Et in l. 1. offic. Fortis constantis animi est non perturbari in rebus asperis nec tumultuantem dejici de gradu ut dicitur sed praesenti animo uti et nec à consilio nec à ratione discedere And Horace l. 2. od. 10. Rebus angustis animosus atque Fortis apparet Publick is a fearless under taking and constant wading through such perils wherein our deeds and examples may bring benefit to our Countrey and honour and renown to our selves and this where when and how we ought as l. 3 eth. c. 7. By this then we may behold First that Self murder is no Fortitude for as Curtius saith Non fortium virorum est odisse vitam sed contemnere mortem but rather a cowardice that makes them fling themselves into the arms of death to avoid some more threatning evil Besides they are injurious to the Common wealth which they deprive of a member yet here for a Sea Captain to blow up his Ship rather than let her be taken by the enemy is no point of self-murder for the aiming at his Countreys good and her enemies loss and ruine acts the part of a valiant and faithful Citizen Secondly that Duels are no effect of true valour they being injurious to the Common wealth Thirdly Sturdy Theeves or Robbers which are not only injurious and mischievous but such as fight directly against the laws of humane society and they are so far from being truly valiant that they are wicked and impudent and therefore we shall find some of the Antients define fortitude {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} fear of reproof and dread of infamy and it is commonly seen that those that most dread the lawes least fear the enemy and who are most quiet in peace are most valiant in war as Plutarch in the life of Agis {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} They are least fearful of suffering who stand most in aw of doing evil Much more might be said of this manly vertue which for brevity we omit and shall refer those that desire further information to that masculine discourse of Aristotle in l. 3. eth. cap. 6. For the Roman practice of this vertue it is so obvious in their histories as we shall hardly find the least foot-step of cowardice in that gallant and victorious Commonwealth whose noble Citizens in all occasions were most ready to devote their lives for their Countrie and sacrifise their rags of mortality to immortal fame and renown And indeed the love of our Countrey and noble thirst after honour are the great agents in this glorious production for what man that is fully perswaded of his duty to the first and the reward he shall receive from the last can be faint-hearted or cowardly Fax mentis honestae Gloria saith the Poet and as Velleius Nec potest quidquam abjectum humile cogitare qui scit de se semper loquendum A man will hardly be brought to act basely who shall consider he shall stand on record either infamous or renowned Yea such a record as time every day more and more publishes as Lipsius Vt sol in aurora tenuior assurgit inclarescit sic ex virtute meritis fama cum aevo ipso augetur crescit What man in flight comming to a bridge and remembring Horatius Cocles would not make a noble stand and either live with him or dying live his equal in History I shall sum up all with that of Polybius {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} Riches are common but bravery of mind and the glory and renown that springs from it is peculiar to the Gods or such men as come neer them CHAP. XXVI Of Temperance and he Roman practice of it THis vertue by the Greeks is called {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} quasi {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} as it were the preserver of Prudence for pleasure and grief corrupt {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} those faculties which are to consider of action and a mind taken up with either of these cannot well intend the end for which {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} all things ought to be chosen or dore Now Temperance moderating these passions keeps the mind undisturbed and deservedly is stiled The Conservatrix of Prudence We shall define it A vertue preserving a just decorum in the desiring and enjoying sensual delights for grief which comes within its verge that only arises from want of fruition It is therefore the duty of a temperat man to abhor dishonest moderately to desire and enjoy lawful pleasures and not immoderately to grieve when deprived of them Now lawful-pleasures are such as first {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} conduce to bodily health or as {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} exceed not our estates and misbecom the rank and quality we live in And of what avail this vertue is to the preservation and growth of a State History and observation every where and every day may clearly make out unto us This was it set Rome upon her legs This is it that made her Citizens able of body both to fight and endure the field This made her