entirely to the Will of God who is its Supreme Good who saith to it Eschew Evil and Follow Good The Fourth said That by the word Wisedom is generally understood all that which contributes to perfectionate a Man according to the rational part as by the word Faith we understand Christianity and a Summary of all the Christian Virtues Now it is hard to prescribe a way to such Wisedom seeing it requireth two points namely The Knowledge of Things and Moral Habits both which are infinite For all which is Sensible is the Object of our Senses and enters not by one but by all That which is Intelligible is the Object of our Understanding Moreover all the Good in the world is under the notion of Convenience or sutableness which gives it Amability the Object of our Sensitive appetite which is guided in this acquitst by the knowledge of the Senses If it is Spiritual it is the Object of the Will which pursues it by the light of the Understanding And for the eschewing of Errour in the search of those Goods Prudence intervenes which hath at its service an infinite of habits of the Mind yea the whole troop of Moral Virtues in the exercise of which there is always something to be got as there is always to be learnt in the knowledge of things Therefore every Man being fully furnish'd with what is needful to be wise he is not excusable if he become not so For he hath the seeds of Wisedom in as many manners as there are wayes to obtain it In the Understanding he hath from the Cradle Intelligence which is the Habit of first Principles and Maximes which he knoweth by the Induction of the Senses by the help of which he attaineth Science In the Will he hath the Synteresis or Conscience which is an Habitual Cognition of the Principles of Moral Actions by which he easily proceedeth to the exercise of Virtues and to the acquisition of them And further these pure Natural Principles may be assisted and reliev'd by good Instructions and especially if they who learn have Organs well dispos'd and a temper proper for becoming wise At the Hour of Inventions one undertook the proof of Archimedes's Proposition To move the Earth from its Centre if he had assign'd elsewhere a solid space and instruments proportion'd thereto in greatness and strength And it was prov'd that the Centre of Magnitude is different from that of gravity by many Mechanical Experiments After which it was resolv'd to treat at the next Conference First Of the Motion or rest of the Earth Secondly Of two monstrous Brethren living in one Body to be seen at present in this City CONFERENCE X. I. Of the Motion or Rest of the Earth II. Of Two Monstrous Brethren living in the same Body which are to be seen in this City I. Of the Motion or Rest of the Earth HE that spake first to this Point Said this Question had been in debate for more then two thousand years and the reasons brought on either side seem'd to him so strong that he knew not which to embrace That the most common opinion was that of Aristotle Ptolomy Tycho Brahe and the greatest part of Philosophers namely That the Earth is unmoveable and plac'd in the midst of the World Which Scituation is prov'd I. Because the Decorum and Symmetry of the Universe requires that every thing be plac'd according to its dignity But the Earth being the ignoblest and meanest of the Elements all which yield in point of dignity to the Heavens it ought consequently to be in the lowest place which is the Centre of the World II. The Gravity of the Earth inferreth both the one and the other namely its being in the Centre and its Immobility The former because the heaviest things tend toward the lowest place and the latter because by reason of their gravity they are less apt for motion then for rest whereunto the lowest place also contributeth For in a Circle the Centre remains unmoveable whilst the other parts thereof are mov'd III. In whatsoever place of the Earth we are we can alwayes discover one half of the Heaven and the opposite signes of the Zodiack as also experience witnesseth that when the Moon is at the Full we behold her rise just at the same time that the Sun sets Whence it followeth that the Earth is at the Centre and as it were a point in comparison to the Firmament IV. We alwayes see the Stars of the same magnitude both when they are directly over our heads and on the edge of the Horizon unless there be some hindrance by the refraction of Vapours and Clouds All which things would not be thus unless the Earth were in the midst of the World Now they have concluded the Rest and Immobility of the Earth from the following Reasons I. It is the nature of Simple Bodies to have but one Sole and Simple Motion For if two contrary Motions were in the same Subject the one would hinder the other Wherefore the Earth having by reason of its gravity a Direct perpendicular Motion of its own cannot have also a Circular and by reason of the same gravity it must needs be firm and stable not moveable II. If the Earth were mov'd then a stone or other heavy thing cast upwards would never fall down at the foot of the caster but at distance from him for during the short interval of its being in the Air the Earth will have made a great progress as it happens when one in a boat that passeth swiftly upon the Water casteth any thing upwards the same falleth a far off instead of falling into the boat III. If the Earth turn'd round then a Bullet discharg'd out of a Cannon from the West towards the East would not fly so far from the piece as one discharg'd from the East towards the West because the Earth will in the mean time by its Motion have carried the Cannon forwards to the former Bullet and remov'd it backwards from the latter IV. We should never see the Clouds unmov'd nor going towards the East but as for them that move Westward they would seem to fly as swift as lightning V. Cities and all kind of buidings would be shatter'd the Surface of the Earth would be disunited and all its parts dissipated being not so firmly link'd together as to endure such a Motion Lastly did the Earth turn round and the Air with it as is alledg'd in answer to the former reasons the Air would have been so heated since its Motion with that swiftness that the Earth would have been uninhabitable and all Animals suffocated Besides that the violence of that could Motion not have been supported by Men so long time for it is acknowledg'd that Daemons themselves cannot carry a Man from one Climate to another remote one within that short time that some Magicians have phanci'd because he would not be able to resist the violence of the agitation of the Air. The Second confirm'd this
in this manner First Loves it in it self with a Love of Friendship and then afterwards judging it amiable applies it to it self and desires it So that there is a two-fold convenience or agreableness in every thing that is lov'd even with the Love of Concupiscence First the convenience of the Good with its proper subject And Secondly the convenience of the same Good with the thing or person whereunto it is desired The first convenience excites the Love of Friendship The second that of Concupiscence Wherefore it is more natural to Love without Interest then for it Besides Love follows Knowledge and we know things simply and in themselves sooner then such as are compounded and refer'd to another Lastly the Love of Friendship is the end of the motions of our Hearts which acquiesce and stop there The Love of Concupiscence is for the means which are posterior in the intention of Nature and as servants employ'd for the End The Third said That Love being one of the most noble acts of the Will or rather of the Soul which is created after the Image of God it hath some lineaments of that Divine Love Now God loves all things for his own sake In like manner we see all reasonable Creatures have an instinct and sympathy to such as are convenient to themselves and an abhorrence or antipathy to their contraries Moreover the Nature of Good which is the Object of Love shews that Love always precisely regards him that loves there being no Absolute Good but all is with convenience or relation without which it would not move us to affect it For no Love can be assign'd how perfect soever in which the person that loves hath not some interest Q. Curtius deliver'd Rome from an