Selected quad for the lemma: enemy_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
enemy_n	evil_a	good_a	overcome_v	2,148	5	9.0851	5	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A51724	Il Davide perseguitato David persecuted / vvritten in Italian by the Marquesse Virgilio Malvezzi ; and done into English by Robert Ashley, Gent.	Malvezzi, Virgilio, marchese, 1595-1653.; Ashley, Robert, 1565-1641.; Marshall, William, fl. 1617-1650.	1650 (1650)	Wing M358; ESTC R37618	56,199	263

to be acquired so it is sometimes hurtfull because it cannot be laid aside David receives the sword of the Giant Goliah from the Priest and eats of the Shew-bread because hee found no other sword for his defence nor any other bread for his sustenance NEcessity enforceth him she sometimes makes that lawfull which at all times is not so It is a shield which being ill used workes the ruine of the world All misdeeds how hainous soever doe withdraw themselves out of the danger of the Law and in stead of being condemned to be borne withal are invested with the cloake of necessity there is no absolute necessity in man because he is a free agent if he suffer no outward violence hee hath none within him those which wee call necessities and which wee pretend that they free from the Law are made to be such by the Law They are necessary consequences by supposition having a conditionall antecedent for their foundation But the suppositions that are not authorized by the Law have no consistence for otherwise all the actions of men should bee lawfull seeing all might be necessary by supposing a conditionall antecedent before them out of which a necessary consequence should arise by supposition Therefore it is not true that necessity hath no Law but it is very true that the necessity which hath no Law is onely that which is an enemy to the Law David flies to King Achish but seeing himselfe and his vertues knowne being much afraid of his envie he faineth himselfe to bee mad and changeth his countenance before him HE that is borne into this great Theatre of the world ought to know how to suit himselfe into sundry habits that hee may bee enabled in this Comedy to represent many persons When a man sees himselfe persecuted by envy hee must like the shelfish fructified by the dew of Heaven cast away his pearle rather than bee a prey to those that have him in chase David puts on a forme of madnesse and by it brings Achish to put off his envie The countenance of the former is transformed before the eyes of the latter not that the effigies of the one is altered but the intellect of the other If it had pleased the Lord by his mercy and benignity to root up envy out of the world how many Davids would change their countenances in the presence of Achish But they that hate valor and vertue let them I beseech them tell me what thing it is they thinke they hate they hate even themselves Vertue cannot bee odious if it bee good it is faire also if it be faire it is the object of love and not of hatred The envious is an ignorant Painter or a malicious one who in drawing the vertue of others deformes it either he takes the perfections from it or addes imperfections to it and blames in another that which himselfe hath added of his owne to it or what he hath taken from it Yet this were not much if he did not also expose that picture to publike view that they who cannot see the originall might hate it Take away David out of my presence saith Achish Have I any need of mad-men THis King is one of those that when the time comes shall call themselves fooles for having beleeved wisemen to be fooles I know not which error to bee the greater either to thinke wise men to be fooles or to account fooles to bee wise men of this ignorance as out of a root arise all precipitated courses The most dangerous person that is represented and the greatest foole that can bee found is he that takes upon him to be wise David departs thence and saves himselfe in the cave of Adullam where his brethren and all his fathers house come unto him AS a foraigne warre is the onely remedy to unite the disordinate minds in Common wealths so are enmities and persecutions to make an attonement in families This is a true rule when the discords are not bloody and when proceeding no farther than to some high tearmes they are not growne to hatred Those brethren that in a sort would have hindered the fortune of David are they which now are willing to helpe him in his misery Base mindes applaud our felicities and abandon us in our disasters but they that are onely corrupted by envy retaining yet a kinde of generosity when their envy rather springs from desire of honour than malignity they run readily to assist their allies in their dangers and if they goe not to applaud them in their glory it is not for that they desire not to see them great but because they themselves would gladly be great The malecontented also gathered together to David and made him their Captaine IT is impossible but there should bee some such kinde of people in a State If the Prince be good then the evill are malecontent if he be evill the good are and