Captains contemn bribes and her Generals in the height of military heat and success slight pleasure and constantly keep the publick good and their own honour in their eye Thus shall we see the noble Curius when the conquered Samnites profered him Gold shew them his Dinner for he was at their coming cooking it himself which was a few rape roots in a pipkin telling them there was no great need of gold to furnish his table and that he had rather command over such as had Gold than possess it himself And when some complained that he had assigned too little of the conquered Lands to private men and too much to the Publick He told them He hoped that there was never a Roman Citizen which would count that land too little which was sufficient to maintain him Thus shall we see Scipio Africanus when the Souldiers brought him a most beautiful Damosel taken in the sack of New Carthage in Spain and hearing she was betroathed to Allucius a young Prince of the Celtiberians he sent for him and not only bestowed on him his beautiful Bride but a great sum of Gold as her portion which her parents brought for her ransome Let us behold the event this young Prince goes home rapt with joy filling every place with the praise and merit of Scipio telling his Countrymen Venisse Diis simillimum juvenem vincentem omnia cum armis tum benignitate ac beneficiis There was a Godlike young man arrived conquering all both by force and bounty and within a few daies returned with 1400 horse to Scipio's Camp Thus by his temperance he advanced the Roman cause which he prefer'd above all private pleasure and gave Carthage a greater blow in this victory over himself than in that other of taking their City though the most considerable they had in Spain I shall conclude all with that speech of Asdruball surnamed the Kid the Carthaginian Legat to the Roman Senate Raro simul hominibus bonam fortunam bonamque mentem dari populum Romanum eo invictum esse quod in secundis rebus sapere consulere meminerit hercle mirandum fuisse si aliter facerent ex insolentia quibus nova bona fortuna sit impotentes laetitiae insauire populo Romano usitate ac prope jam obsoleta ex victoria gaudia esse ac plus pene parcendo victis quam vincendo imperium auxisse God hath given England her share of success we have not of late known what it is to be conquered but as if we had been the adopted sons of victory she hath perch'd upon our conquering ensigns and pitch'd her pavilion among our tents O let us then endeavour not to be transported with any unbecoming passions which may force this glorious Virgin to blush to hide her head and be ashamed to keep us company any further but as we increase in power let us grow in vertue thus shall we be established and to our wreaths of Palm and Laurel shall the Olive chaplet be added and we enjoy the pleasant fruits of Peace at home as well as honourable esteem of valour abroad Sic sic juvat ire Per altos virtutum gradus patet ascensus ad aeternitatem FINIS a Gales b Ree c the Downs d Rebellion e The first Invasion
whilst these walked hand in hand they continued both formidable and lovely and to use the Scripture expression they were fair as the Moon bright as the Sun and terrible as an Army with Banners This temperature of beauty and terror order and strength is the happy Crasis of a State these in their true proportions make up the perfect Symetry and from these discords springs the sweetest harmony in State musick And now when all their sayls were fill'd with the prosperous gales of fortune and there was none but vail'd and stoopt unto them on a sudden being becalm'd an effeminate Sardanapalus a drunken Belshazzar and a luxurious Darius put a period to their greatnesss so easie it is to tumble down hill Thus the Roman Monarchy fell to pieces and became a prey to barbarous nations yet out of its ashes arose a Phenix a maiden Cōmon-wealth which hath preserv'd her beauty as well as virginity for twelve hundred years without wrinckle or blemish and hath so often foild the Ottoman forces to whom the Grecian Empire became a prey with little difficulty so potent is vertue even in the least bodies and of such advantage is situation and bad neighbours too sometimes which will not suffer her antient vertue to be cankered or eaten with rust Thus a few Fisher-Towns among the Batavers became a Common-wealth in despight of Spain and Flanders to boot and from poor distressed States are grown Hogen-Mogens with the help of England for which they have since well rewarded us But let them take heed lest their High and Mightinesses be not brought as low as their situation being grown resty with their former little successes Peace and Plenty and by their treacherous ingratitude made their best friend their enemy to whom they are as much inferior in true valour as they surpasse in Pride Arrogancy Trechery and Cruelty Yea to come home how illustrious and famous did this nation grow in the dayes of Queen Elizabeth What noble Acts What generous