infection of the Pestilence by plunging himself into a great Vorago in the Earth but it was with a desire of glory and to be talk'd of A Father loves his Children but it is that he may perpetuate himself in them We love Virtue for the sweetness and delectation which it brings with it yea even Martyrs offer themselves couragiously to death that they may live eternally with him for whose sake they suffer And if seeing two Men play at Tennis both of them alike unknown unto me I yet wish that one may win rather then the other this proceeds from some convenience or agreeableness between us two though the reason of it be not then manifest to me The Fourth said That Disinterested Love which is the true intirely terminates in the thing lov'd purely and simply for the natural and supernatural goodness which is in it But that which reflects upon the person who loves for his Honour Profit or Pleasure is false and vicious Now although since the depravation of our Nature by sin the former sort of Love be very difficult yet is it not impossible For since there is a Relative Love there must also be an Absolute which serves for a contrary to the other It is much more hard to love an Enemy a thing commanded by God then to love another with a Disinteressed Love And though it be true that Pleasure is so essential to Love that it is inseparable from it whence one may infer that such Pleasure is an interest yet provided he who loves doth it not with reflection to his Pleasure or for the Pleasure which he takes in loving his Love is pure and simple and void of all interest So though he who loves goes out of himself to be united to the thing lov'd which is the property of Love and becomes a part of the whole which results from that union and consequently interessed for the preservation of the same Nevertheless provided he do not reflect upon himself as he is a part of that whole his love is always without interest The fifth said That as Reflex Knowledge is more excellent and perfect then direct So reflected Love which is produc'd by knowledge of the merits and perfections of the thing lov'd is more noble and judicious then that which is without any reflection and interest Gods Love towards Men ought to serve them for a rule Therefore Plato saith that when God design'd to create the World he transform'd himself into Love which is so much interessed that he hath made all things for his own Glory The Sixth said That true Love is like Virtue contented with it self and he that loves any thing for his particular interest doth not properly love that thing but himself to whom he judgeth it sutable In which respect Saint Bernard calls such kind of Love mercenary and illegitimate because true and pure Love is contented simply with loving and though it deserves reward yet that is not its motive but the sole consideration of the excellence and goodness of the thing lov'd Nor is this true Love so rare as is imagin'd there being examples of it found in all conditions of Men. Cleomenes King of Lacedaemon disguis'd himself on purpose to be slain as accordingly he was thereby to expiate to the Fate which was destinated to the loss either of the Chiestain or his Army Gracchus dy'd that his Wife Cornelia might live The Wife of Paetus slew her self for company to sweeten death to her Husband Histories are full of Fathers and Mothers that have prefer'd their own death before that of their Children At the Hour of Inventions One offering to speak of Amulets Philtres and other means to procure Love and mentioning the Hippomanes or flesh which is found in the fore-head of a young Colt whereof Virgil speaks he was interrupted by this intimation That the two most effectual means for causing Love were the graces of the Body and the Mind and to love those by whom we would be lov'd And these two points were propounded First Whether Melancholy persons are the most ingenious Secondly Which is most necessary in a State Reward or Punishment CONFERENCE XIII I. Whether Melancholy Persons are the most ingenious or prudent II. Which is most necessary in a State Reward or Punishment I. Whether Melancholy Men are the most ingenious THe First said That according to Galen Humane Actions to speak naturally depend on the complexion or composition of the Humours Which Opinion hath so far prevail'd that in common Speech the words Nature Temper and Humour signifie not onely the Inclination but the Aptitude and Disposition of persons to any thing So we say Alexander the Great was of an Ambitious and Martial Nature Mark Anthony of an Amorous Temper Cato of a severe Humour Of the Humours Melancholy whereof we are to speak is divided into the Natural wherewith the Spleen is nourish'd and that which is Preternatural called Atrabilis or black choler The one is like to a Lee or Sediment the other to the same Lee burnt and is caus'd by the adustion of all the Humours whereof the worst is that which is made of choler Again it is either innate or acquir'd by abuse of the six things which we call Non-natural
of the Ascendant and the Middle of Heaven in the Nativity which are the principal significators of the inclinations and actions of a Man The Fourth said That to attribute that property and Virtue to the Humours to make Men wise and intelligent is to prejudice the Rational Soul which being immaterial needeth no material instrument for the performing of its actions but as it is wholly Divine and the Image of God it is perfectly intelligent of its own Nature and by Reason the noblest of its Faculties of it self knows what ever is most hidden in Nature For if the actions of Knowledge and Prudence depend on the Temper of the Humours then that which now produceth ratiocination in me should have been the food which I took yesterday And so those things which whilst they were alive had no other actions but vegetative or sensitive should when they are dead produce intellectual The Spirits alone put our Humours in motion and action and when those fail these remain without any Virtue Nevertheless those Spirits onely the vehicles of the Rational Soul are not the Cause either of Knowledge or Prudence but onely of Life much less can those excellent Qualities be attributed to the Humours II. Whether is more necessary in a State Reward or Punishment Upon the Second Point the First said That Reward and Punishment are the two pillars of a State one for the satisfying of Merit and encouraging Men to Virtue the other for restraining Malefactors and turning them from Vice That consequently they are both necessary and almost inseparable Nevertheless Reward seemes to have some degree of necessity above the other because though Punishment with its eight species which are Fine Imprisonment Stripes Retaliation Ignominy Banishment Servitude and Death serves for Example and for satisfaction to Distributive Justice whose end is to extinguish Crimes and reform them and secure the Good against the Bad whence the Wise-man commandeth Magistrates to break off Iniquity and govern with a rod of Iron yet is it not good in all times nor in all places And Sylla did prudently in not punishing his Souldiers who slew the Praetor Albinus in a Sedition On the contrary Reward is alwayes necessary and every where welcome being the wages of Virtue as the other is of Vice 'T is for that the Labourer cultivates the Earth that the Souldier goes to the War and that good Wits employ their time in excellent and profitable inventions Darius preserv'd his Kingdom by having rewarded Zopyrus And on the contrary Philip lost the City of Damas for want of gratifying Milesius by whose means he had won it So that it is with good reason that Pliny saith in his Panegyrick That the recompences of good and bad deeds make Men good or bad The Second said That in the beginning of the World when our Nature was created in the perfection of a lust Aequilibrium we had on the one side the inferior part of the Soul wholly subject to the superior and on the other this superior Soul absolutely submissive to the Divine Will But the first Man having broken that Aequilibrium by his sin and turn'd the balance towards the side of Evil this Counterpoise which like infectious Leven is left in the flesh of Adam hath given us all a tendency and inclination to Evil. Hence it is that Men are lead into all sorts