some that are not displeased with the Princes government are so with their owne by which being ruinated and wasted when they have no hope in quiet courses they affect nothing but turbulencies The state ought to beware of 2. most potent enemies Hope and Despaire for these two extremes are they that molest it the greatest and the least of quality the one supposing that their good fortune calleth them to a better estate the other by their evill one are stirred to avoid the worst for this cause I suppose was that City preferred by a profest politike Writer which is inhabited by the middle sort of men The Prophet Gad adviseth David to depart to goe into the land of Iudah and Saul hearing that David was seene there complaineth greatly amongst his servants that David being not able to give them vineyards nor houses nor make them Commanders nor otherwise reward them should finde followers and he be abandoned PRinces do erre when they thinke their Rebels should not be followed in hope of reward I speake not of David who was a King and no Rebell one that was raised up and not risen against his Prince one that was flying from him and not contending against him The rewards expected of treachery are farre greater than those that are yeelded to fidelitie And what doe not they promise which promise that which is none of their owne what doe they not give before they bee well advised that it is their owne Disordinate minds are not content with ordinate rewards their troublesome heads account quietnesse their enemy and even those of a quiet disposition doe sometimes surfet of rest because the naturall desire of change makes felicity it selfe to be tedious The Subjects serving their Prince if they wil be rewarded oftentimes are driven to shew some excessive merit because there are few that thinke themselves bound to those whose service is bound to them but hee that followes a rebell hath already merited of him in that he followeth him That false proposition that to worke where one is obliged diminisheth his merit is both

there would be no tides and ebbes in the world but hee that was once the greatest should alwayes so continue seeing hee could not be overcome by a lesser The Politicians would alleage Disdaine to be the cause hee that despiseth his enemie doth not strive with all his might but employing some part only and that with no great heed is often overcome by one who being weaker than hee opposeth him with the utmost of his strength and cunning One of the greatest errours that I have observed in great Potentates hath beene to see how applying their forces on an enterprise they have rather taken measure of the enemie than themselves opposing against him only so much of their strength as they conjectured to bee answerable to the present affaires and whereas with a greater power they might have beene sure of victory with an equall one they have either lost it or at least prolonged the warres with more expence of men and money It is very difficult to measure the proportion of things by their Beginnings Childrens garments must be allowed to be somewhat larger than themselves lest they growing greater the garments become too little It is enough for a meaner man if at the beginning hee bee enabled to resist a greater that so he may but get him reputation and by the meanes thereof hee can procure himselfe adherents and protectors The Giant was no sooner slaine but the Army of the Philistims being discomfited betakes it selfe to flight and the Israelites pursue and slay them THat Armie whose trust is in the straightnesse of some passage in the height of any situation in the strength of their Trenches in the valour of a man or in any one speciall thing of good defence is easily overcome by him who shall be assuredly perswaded that if he can but overthrow such a part or slay such a man or passe through the difficulties of such a hill or such fortifications he shall find no other resistance and therefore shall hee set forward very stoutly and couragiously Because men having once lost that by which they were confident they should overcome being dejected thinke there is nothing left that can defend them against the valour of their enemies But that Armie which relies upon it intire selfe equally throughout is in a manner invincible It may peradventure bee routed utterly discomfited it cannot Every one will fight to the Death because every one trusting in himselfe will not distrust of the victory untill he hath lost his life The slaughter being ended David returnes with the Giants head Saul enquires of Abner who he is Abner not knowing him goes to meet him and brings him unto Saul He askes him whose sonne hee is hee answers he is the Sonne of Ishai SEe how fading or how displeasing the memory of benefits is in Princes either Saul did not remember David or else hee was not willing to remember him Hee that but a little before had found so much favour in his sight hath now lost it both in his sight and memorie The memory of a benefit lasts well if it lasts as long as the benefit and the respect that is begotten thereby often dies before its Father If