spirits did it bring forth What supplies did it afford the Netherlands What an help was it to France and what a Scourge and terror to the usurping Spaniards whose Armado stiled Invincible it not onely sent home wel beaten but with fire and sword took revenge in their Havens and on their Coasts and yet into how contemptible a condition it did relapse by a long sloath and how it hath been undervalued our own eyes can witnesse unto us if we look a little back even to the sadning of our friends and rejoycing of our enemies Thus the best made Clocks by long being unwound up gather rust and become unfit for the least motion And this that Politick Law-giver perceiving gave it in command to the Spartans not to wage war often with one and the same enemy which when Agesilaus one of their Kings had neglected to their losse and his own smart He was flouted returning wounded by Antalcidas with The Thebans have well rewarded thee O King whom unwilling and ignorant thou hast compeld and taught to conquer CHAP. IIII. An Admonition to many amongst us WHat then may we think of some lately appearing amongst us who neither minding their own good not their masters businesse have been bold in the sight of the sun to upbraid those in power with these latter wars as fomented and raised for their lusts and our pressure which by the good hand of Providence hitherto have turned to our honour and advantage and it may be have been a means to prevent our ruin the common Enemy keeping us from quarrelling among our selves and as it were binding up our hands from intestine slaughter for so many and so great divisions there were amongst us such animosities and heart-burnings in one party against the other as in that unsetled estate we were in at first In sua victrices vertentes viscera dextras might have turned our weapons into our own bowels had not heaven in mercy cut out work for us elsewhere until we were a little better come to our selves What means then the bleatings and lowings of these Cattel which are driven like beasts to the slaughter for alas fond youths though your noddles are not full enough to render you suspected of design yet undoubtedly have you been set a going by some well practiz'd in the art of sedition and whose concernments and inclinations prodigiously meet in that fatal point to whom it may seem as natural to live in the fire of contention as profitable to fish in troubled waters consider but the bottom and you will abhor the broachers of this design who under the pretence of crying down forein would stir up a civill war and of advancing Peace and Freedom raise Rebellion and Confusion which would inevitably ruin your Selves Trades and Countrey Let not any of these flie Sinons make you break down your own walls to bring in so fatal an Engine a second Trojan-horse which will powrforth armed Tyrants in the dead of night upon you whose understandings they have charmd asleep with their false counterfeit pretences Timete Danaos et dona ferentes You cannot be too mistrustfull of your old Enemy of whom this design smels rank take heed I say you lose not your liberty in the noise you make for freedom and whil'st you crowd out Authority you bring not Tyranny in on pick-back which your enemies of themselves despair ever to accomplish Thus have I seen full-grown fruit which hath withstood the assaults of outward storms rot with superfluity of innate moysture and the double-armed nut resolv'd to dust by a worm bred in its own kernel Or what shall we say to a second sort those sons of sloath those dregs of a lazy and luxurious peace who as if their souls lay in their bellies find no content but in ease and riot whose whole note is Where are those golden dayes we once had Where are our Court-revellings and Masques Where our Lord-Maiors Feasts and Shews and all those joviall sports gone in which England was wont to pride herself and triumph not a Wake not a morrice-Dance now to be feen are these the effects of a Parliament and is this that we have got by fighting Alas poor souls you dream't I 'le warrant a Parliament would have made the Thames flow Custard and turn'd the pebbles on the shore into Garoway-Comfits have caused Bag-pudding to grow on every Bush and each pond abound with beef and brewis have commanded the conduits to run Sack and Clarret and the Rivers and Brooks Ale and strong Beer and welladay your houses are not wall'd with Hasty Pudding neither do Pigs ready roasted come and cry Come eat me Lubberland is as far off now as ever and you deceived of all your goodly expectations but peace put fingers out of neyes and I will tell you what yea what your Countrey your Mammee if she be not ashamed to own you hath got she hath gained her freedom and regain'd her reputation of a baffel'd scorn'd and despised Kingdom