of Vices and because 't is the property of sin to blind the Mind and cloud the Memory with the Reason they have also forgotten the way which they ought to keep that they might live like reasonable Men. For remedy whereof not onely God who from all Eternity purposed our Reparation but also Men most vers'd in the knowledge of Good and Evil have establish'd Laws to restore Man to his Aequilibrium and contain him in his duty both towards God and Humane Society But because Original Sin powerfully inclines us to Evil from our Nativitie and it is very rare if not impossible to find any one that erres and perseveres so wilfully without fear or hope therefore God and Kings have appointed two powerful counterpoises Rewards and Punishments the former for good and virtuous actions the latter for the Transgression of their Laws Since then Punishment is onely for Transgression of Laws and Reward for those who besides observing them proceed further to virtuous actions and such as are profitable to the publick It is certain the former of the two is most necessary in a State as that to which Men are most prone For it is most true that Men are naturally more inclin'd to Evil then to Good because they are corrupted by Original Sin and we know the most part would willingly desire to grow great by the loss of others and to plunge themselves in Pleasures and Riches if they were not restrain'd by the rigor of Laws This is further confirmed because the Laws of Men are better observed then the Divine Laws not but that Men are as ready to infringe those as these of God who forbears and is patient after the sin of Man but because the penalties of Humane Laws are appointed for this Life and we behold Criminals publickly executed Wherefore Punishment is the most necessary in a State Nevertheless Reward is not unprofitable because it serves to excite to well doing and is frequently propos'd in the Divine Laws the corruption of our Nature not permitting us to be lead to do good for the sake of good alone Moreover our own necessity constrains us to seek the support of our Life by our Labours and to eat our Bread in the sweat of our Countenances as our Sentence importeth But to determine whether it be alwayes fit to reward or punish when there is occasion this depends upon many circumstances of Times Places and Persons wherein a good part of the skill of a States-man consists Yet when Reward or Punishment tends to the good of the publick or the honour of the Prince neither the one nor the other ought to be omitted in my opinion so far as is possible The Third said That the Distick which imports That the good hate sin out of the love of Virtue and the wicked out of the fear of Punishment voids the question For since the good have nothing to do with any other Reward but what they find in their own satisfaction knowing otherwise that they are oblig'd to do well and the wicked need no other salary but the Punishment due to their Crimes it seemes Punishment is not onely necessary but alone necessary in a State Not but that Reward serves for ornament and for its better being as Sauces do to raise the languishing Appetite But in reference to absolute necessity no person can say that they are to be compar'd together For although Plato calls Reward and Punishment the two grand Daemons of Humane Society yet it is not thence to be infer'd that the one ought to be parallel'd with the other which is better understood by experience For compare
also instanc'd to comprehend all Vices as Justice contains in it self all Virtues For he who is proud covetous prodigal or a Murtherer would not be so if he were not unjust whilst he attributes more to himself and less to others then is due And for conclusion it was said That as of the diseases of the Body those are term'd the greatest which invade the most noble part or have the most dangerous symptomes as the prick of a pin in the heart is more mortal then the cutting off of an arm and the same puncture is more perillous when Convulsions thereupon befall the whole body then a wound with a sword in some fleshy part without any accidents so Ignorance and Imprudence are the greatest vices because they possess the most noble Faculty of man the Understanding and produce all the rest At the hour of Inventions a Proposition was reported to draw Smith's-coal out of the lands of this Kingdom and in so doing to cut channels for the draining of Marshes and making rivers Navigable in order to the conveniency of transportation sacilitation of commerce feeding of Cattel and preservation of Forests This Invention besides the advantage it will bring to the meaner sort of people in reference to their domestick fuel is of much benefit for the making of Brick Tile and Lime as much of which may be made thereby in three days as is made in eight or nine with wood which is the ordinary fashion It will be a matter of great saving to the whole Kingdom especially to the abovesaid Artists who are here in great number and are forc'd to buy such Coal from England at dear rates The Proposer offer'd to continue the experience which he had made thereof at his own charges for satisfaction of the curious CONFERENCE XXXVII I. Of the Cabala II. Whether the truth ought always to be spoken I. Of the Cabala THat which hath hapned to many other words as Tyrant and Magician which at their first institution were taken in a good sense but have abusively degenerated into odious significations is found likewise in the word Cabala which according to its genuine importance signifies nothing else but Tradition and comes from the Verb Cabal denoting with the Hebrews to give or receive 'T is a mystical doctrine concerning God and the creatures which the Jews receiv'd by tradition from Father to Son If we may give credit to them it Began in Adam who had a perfect knowledge not only of the whole nature and property of things corporeal but also of the Divine nature of the mysteries of Religion and of the redemption of mankind which his Angel Raziel assur'd him was to come to pass by means of a just man whose name should consist of four letters which is the cause say they that most part of the Hebrew names are of four letters in their language wherein the vowels are no letters Adam taught these mysteries to his children they to their successors until Abraham and the Patriarchs But they say Moses learn'd it anew from the mouth of God during the forty days that he was in the Mount where he receiv'd two Laws one written with the hand of God compriz'd in the two Tables of stone the other not written and more mysterious the former for all in general the latter for the learned and skill'd in mysteries of Religion which is that which Moses taught the seventy Elders of the People chosen by himself according to the counsel of Jethro his Father-in-law and they transfer'd the same to the Prophets Doctors of the Law Scribes Pharisees Rabbines and Cabalists The Second said That in order to judge of the Cabala 't is requisite to know what the Philosophy of the Jews was as the Stoicks Peripateticks Pyrrhonians and other Philosophers had their peculiar Sects 'T is divided commonly into that of things and that of words or names The first is call'd by the Rabbines Bereschit the second Mercana That which treats of things by the Cabalists call'd Sephiroch that is to say numbers or knowledges for with them to number and to know are almost synonymous is either Philosophical or Theological The Philosophical comprehends their Logick Physicks Metaphysicks and Astronomy In Logick they treat of the ten lesser Sephiroth which are so many steps or degrees for attaining to the knowledge of all things by means of Sense Knowledge or Faith and they are divided into three Regions In the lowest which is made by the sense are 1 the Object 2 the Medium or Diaphanum 3 the External sense In the second and middle region are 4 the Internal or common Sense 5 the Imagination or Phancie 6 the Estimative Faculty or inferior Judgement In the third and supream 7 the Superior and Humane Judgement 8 Reason 9 The Intellect 10 and lastly the Understanding or Mens which performs the same office to the Soul that the Eye doth to the Body whom it enlightens For example when I hear a Cannon discharg'd the sound comes to my ears by the medium of the air then the