Reasons may bee rendered for the affection of a Prince towards a Courtier bee they drawne of Profit or out of Pleasure or whether accompanied with Honestie yet is it a thing but of small continuance If it follow Reason it formes a habit of which commeth satietie and if it be not grounded on Reason the ground of such affection faileth It is a vanity to thinke our selves able to yeeld a reason of the affectionate favours of Princes Those are great and slowly will they end for which there can no reason be given how they came to begin There are starres which incline them thereunto by their influences neither are those loves alwayes happie for neither are the aspects of these alwayes favourable In this manner haply that great scholler meant it though hee was not so understood when hee seemed to doubt whether any reason could be given of the Inclinations of Princes or whether they depended on the Course of their Nativitie And whereas in all other occurrents hee had shewed himselfe a friend unto reason hee never spake of this Argument or matter but made a present recourse unto Destinie which having once coupled and conjoyned with the course of the Nativity there is no doubt but he meant it by the operation of the starres Politicians may cease to teach the waies to obtaine the favour of Princes men must be borne to it not taught it A man may by his valour and wisedome make himselfe well esteemed but yet not beloved When hee had made an end of speaking the soule of Ionathan was knit with the soule of David in a knot of Amitie WOnderfull things are Friendship and Love whence they proceed with all respect and far from all presumption be it spoken men have not yet well declared for all their Philosophie Some have thought them to bee the daughters of Abundance and of Want but this were a taxing of Love and Amitie with imperfection and to deny the prime and chiefe love which wee call the holy spirit for in the three divine Persons there can bee no defect The rest of the Philosophers have deduced the originall from the similitude of the parties loving some from the Heaven some from the starres some from the temper some from the Manners some finally from the features yet peradventure they have all mistaken for if love came from the resemblance a man should rather love the male than the female and whereas Love is but seldome reciprocall it should be alwayes answered with like affection seeing one thing cannot be said to bee like another but that the other must also be like to it I beleeve that there are some Constellations conducing to Friendship and others to Love which produce in their subject a kind of lovely Character which commeth not of the Temper but rather of some I know not what celestiall impressions which the Heavens and starres with their operations have left imprinted in that tender body and that hee is most beloved that hath most thereof and that hee who hath lesse cannot be the object of Love but onely of good will or respect The reason whereof is because Beautie is the object of Love Yet not Beauty which is like unto ours but that which is greater otherwise there would not no not in Patria be any love towards God And if sometimes here we love our equall it is either because then wee see none more worthy or because wee doe not reflect thereon But onely that excellence which is in God is the adequate object of Love because that onely which is in God is the adequated object of our will and if wee could see him as hee is hee should infallibly make us love with him But because wee are here as but in Via he is not so represented to us we turne our

in all with him and besides it hee makes no account of any thing A Tyrant is ordinarily so close by nature and so enured by Art to conceale his intent that when hee would willingly bee understood hee cannot sometimes make them understand them For not only men know not what hee thinkes but many times they understand not what he sayes They agree that David should hide himselfe and Ionathan should observe what the King saith when on the first day of the moneth he should note Davids absence from the table and that by a signe betweene them hee should make knowne his fathers intent Then they depart as under renewing their oathes and covenants of friendship THe first day of the moneth being come Saul seeing that David appeared not flattering his desire hee would not beleeve that David absented himselfe for feare but rather for some uncleannesse when he sees him not appeare on the second day hee asketh Ionathan what is become of David who answereth that hee is gone to celebrate the solemnity then Saul reproachfully reproveth his sonne for preferring his friendship with David before matter of State by reason that while David lived hee could not be established in the Kingdome To chastise an offence committed is proper to the Law that which would be committed is reserved to God that which may be committed is peculiar to a Tyrant when it is not justice but a point of State that seekes the life of a subject there is scarce any remedie if David had offended he might have hoped for pardon and haply have