she is become a victorious dreadfull and renowned Common-wealth she that was contemned by a Spain cudgel'd by b France brav'd by c Holland affronted by d Irelād baffe'ld by e Scotla hath made those with whom she hath grappell'd feel the force of her arms and taught the rest to observe their due distance yea she hath done more in four years than your Monarchs could do in four hundred having quell'd Ireland subdued Scotland cudgel'd Holland and with a Navy of near two hundred sayl scoured her narrow seas and swept her Enemies Coasts notwithstanding her strugglings at home with such undutifull sons as your selves who have layd all the stumbling-blocks in her way they either could or durst But your Purses pay for this you cry I warrant you and so they did for the Puppets and Pageants the hobby-horses and bells and all the rest of the Trumperies your souls so much delighted in as I conceive too you were wont to pay subsidies for your Charters and your Petition of Right which you hung by and gaz'd on with as much benefit to your selves then as now on your Scotch Covenant as also Ship-mony Knighthood-mony Coat and Conduct-mony and now and then you received a Privy-seal your Carts now and then did attend the Court and your Oxen Sheep Horses Hay Straw Oats c. were taken up at the Kings price and that payd too when you could get it there were slavish tenures and a Court of Wards a Star-Chamber and an High-Commission Court with its appurtenances in each Diocesse Justices in Eire and Forrest laws c. which cost you something but you will be wiser upon second thoughts put on your considering caps than for you know not what you may come too what though you are out of hopes of being Courtiers you may be Patriots and instead of being slaves to flattery become Patrones of liberty what though you cannot buy Knight-hoods and Lordships yet may you purchase never-dying honour to your names by faithfully serving your God and Countrey Act then vertuously and let posterity find your names in the Van of good Common-wealths-men among the first Ranks of the Assertors of Liberty Which of you were you to choose would not rather be read in history a Brutus than a Tarquin an Aristogiton than a Pisistratus a Pelopidas than an Archas a Timoleon than a Dionysius whether doth the name of Lancaster or Gaveston Hereford or Spencer make the pleasinger found in English ears and which were accounted Martyrs which Traitor in the thoughts of your generous Ancestors and if all this will not prevail with you if duty and honour appear small in your eyes yet profit sure will do much it is the way to thrive for it is more than probable that the Common-wealth will survive its enemies and there are certain symptomes of its welfare That Providence which hath hitherto brooded upon it and hatcht it into this perfection that hand of Omnipotency which hath given assured tokens of assistance from heaven hath in text-letters written its fortune on its forehead so that the least read in Physiognomy may spell it out The Schoolmen observe Divina voluntas licet simpliciter libera sit ad extra ex suppositione tamen unius actus liberi potest necessitari ad alium We shall not go so high but this we shall say that where God hath so visibly owned a nation he will never draw back his hand unlesse upon some notorious provocation Lift up your eyes then Os homini sublime dedit coelumque videre Jussit erectos ad sidera tollere vultus which were given you to this end and contemplate the works of your gracious Creator it is your duty so to do and he expects it at your hands be not rebels to nature nor make frustrate the admirable frame of your creation wch wil argue you not only ingrate but worse than brutish yea put you in the lower form to the beasts that perish for as the Heathen Satyrist Sensum è coelesti demissum traximus arce Cujus egent prona terram spectantia mundi Principio indulsit communis Conditor illis Tantùm animas nobis animum quoque But lest there should be some so ignorant that they cannot others so lazy that they will not take the pains to read this hand-writing from heaven I will endeavour so plainly to set it before them that Fronaque si spectent animalia if they look but downwards will they nill they they shal perceive it unles they blindfold themselves and wink out of design and for such Moles let them enjoy their dark Caverns and there delve and dig untill they have laid themselves as low as they desire or deserve let their affected shades envelope them and not the smallest star disturb their Cimmaerian enjoyments let the nights black Quiristers Ravens and Scrich-Owls sing Anthems and Requiems to their souls and no sun arise to disturb the musick and dissolve the lucky consort CHAP. V. How England became a Common-wealth and what may be expected from such a Beginning THe English Nation by a long and bloody civill War being awak't out of that sleep which had almost brought a Lethargy upon her like an angry Lion rows'd and enrag'd with the smart of his wounds resolutely and with a courage not unworthy the nobility of her Stock sets upon the foe that had so gall'd her and soon brought him under her feet then disdaining to