Common Sense receiving this species of the sound transmits the same to the Imagination and the Estimative Faculty judges thereof simply as beasts would do afterwards the Judgement apprehends the essence of the sound Reason searches the causes thereof and the Intellect considers them but lastly the Understanding or Mens call'd by the Cabalists Ceter that is a Crown by way of excellence receiving light from on high irradiates the Intellect and this all the other Faculties And these are the degrees of Cabalistical knowledge In the other parts of their Philosophy they treat of the fifty gates of light Whereof the 1. is the Divine Essence the Symbol of which is the Tetragrammaton and ineffable name of God The 2. gate is the Archetypal World the knowledge of which two gates they say was hid even to Moses The 3. is the Earth 4. Matter 5. Vacuum or Privation 6. The Abysse 7. The Fire 8. The Air 9. The Water 10. The Light 11. The Day 12. Accidents 13. The Night 14. The Evening 15. The Morning And after many other things they constitute Man for the 50th gate To arrive to the knowledge of these 50 gates they have invented 32 Flambeaux or Torches to guide them into the secrets contained therein which they call the paths of Wisdom namely the Intelligence miraculous or occult Intelligence sanctifying resplendent pure dispositive eternal corporeal c. The Theological Cabala treats of God and Angles Of God by expounding the names of 12 and 42 letters yea they attribute seven hundred several ones to him and particularly the ten Divine Attributes which they term the grand Sephiroth namely Infinity Wisdom Intelligence Clemency or Goodness Severity Ornament Triumph Confession of praise Foundation and Royalty whereby God governs all things by weight number and measure Of Angels namely of the 32 abovesaid Intelligences call'd by them the paths of wisdom for they make them so many Angels and of seventy two other
one thing rather then another infus'd into every one for the preservation of Sciences Which end of Nature would be frustrated should we run to the inquisition of new Sciences before we have attain'd the first considering the brevity of our lives compar'd with the amplitude of Arts. Wherefore it were more expedient not onely that every one apply'd himself to that whereunto he finds himself inclin'd but that there were as many distinct Artists as the Art hath principal parts and that for example as Physick hath been commodiously divided between Physitians Chirugeons and Apothecaries which were anciently but one so their functions were again subdivided Because by this means every one of them would attain a more perfect knowledge of his Subject Therefore Plato instead of cultivating as he could have done the spacious field of Philosophy apply'd himself onely to Metaphysicks Socrates to Morality Democritus to Natural Philosophy Archimedes to the Mathematicks For they who would possess all the parts of a Science at once are like those who should try to pluck off a Horse's tail at one pull instead of doing it hair by hair Whence it was said of Erasmus that he had been greater if he had been contented to be less The Fifth said That determination of the question depends upon the capacity of wits For as in a poor little Mansion where there is not room enough to place all necessary moveables 't were impertinence to desire to place such as serve onely for luxury and ornament So mean wits yea the indifferent such as most are take safer course in keeping to those few things of which they have most use then if they embrac'd too many for fear of verifying the Proverb He that grasps too much holds nothing But there are some Heroick Spirits capable of every thing and of which comparing them to others that may be said which a Father once said of the different degrees of bliss comparing the Souls of the blessed to vessels of several sizes all fill'd from the same Fountain There are little vulgar capacities which the initiation of a Science or the Etymologie of a word satisfies and they never get beyond the Apprentiship of the least trade Others are so transcendent that they go like the Sun into all corners of the world without being wearied or contaminated with several objects Nothing tires them but rest They draw every thing to themselves become Masters of what ever they undertake and reduce all Sciences to their principal study Thus the Divine the Physitian and the Lawyer will make use of History The first to enrich a Sermon or raise a Soul dejected by the consideration of its miseries whereunto it believes none equal The Second to divert his Patient whose Mind ha's no less need of redress then his body The Third to shew that the same judgement ha's been given in a parallel case They will call in the demonstrations of the Mathematicks to back their own and the experiments of other Arts to serve for examples and similitudes To these Nature how vast soever it be seemes still too little and they would complain upon occasion like Alexander that there were not worlds enough Such were of old Hippocrates and Aristotle and in the time of our Fathers the Count of Mirandula Scaliger and some others who though they writ and spoke of all things did nevertheless excel in all Besides nothing can be known perfectly without knowing a little of every thing and this by reason of the Encyclopaedie or Circle of Arts as we cannot understand a particular map without having some knowledge of the general and also of the neighbouring Countries CONFERENCE XLV I. Whether the Heavens be solid or liquid II. Whether it be harder to get then to preserve I. Whether the Heavens be solid or liquid WHen the proportion requisite to the necessary distance between the sense and its object fails either in excess or defect there is no more credit to be given to Sense That which we look upon too near and which is apply'd upon the Eye appears greater then ordinary as that which is too remote seems very small and diminishes commensurately to its distance By which also the figure or shape of the object becomes chang'd to our apprehension and we are apt to mistake a square Tower to be round one colour for another nothing for a body a tree for a living creature a beast for a man one face for another Some things likewise deceive us near hand as the certain of Timanthus But if we are abus'd in objects which are terminated by an opake surface capable of bounding our view and reflecting our visual rayes the same happens with more reason in diaphanous and transparent bodies as Light Fire Air Water Glass and every thing of that nature The two last especially have such conformity that they have divers effects alike as to serve instead of burning-glasses to recollect the Sun-beams and represent the species which are opposite to them For fill a viol with water and set it in the Sun his beams will produce the same effect with it as with a burning-glass Now by reason of the possibility that our Sight may be mistaken we are many times forc'd to have recourse to some other Sense as to that of Touching to the end the one may be back'd with the testimony of the other But this cannot be practis'd in the present Subject and therefore I conceive that the Heavens taken for the Celestial Orbes and not for the Air nor the third or Empyrreal Heaven are neither solid nor liquid because solidity is an effect of dryness and liquidity of moisture which are Elementary Qualities but the Heavens not being compos'd of the Elements cannot partake of their qualities But as they constitute a Fifth Essence of no affinity with that of the Four Elements so the accidents which belong to them are wholly different from ours and can no more be conceiv'd then those of glorifi'd bodies which if you imagine solid you can never think how they should bow the knee or exercise any the like function If they be imagin'd rare and liquid and consequently penetrable they will seem to us divisible qualities contrary to their immortality Wherefore I conclude that the things of Heaven are not to be measur'd by the standard of those on Earth The Second said That when things are remote from our external Senses we must joyn the internal in their disquisition now reason requires that there be some utmost solid surface serving as a boundary and limit to the Elements otherwise the same thing would happen to the Air or the Elementary Fire if there be any such above the Air that doth to the Water and the Earth which exhale and evaporate their more rare and subtile parts into the Air for so would the Air exhale its vapours into the Heavens and the Fire whose Nature is alwayes to mount directly upwards till the occurse of some solid body checks its course and make it circulate