obtained it But where there i● no offence there can be no recourse to clemencie nor expectation of it Those merits that would have countervailed his faults doe condemne his innocencies A great occasion it mu●● hee to put an innocent to death and because it is great it is insuperable When justice hath had her course in condemning shee leaves Clemencie her place to absolve but where it is injustice to condemne the putting to death proceeds of selfe interest It is good for him that dyes if hee dye innocent but in regard of the world it is better being guilty when he is condemned Hee that hath done an offence and demands pardon speakes not a word but to the Princes praise hee confesseth his fault declareth the vertue of Justice in the Prince and in demanding his pardon he shewes that hee doth also beleeve the vertue of clemencie to be in him But all the words of the innocent sound to the blame of the Prince hee shewes him to bee unjust hee declares him to be a Tyrant hee seekes not to pacifie him he incenses him and cannot hope for mercy because hee cannot aske it if hee pray the Prince to spare him his life hee must needs discover the cause that moves him to take it away and because hee discovers it hee is made worthie of Death Ionathan demands of Saul for what offence hee doth persecute David but the King in a rage casts a speare at him and he flies THere is nothing more offensive to a Prince than to require him to declare what he desires to conceale The word why or when imports an Interrogation ought never to bee found in their mouthes that treat with Princes The interrogating hath I know not what superiority because it obligeth one to answer and Princes are not to be obliged but rather to be obeyed Ionathan riseth from the Table in a great anger he goes the next morning where David was and gives the signe according to their agreement David comes out of the place where hee was hid Ionathan informes him of his successe and reiterating the oathes of their Confederacie and the tokens of their Amity not without tender teares they depart asunder WHat thing is Friendship It is a union as one may say of two soules in one bodie which in a sort doe informe it if not truly yet vertually and if a soule be so much grieved when it is to depart out of an earthly body which it informed why should it not also bee grievous to depart from another soule which she loved Such a departure should be but as a death were it not that the distance of place doth not breake off the union of those things that doe not possesse any place But as in the parting of friēds the souls are not so much afflicted the bodies are grieved in forgoing the fomentation of those spirits that were a consolation to them It is not credible that Nature having permitted us spirits to offend us with hath not also granted that the spirits of a friend should bee comfortable unto us Otherwise the spirits of Hatred and of Love should be the selfe-same David flieth and commeth to Nob to Achimelech the Priest who marvelling to see him alone demands the occasion thereof David answers that hee goes about the Kings service who hath so commanded HEe saith truth that hee goes about the Kings service for in flying hee doth the King good service by bereaving him of occasion to doe a great outrage His flight is not to escape chastisement for his offences but to avoyd the mischievous requ●tall of his benefits O the lamentable condition of men of high desert they have two most potent enemies Envy and Feare the one very hardly to be overcome the other impossible nay rather the victorie over the first makes the other the greater Envy like a mountaine it the waters of valour increase is sometimes overwhelmed but feare like a ship the more they increase the higher doth it rise What must they doe then that are so beset with impossibilities Let them couragiously make head against the obstacles of their good fortune if where it is and where not let them give place to the evill It is necessarie sometimes even in a storme to strive against the winde if wee see the haven neere at hand but if it be far off it is better to strike saile and runne adrift than to make shipwrack The most worthy when they are not the greatest become the most infortunate Valour can never clearely be discerned but only in a Prince There because it is profitable to the subjects they reverence and feare it not and because it is an honour to them they commend and envie it not It is so faire a thing that if those two monsters Feare and Envie did not deforme it men would even adore it but haply God permitteth them to deforme it lest it should be adored because it is adored over much when it is not so deformed If it be true that it is agreeable to nature that the best should cōmand it cannot bee contrary to Nature that the better should be feared by him that doth command If the eminency of vertue could bee laid aside perhaps there would not some bee wanting that to lead a quiet life would willingly reduce themselves to that mediocritie that might keepe them from contempt and defend them from envie But as that eminencie is faire and not easie