wear the fetters of a conquered enemy assumes the power God then and Nature at first had invested her with and assumes her pristine freedom Thus Bellona was the Midwife which brought England to bed of the Common-wealth which was no sooner born but she swadled her in Ensigns torn from her proudest foes and adorned her cradle with Trophies of victory O sacred and happy birth what Triumphs attend thy youth and what Lawrells shall encircle thy manly front Thou that hast strangled serpents in thy cradle givest us hopes that the seaven-headed Hydra shall fall by thee when thou hast attained thy full strength and who hast made it as it were thy sport to pull down petty Tyrants wilt make it thy businesse to destroy the grand Impostor that as with thy fist thou hast given him a box on the ear so with thy sword thou wilt divide his head from his shoulders For what lesse than a Triple Crown can attend thy Chariot whose go-cart is lackied on by Crowns in couples for great even for so great things sure hath Providence reserv'd thee whom she hath so carefully tended in thy infancy for though she hath suffered thine enemies to rise against thee yet so tender a regard hath she had of thy youth that she put hooks as it were in their nostrils and restrained them from uniting whom single she knew thee able to grapple with so that their malice hath augmented thy glory and by their endeavouring to ruin thee they have encreased thy power making themselves but
make up the finest and purest complexion the soundest and bravest constitution like a sparkling and vigorous soul quickning and informing a beautiful body can Religion desire to shine with greater gloss and lustre can it desire to ride among men in greater pomp and solemnity in a more tryumphant Charriot than in a soul of vast intellectualls let us but consider our poor ignorant and unlearned Ancestors with yellings and howlings with the horrid noise of brazen and copper pans and bazons hammered on and beaten endeavouring to help the Moon in the ecclipse whom they thought they did great service to and whence proceeded this but from ignorance of the natural cause what prayers what sacrifices did an ecclipse of the Sun produce all presently supposing he hid his face for anger as the Poets report he did at Atreus his banquet Verterit cursus licet sibi ipse Titan obvium ducens iter tenebrisque facinus obruit tetrum novis nox missa ab ort u tempore alieno gravis Seneca Thyestes and they in danger of an eternal night and not only be as one speaks notably of the Suns adorers {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} without their God by night but for ever and indeed what advantage did the Devill make of ignorance in the time of Popery What a quarter did he keep with his Hobgoblins and Fairies O darkness is his delight in the understanding as well as in the air and doth it not lay men more open to his temptations what a tryumph would the Prince of darkness lead could he get us all into his livery This Plutarch an heathen could perceive Knowledge saith he frees men from that superstition which frights disturbs and entangles with sinister conceits of the Deity others who are ignorant of the natural causes of things and in its place induces a secure piety and holy confidence in the Divine power and he instances in the head of a Ram with one horn growing in the midst of the front brought to Pericles which when the Southsayers converted to an Omen Anaxagoras the Philosopher dissecting the scull shewed it empty on the sides and the brains lying in the midst in an oval form just where the horn took root cleerly convincing them of the natural cause Let us consider how a poor Bishop was degraded by a whole Council and the Popes infallible Worship too boot for writing and maintaining that there were Antipodes people inhabiting the other side of the Worldly Globe a thing known to every ship-boy in Wapping and what will nothign serve our turns but a herd of such Teachers a drove of such Doctors that may bring us in one age to a degree above bleating to be as far from understanding as they from being able to speak sense when a Dutch Sophister with this doughty fallacy The Scripture commands us to reverence and obey our Elders but the Dutch State is the elder State therefore the Scripture commands the English State to reverence and obey the Dutch Or Asses have eares Englishmen have eares therefore Englishmen are Asses shall puzzle our whole nation and none be able to answer him unless by down-right telling him he lyes so instead of confuting confirm him in his wild assertions Lastly Let us consider with what impatience we would hear a man that went about to perswade us to burn our ships break our Guns destroy all our Arms and Weapons and lay our selves naked to the invasion and rapine of any forein enemy and shall we not with the same disdain and abhorrency behold these pedling Truckers under Satan who would disarm our souls prostitute our understandings to the