obstruction hinders the afflux of the spirits to it as in a Gutta Serena there is no vision made An Evidence that seeing is an action of both and consequently the Senses are as many as the several Organs which determine and specificate the same But the Taste being comprehended under the Touch by the Philosophers definition must be a species thereof and therefore there are but four Senses as four Elements the Taste and the Touch which it comprehends being exercis'd in the earth gross as themselves the Sight in Water in which its Organ swims and of which it almost wholly consists the Smelling by the Fire which awakens odours and reduces them out of power into act and the Hearing in the Air which is found naturally implanted in the Ear and is the sole medium of this sense according to Aristotle the hearing of Fishes being particular to them in the Water and very obscure The Third said He was of Scaliger's mind who reckons Titillation for the sixth sense For if the Taste though comprehended under the Touching as was said constitutes a distinct sense why not Titillation which is a species of Touching too considering that it represents things otherwise then the ordinary Touch doth and hath its particular Organs as the soles of the Feet the palmes of the Hands the Flanks the Arm-pits and some other places Yea Touching may be accounted the Genus of the Senses since all partake thereof The Fourth said That those actions which some Animals perform more perfectly then we as the Dog exceeds us in Smelling the Spider in Touching the Eagle in Seeing and many in presaging the seasons and weather seem'd to be the effects of 6 7 or 8 Senses there being no proportion between such great extraordinary effects and their Organes the structure whereof is the same with those of other Animals which come not near the same Yea that 't is by some supernumerary sense found in each Animal that they have knowledge of what is serviceable or hurtful to them in particular For example who teaches the Dog the virtue of Grass the Hart of Dittany their ordinary Senses cannot Nor is it likely that so many occult properties have been produc'd by Nature to remain unknown But they cannot be understood unless by some Sense which is not vulgar considering that all the Senses together understand not their substance The Fifth said There are five external Senses neither more nor less because there needs so many and no more to perceive and apprehend all external objects And as when one of our Senses is deprav'd or abolish'd another cannot repair it nor succeed it in all its functions so if there were more then five the over-plus would be useless there being no accident but falls under the cognisance of these five Senses And although each of them is not sufficient thereunto severally yet they serve well enough all together as in the perception of motion rest number magnitude and figure which are common objects to divers Senses Now if there were need of more then five Senses 't would be to judge of objects wherein the others fail So that the supernumeraries being unprofitable 't is not necessary to establish more then five And as for substance 't is not consistent with its Nature to be known by the external Senses The Sixth said Man being compos'd of three Pieces a Soul a Body and Spirits of a middle Nature between both the five Senses suffice to the perfection and support of these three parts Knowledge which is the sole Good of the Soul is acquir'd by invention and discipline for which we have Eyes and Ears Good Odours recreate and repair the Spirits The Touch and Taste are the Bodie 's guards the first by preserving it from hurtfull qualities which invade it from without and the second from such as enter and are taken in by the mouth And therefore 't is in vain to establish more The Seventh said Since according to the Philosophers Sense is a passive quality and Sensation is made when the Organ is alter'd by the object there must be as many several Senses as there are different objects which variously alter the Organs Now amongst Colours Odours and other sensible objects there are many different species and the qualities perceiv'd by the Touch are almost infinite Nor is it material to say that they all proceed from the first qualities since Colors Odours and Tasts are likewise second qualities arising from those first and nevertheless make different Senses The Eighth said Although it be true that Faculties are determin'd by objects yet must not these Faculties be therefore multiply'd according to the multitude of objects So though White and Black are different nevertheless because they both act after the same manner namely by sending their intentional species through the same medium to the same Organ the Sight alone sufficeth for judging of their difference The Ninth said Since four things are requisite to Sensation to wit the Faculty the Organ the Medium and the Object 't is by them that the number of Senses is determin'd The Object cannot do it otherwise there would not be five Senses but infinitely more Nor can the Faculty do it being inseparable from the Soul or rather the Soul it self and consequently but one and to say that there is but one Sense is erroneously to make an external Sense of the Common Sense Much less can the Medium do it since one and the same Medium serves to many Senses and one and the same Sense is exercis'd in several Mediums as the Sight in the Air and the Water It remains therefore that the diversity proceed from that of the Organs which being but five make the like number of Senses II. Whether is better to be silent or to speak Upon the Second Point it was said 'T is a greater difficulty and consequently more a virtue to hold one's peace then to speak the latter being natural to Man and very easie when he has once got the habit of it but the former is a constrain'd Action and to practise which handsomely the Mind must be disciplin'd to do violence to the itch of declaring it self every one conceiving it his interest that the truth be known And there are fewer examples of those that have sav'd themselves by speaking then of those that have lost themselves by not keeping Secrecie justly term'd the Soul of the State and of affairs which once vented of easie become impossible Whence arose the name of Secretaries for principal Ministers and Officers of States and great Houses and indeed 't is at this day a title affected by the meanest Clerks testifying thereby in what esteem they have Silence And the unworthiest of all Vices Treachery ordinarily takes advantage of this defect of Secrecie which renders Men full of chinks and like a sieve so that many can more easily keep a coal in their mouths then a secret On the contrary Silence is so much reverenc'd that the wisest persons when they are