lust of every subtill Sophister make us like to the Horse and Mule which want understanding ready to take the Bit into our mouths to be rid by each deceiver and to crowch down under the burdens which every sly and cunning Knave shall please to load us with do we so much detest the slavery of our bodies and shall we not abhor to see our souls led captive our understandings drawn in shackles after the triumphant Chariot of every Impostor our Lord and Savior teaches us that though a man both strong and armed keep the house yet if a stronger than he come he will enter and take possession these Imps of the Destroyer suggest that the Lame and Blind are only fit Garrison Souldiers for the strong holds of the New Jerusalem as if Religion were the Capitol that onely Geese must defend alas had there not been a Manlius and other valiant and armed Romans the Gauls could not have been kept out by their cackling Thus much for learning as it is useful in religion what advantage it is of to the Civil State shall be discoursed of hereafter in its proper place CHAP. XVIII Of Moral vertue in general BEfore we proceed further it will not be amiss to consider Moral vertue in the general as of good conducement to our better understanding of the particular vertues which follow in order to be treated of in our subsequent discourse and to our easier attaining and imbracing them in our future practice And first of the Name the Greeks according to some denominated it {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} from Mars their God of War because in War the efficacy of vertue seemed most perspicuous Others fetch its derivation {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} from choosing because vertue is above all things to be chosen The Latines called it virtus a vir which antiently was solie applyed to a valiant man thus Cicero in offic. Nomen virtutis inquit antiquitus solius fuit fortitudinis Vertue saith he was the badge heretofore onely of Fortitude But since experience teaching that man was not only to strive with man to combate the Common enemy but also with his own disorderly affections easily misled by the allurements of riches delights and preferment it became the tryumphant Ornament of those that were victorious over themselves and these temptations which indeed is the more noble conquest and most manly as performed by the force of reason the weapon only man can use Lastly there are some who not unpleasantly alluding will have it tearmed virtus quasi viri artus as it were the joints and lineaments of the mind Now as the name hath been diversly derived so hath the Thing been variously applyed As first to signify in general the power and perfection of any thing hence we often meet with these and the like phrases in English By vertue of Gods power wisdome omniscience by vertue of the Soul of the Heavens of the Elements of such or such a plant mineral or living creature Secondly to denote promiscuously all habits as well infused as acquired thus we say by vertue of Grace faith c. Thirdly it is taken for a natural inclination or disposition thus Aristotle in 6 Ethic. cap. ult. we possess vertue by nature and by nature we are temperate and valiant Lastly it is most properly
will have their dependency upon the operations of the understanding for we will after the same rate as we understand as also because many arguments may be drawn from Speculative Philosophy which may much conduce to the exercise of vertue as an insight into the temper of our bodies may perswade us to Temperance And Lipsius commends both Moral and Speculative Philosophy Duae istae partes formant hominis animum vel ad virtutis amorem pretium vel ad notitiam Caelestium Terrestrium è quibus magnitudo animi oritur simul modestia collatione utrorumque because both of them create in the mind of man as well a love and esteem of vertue as a knowledge of the nature of Caelestial and earthly things from which springs magnanimity and modesty too by comparing each with other To sum up all with that known saying of Divine Plato Then Commonwealths shall become happy when Philosophers are made Magistrates or Magistrates addict themselves to the study of Philosophy Thirdly Philology a skill in Languages is of much importance to a prudent man by which he is made able not onely to converse with but to dive into the actions of Foreiners indeed all commerce all correspondences all leagues are beholding to this without which nation could not discourse with nation but by signs by mopping and mowing as Monkies do and it would be as possible for us to understand the Cats wawling in our gutters as an Ambassadour or Merchant which could not speak English Lastly Both Geometry and Geography are of no small use to advance Prudence and Aristotle is bold to affirm it impossible for a young man to be prudent without skill in the Mathematikes 6. Eth. 8. c. But to these three to wit Natural parts Vse Learning we may adde as instrumental causes both a