the Stoicks call a god others a divine member and the Luminary of the little World Theophrastus Beauty because it resides principally in the Eyes the most charming part of a handsome face Their colour twinkling fixedness and other dispositions serve the Physiognomists for certain indications of the inclinations of the soul which all antiquity believ'd to have its seat in the eyes in which you read pride humility anger mildness joy sadness love hatred and the other humane affections And as the inclinations and actions of men are more various then those of other creatures so their eyes alone are variously colour'd whereas the eyes of all beasts of the same species are alike Yea the eyes are no less eloquent then the tongue since they express our conceptions by a dumb but very emphatical language and a twinkle of the eye many times moves more to obedience then speech Plato being unable to conceive the admirable effects of the Sight without somewhat of divinity believ'd there was a celestial light in the eye which issuing forth to receive the outward light brought the same to the soul to be judg'd of which nevertheless we perceive not in the dark because then the internal streaming forth into the obscure air which is unlike to it self is alter'd and corrupted by it Indeed if it be true that there is a natural implanted sound in the ear why may there not be a natural light in the eye considering too that the Organs ought to have a similitude and agreement with their objects And hence it is that the eyes sometimes flash like lightning in the night as Cardan saith his did and Suetonious relates the same of Tiberius and that those that are in a Phrensy imagine that they see lightning For it seems to me more rational to refer this Phaenomenon to the lucid and igneous spirits of the sight which being unable to penetrate the crystalline or vitreous humour by reason of some gross vapours reflect back into the eye and make those flashes then to the smoothness of the eye or to attrition of the spirits or as Galen holds to an exhalation caus'd by the blood which is carri'd to the head though this latter may sometimes be a joynt cause The Third said The Eye is compos'd of six Muscles as many Tunicles three Humours two pair of Nerves and abundance of small Veins and Arteries its object is every thing that is visible as colour light and splendor light in the Celestial Bodies wherein the object and the medium are the same thing since the light of the Sun is seen by it self colour in inferiour bodies where the object and the medium are two for colour cannot be seen without light splendor in the scales of Fishes rotten wood the eyes of some animals Gloe-worms and the like for it is different from their natural colour It s Organ is the Eye so regarded by Nature that she hath fortifi'd it on all sides for its safety with the bone of the Forehead the Eye-brows the Eye-lids the hair thereof the Nose the rising of the Cheeks and the Hands to ward off outward injuries and if Galen may be believ'd the Brain it self the noblest part of the body was made only for the eyes whence Anaxagoras conceiv'd that men were created only to see or contemplate The Eyes are dearer to us then any other part because saith Aristotle they are the instruments of most exact knowledge and so serve not only for the body but the soul whose food is the knowledge which the eye supplies call'd for this reason the Sense of Invention as the Ear is that of discipline 'T is of an aqueous nature because it was requisite that it should be diaphanous to receive the visible species and light for if it had been of a terrestrial matter it would have been opake and dark if aerious or igneous it could not have long retain'd the species air and fire being thin diaphanous bodies which receive well but retain not for though the air be full of the species of objects which move through it from all parts yet they are not visible in it by reason of its rarity It was fit therefore that the Eye should be of a pellucid and dense substance that it might both receive and retain the visible species which kind of substance is proper to water as appears by the images which it represents Moreover the Eye being neer and conjoyn'd to the Brain by the Nerves of the first and second conjugation and to the membranes thereof by its Tunicles could not be of an igneous nature perfectly contrary to that of the Brain as Plato held it to be because of its agility lucidity and orbicular figure like that of fire as he said and because the Eye is never tense or stiff as all the other parts all which he conceiv'd could not be but from fire For the Eyes agility or nimbleness of motion is from its Muscles and its lubricity its brightness from the external light its round figure rather denotes water whose least particles are so then fire whose figure is pyramidal 'T is never stiff because of the fat wherewith it is stuff'd and because it is destitute of flesh II. Of Painting Upon the second Point it was said That Painting is a sort of writing by which many times that is express'd which cannot be spoken witness the story of Progne and Philomel and as the latter represents things by letters so doth the former by their natural figure so perfectly that it is understood by the most ignorant because it exhibits in their proper colour bigness proportion and other natural accidents whereas Writing makes use of characters and figures which have no affinity with the things denoted by them but only signifie the same by the institution of men who therefore differ in Writing but all agree in painting Both the one and the other like all Arts whose scope is imitation as Oratory Statuary Sculpture Architecture and many others depend upon the strength of the Imagination and that Painter succeeds bests who hath in his mind the most perfect idea of his work And because a Painter is to imitate every thing 't is requir'd to his being a Master that he be ignorant of nothing particularly he must know both the natural and artificial proportions and agreements of things with their several modes and uses And where there are three ways of representing the first in surfaces by flat painting the other in bodies themselves which belongs to Statuary and the Plastick Art the third between both as Graving and Carving Painting is the most difficult and consequently the most noble For it must so deceive the sight as to make cavities folds and bosses appear in a flat surface by the help of shadows which although a meer nothing because but a privation of light yet they gave all the gracefulness and value to Pictures For the way of painting without shadows us'd in China being nothing but a simple delineation without hatchment
hath found no sweeter Anodyne to the miseries and sadnesses of old people then the sight of children whom they extreamly love and then the memory of things done or learn'd in their non-age which the less distant it is from its source the Deity the more it partakes thereof The Fourth said Youth hath too many extravagancies to be accounted happy nor can Child-hood and Old-age deserve that title since 't would be contrary to the order of nature if the extreams contain'd more perfection then that which is in the middle where she hath establish'd the vertue of all things For as for Child-hood its weakness sufficiently shews that it hath not wherewith to content it self since it needs the help of others and is an object of pity a passion that never arises but from misery There 's no commendation in its innocence which depends upon impotence and the imperfection of the souls operations and they as much want the will and power to do well as the intention and means to do ill But true Innocence consists in the action of difficult good If Infancy hath no apprehension of the future it receives the present evil with much more pain and shews it self as sensible to the least displeasures as incapable of consolation and prudence to avoid them if it wants fear though indeed every thing terrifies it the hope of good to come never anticipates and prolongs its enjoyment In a word he cannot be happy who hath not the knowledge of his happiness which Children cannot have while they want the use of Reason which is peculiar to Man Old-age which is a second Childhood and the more to be dislik'd in that it always grows worse partakes all the defects of the first age and hath this besides that the desires awakened by the remembrance of pass'd conrentments are constantly jarring with his impotence and the ardency of getting and possessing hath a perpetual contract with the necessity of forsaking and losing pains and aches the forerunners of death daily attempt his patience and there 's no hope of other cure but the extremity of all evils not-being Infancy therefore is like the Spring which hath only flowers and expects the fruits afterwards 't is an age of hope without enjoyment Youth hath only Summer fruits of little lasting Old-age is a Winter without either flowers or fruits hath nothing but present evils in possession is to fear all and to lose all But Virility or Manhood holds the middle between them both and resembles Autumn denoted by the horn of Plenty possesses the happiness of life enjoys the present goods and by hope anticipates those to come the soul in this age commonly corresponds with the body its faculties make an agreeable symphonie with the actions hereof and the sweet union of a reciprocal complacency On the contrary in childhood the soul seems not yet well tun'd to the body in adolescence it always jars with the appetites of the Senses and in old age it altogether disagrees with it self and by a sudden departure endeavours to have its part separately CONFERENCE LX. I. Of Quintessence II. Which is the most in esteem Knowledge or Vertue I. Of Quintessence THe mind of man as it is the purer part of him so it is always pleas'd with that which is most pure In conversation it loves the most refin'd and prefers simplicity which is most pure above the windings and double-dealings of deceivers Amongst Metals it prefers Gold and Silver which are the purest above Lead Iron and other imperfect and course Minerals In food Physick and the stomack of the diseased chuse that which is most freed from its gross and unprofitable parts Among sounds the most subtile are the most charming Among artificial things we find more sprightliness in the gracefulness of small works then in others In the Sciences the more subtile a reason is the more 't is applauded But being health is the greatest yea the only true good being the foundation of all the rest and sickness the greatest yea the only real evil of our life therefore our minds have herein most sought after subtilety especially to subtilize aliments and medicaments not but that there may be a quintessence as well drawn from other things but it would not be so useful Now 't is to be observ'd that this word is taken either generally for any body depurated from its more course matter as Spirits Waters and Oyls excluding Magisteries which retain the intire substance of the bodies from whence they are taken only render'd more active by its subtilization or else it is taken properly and in this acception Quintessence is some thing different from all this and is compar'd to the soul which informs the body The Second said That in every compound body there is a mixture of substance besides that of qualities whence arise the occult properties and forms of things which is their fifth Essence 't is no Body for it takes not up place nor yet a Spirit since 't is found also in inanimate bodies but some thing of a middle nature between both and neither one nor the other Of which kind we want not examples in Nature Shadow the Image in a Glass yea all intentional species are neither body nor spirit Now that it takes not up place may be prov'd because a bottle of Wine expos'd unstop'd to the air is not diminish'd in its quantity yet lofes its taste smell and other qualities by which change it becomes another thing from what it was before an evidence that it hath lost its form which is nothing else but the Quintessence we speak of and should another body receive the same it would have the qualities the Wine lost which after separation of them is no more Wine then the carcase of a man is a man after his soul is departed Moreover that which nourishes in food is not a body but the form or quintessence of it since by the observation of the most Inquisitive 't is found that the excrements of all the concoctions equal the aliments both in weight and quantity as the Urine of Drunkards is commonly as much as the Wine they have drunk and Mineral waters are voided in the same quantity that they were taken This fifth Essence is found every where in the Elements and in compound bodies In those 't is the purest of the Element impregnated with the Universal Spirit in these 't is likewise the purest part of the compound animated by the same Spirit The Third said There is no other Quintessence but the Heaven in comparison of the Elements in the mixtion whereof the Heaven concurs as an universal Agent whose influence which is the soul of the World determining the matter informs and renders it active thus the Stars produce Metals even in the centre of the Earth Hence the world Heaven is taken by Chymists for Quintessence because of the simplicity and activity common both to the one and the other But because it cannot fall under the cognisance of
and these being dissipated by age the species put forth themselves by little and little as Characters engraven on wood or stone cover'd over with wax appear proportionably as it melts off And therefore he term'd all our knowledge a remembrance but although he err'd herein yet reason'd better then Aristotle who admitted the Metempsychosis but deny'd the Reminiscence both which are necessary consequents one of the other The Second said That the operations of the Intellect are so divine that not being able to believe the same could proceed from it self it refers them to superiors For it invents disposes meditates examines and considers the least differences it compounds and divides every thing apprehends simple termes conjoynes the subject and the attribute affirms denyes suspends its judgements and alone of all the Faculties reflects upon it self yea by an action wholly divine produces a word For as in speaking a word is produc'd by the mouth so in understanding is form'd the word of the Mind Yet with this difference that the former is a corporeal patible quality imprinted in the Air and not the latter for intellection is an immanent operation Hence some have thought that all these divine actions were perform'd by God himself whom they affirm'd to be that Agent Intellect which irradiating the phantasmes produces out of them the intelligible species which it presents to our Intellect Others ascrib'd them to an Assisting Intelligence Some to a particular genius But as I deny not that in supernatural cognitions God gives Faith Hope and Charity and other supernatural gifts in which case God may be said to be an Agent Intellect I conceive also that in natural and ordinary knowledge of which alone we speak now no concourse of God other then universal is to be imagin'd whereby he preserves natural causes in their being and do's not desert them in their actions ' This then the Understanding it self which performes what ever it thinks surpasses its strength which it knows not sufficiently and the Agent and Patient Intellect are but one being distinguish'd onely by reason As it formes that species 't is call'd Agent as it keeps and preserves them Patient For as the Light causes colours to be actually visible by illuminating them together with the Air with their medium so the Agent Intellect renders all things capable of being known by illustrating the phantasmes separating them from the grosness of the matter whereof they have some what when they are in the Imagination and forming intelligible species of them Otherwise if these phantasmes remain'd still in their materiality the Understanding being spiritual could know nothing since that which is sensible and material remaining such cannot act upon what is spiritual and immaterial Besides the species of the Phancy representing to us onely the accidents of things it was requisite that the Intellect by its active virtue subliming and elevating those species to a more noble degree of being should make them representative species of their own essence Which it doth by abstraction of the individual properties of their subject from which it formes universal conceptions which action is proper to the Intellect This supreme Faculty being so noble that it ennobles all beings rendring them like to it self The Third said That the Intellect is to the Soul such as the Soul is to the body which it perfectionates And as it knows all corporeal things by the senses so it knows incorporeal by it self This Faculty serves for a medium and link uniting all things to their first cause and 't is Homer's golden chain or Jacob's ladder which reaches from Earth to Heaven by which the Angels that is the species and most spiritual notions ascend to the heaven of man which is his brain to inform him and cause the spirits to descend from thence to reduce into practice the excellent inventions of the Understanding Now as Reason discriminates men from brutes so doth this Intellect men amongst themselves And if we believe Trismegistus in his Pimander God has given to all men ratiocination but not Understanding which he proposes for a reward to his favourites Aristotle saith 't is the knowledge of indemonstrable principles and immaterial forms Plato calls it Truth Philo the