careful observation of examples and also Travail thus we shall find Demosthenes affirming {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} and Terence Hoc vero est sapere in aliorum vitam tanquam in speculum intueri et ex illis exemplum capere tibi quod ex usu siet The wise man dresses himself in the glass of other mens actions in which he may discover what is comely and fit for him and Homer gives travail for a chief cause of prudence in his Vlysses {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} And now I shall sum up all with a few examples which are held by many more prevalent in perswasion than advice or instruction And first Solon the Athenian Law-maker was not onely endowed with parts exercised in affairs improved by travail but excellently learned as many of his writings testify yea so desirous was he of knowledge that upon his death-bed being visited by some friends he lifted up his head and listned to their discourse and when asked for what end he was so attentive returned this answer that knowing this I may dy more learned Thus Epimanondas the glory of Thebes is reported by Thucydides to have studied much but {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} without effeminacy Thus Philip thus Alexander thus Philopomen Cato the younger Julius and Augustus Caesar were learned the latter of which discharged a Consular Legat as rude unlearned and unfit for imployment because he had writen ixi for ipsi Thus Marcus Antonius the good Emperor was called the Philosopher and that famous Lady Isabella of Spain and the incomparable Elizabeth of England were studious and learned CHAP. XXII Of the Prudence of the Romans THis victorious and fortunate Common-wealth was so sensible of the necessity of this vertue to the wel-being of a State that they took the greatest care to provide that able and prudent persons should only be admitted to the mannagement of affairs as for example they had their Lex annalis the Law that provided that none should bear office before such and such an age because they would not have unexperienced rash and imprudent young men trusted at the helm of State Thus Latinus Pacatus in Laudat Theodosii Annorum inquit ita cura fuit majoribus ut non solum in amplissimis Magistratibus adipiscendis sed in Praeturis quoque aut Aedilitatibus capessendis aetas sit spectanda petitorum neque quisquam tantum valuerit nobilitate vel gratia qui annos comitiali lege praescriptos festinatis honoribus occuparit Thus Cicero Philip 5. Legibus annalibus cum grandiorem aetatem ad Consulatam constituebant temeritatem adolescentiae verebantur Thus Ovid 5. Fast Finitaque certis Legibus est aetas unde petatur honos And we find that those that set the fewest will have 25 years of age the time wherin the first office to wit of Quaestor could be born for that of Aedilis and Tribune 27 or 28. for Praetor 35. for Consul 42 or 43. as Cicero plainly tells us in Phil. 5. Quid Alexander Macedo qui cum ab ineunte aetate res maximas gerère caepisset trigesimo tertio anno mortem obiit quae aetas nostris legibus decem annis minor quam Consularis And though this Law might now and then be dispensed with in some extraordinary danger and for some more than ordinary worth and vertue in some single person as Scipio Africanus Scipio Aemilianus and Pompeius Magnus as there can be no general rule but may admit of some exception especially where the reason of the Law pleads against the Letter which taken strictly would deprive the State of the service of such eminent Citizens when her dangers would admit of no delay yet for the general it was inviolably observed until the unruly and tyrannous Monarchs turned this topsie turvy together with all other their most sacred Laws and Liberties Thus also we shall find Lycurgus that wise Lawgiver among the Spartans who so long as they observed his rules were the most eminent State among the Greeks would admit none into the Senate unless he were sixty years of age But we shall conclude this with some few examples which may convince us throughly of the benefit of Prudence Cato the elder being Consul had Spain alotted for his Province which was then near to a total revolt coming thither the Celtiberians a warlike and populous nation offered to aid him for 2000 talents this proposition was generally disliked by the Romans as a thing unworthy the Roman magnaminity by money to buy aid or friendship until the Consul convinc'd them how small a thing the Celtiberians demanded without whose aid there was no hopes of victory For should we overcome by their assistance we will pay them out of the enemies spoils said he but should we and they be beaten neither will they be alive to demand nor shall we be left to pay Scipio Africanus being about to invade Afrike and carry the war to the gates of Carthage prudently seeing that a State which warred by Mercinaries would be weakest at home selected 300 able and resolute young men out of the Roman Legions whom he kept about