Jew the chief part and torch of the Soul the Master of the little world as God is of the great both the one and the other being diffus'd through the whole without being mix'd or comprehended in any part of it The fourth said That the humane is a substance wholly divine and immortal since it hath no principle of corruption in it self being most simple and having no contrary out of it self Eternal since 't is not in time but above time Infinite since its nature is no-wise limited and is every thing that it understands changing it self thereinto not by a substantial mutation but as the First Matter is united with the formes remaining alwayes the same Matter the wax remaining entire receives all sort of figures So the intellect is not really turn'd into the things which it understands but only receives their species wherewith it is united so closely that it is therefore said to be like to them As likewise though it be call'd Patient when it receives them 't is not to be inferr'd that it is material since these species are material and acting upon the Intellect alter it not but perfectionate it Moreover it hath this peculiarity that the more excellent these species are the more perfect it is render'd whence after the highest things it can as easily comprehend the less An assured token of its incorruptibility and difference from the senses which are destroy'd by the excellence of their objects But as the soul being freed from the body hath nothing to do with sensitive knowledg because then it ratiocinates no more but beholds effects in their proper causes commanding and obeying it self most perfectly exempted from the importunity of the sensitive appetite so while it is entangled in the body it receives some impressions resulting from the parts humours and spirits destinated to its service being in some sort render'd like to them So the soul of one born blind is ignorant of colours the cholerick are subject to frowardness and the melancholy timerous by reason of the blackness of that humour The Fifth said All actions of men depending on the temper those of the Understanding so long as it is entangled in the bonds of the body are not free from it For as that of Plants gives them the qualities proper to attract concoct and convert their aliments and generate their like and beasts having a temper sutable to their nature are lead as soon as they come into the world to what is convenient for them without instruction So men are lead of their own accord to divers things according as their souls meet dispositions proper to certain actions yea they are learned without ever having learn'd any thing as appears in many phrantick and distracted persons amongst whom some although ignorant
longitude which under the Aequator makes sixty English miles and so also if you erre four minutes of an hour either in the time of the Tables or in the time of the observations and if the error of time be double treble or quadruple the error in longitude will likewise be multipli'd Now the Tables neither are nor can ever be exact nor the observations made punctually enough for this operation The reason of which latter is that 't is not sufficient to observe the Moon but you must at the same time with her observe one or two fix'd Stars And which is most difficult you must not only observe the body of the Moon but her Centre Now to have the Moon 's Centre you must have her Diametre which appears at the same time greater to some and lesser to others according as the observer's sight is more or less acute And the Parallaxes with the Refractions interposing too render this practice unprofitable for these parallaxes and refractions are different in the very body of the Moon the inferior part having greater refraction and parallax then the superior Whence we never have any sure knowledge from the said refractions and parallaxes For as for Parallaxes we have indeed very handsome Theories of them but such as cannot be reduc'd into practice with the preciseness requisite for Longitudes And as for the refractions of the air they are yet more incertain considering that we neither have nor ever can have any theory of them by reason of the continual variation of the density and rarity of vapours So that 't were requisite to have Tables for every Horizon made by the experience of many years and yet they would be very uncertain because the mutations hapning in the air would render them unprofitable Whence not only at sea but also at land 't is impossible to have exact observations of the Moon 's Centre so that Cespeda a Spanish Author had reason to say that this operation requir'd the assistance of an Angel From the defect of observations proceeds in part the defect of the Tables of the Moon 's motion I say in part for supposing the observations were exact yet we could not have exact Tables unless we had the true Hypothesis of the Moon 's motion and course Whence the Tables will be different among themselves which are made upon the same observations but several Hypotheses Thus we see Origanus and Kepler agree not in their Ephemerides but differ sometimes ten minutes though both made them upon the same observations of Tycho Brahe but upon different Hypotheses And thus there being no true Hypothesis of the Moon we can never have exact Tables though the observations should be such and consequently since the ways of finding Longitudes by the Moon are Observations and Tables and neither the one nor the other can be so exact as they ought men can never find Longitudes this way unless God afford them some other light of which they have not hitherto the least glimmering Wherefore Appian Veret Kepler Metius and many others who have spoken of the means of ascertaining Navigation by the Moon had reason to judge the practice thereof impossible as was remonstrated two years ago to one that here made a proposal of it as his own of which we are not likely to see the execution The most sure way we have to find these Longitudes is by help of the Lunar Eclipses For the beginning of them being observ'd in two different places the difference of the times of their beginnings will give the difference of the Meridians But this is an expedient more profitable to rectifie Geographical Charts then serviceable to Navigation CONFERENCE LXXV I. Of the Leprosie why it is not so common in this Age as formerly II. Of the ways to render a place populous I. Of the Leprosie FOr right understanding the nature of this disease 't is requisite to know that as the Brain is the source of cold diseases so the Liver is the furnace of hot such as this is although its debilitation of the faculties makes some account it cold For albeit the first qualities be rather the supposed then true parents of diseases yet being more perceptible to us then other causes and always accompanying them therefore our reason more readily pitches upon them Now the Liver either by its own fault or that of the preceding concoction which it cannot correct begets adust blood and this by further adustion in the Veins through the same excess of heat which it derives into them becoming atrabilarious is as such attracted and retain'd by every part of the body yet not assimilated as it ought to be in colour and consistence but turn'd into a scurfie black and putri'd flesh If that impure blood be carri'd but to one part and make a tumour in it it makes a Cancer in it either open or occult and not ulcerated which Hippocrates accounted so desperate an evil that he counsels not to meddle with it whence 't is vulgarly call'd Noli me tangere So that what a Cancer is in some part of the body as in the Paps or Breasts by reason of their spungy substance more dispos'd thereunto that is a Leprosie in the whole body The Second said No humours in the body are so malignant as to cause a Leprosie unless they be infected with some venomous quality The melancholy humour in whatever quantity causes only Quartan Agues or if it degenerate into black choler it causes that kind of folly which they call melancholy The bilious humour causes Frenzy never the Leprosie how adust soever it be without a pestilential and contagious quality whence Fernelius defines it a venemous disease in the earthy substance of the body whose nature it wholly alters For the melancholy earthy humour having once conceiv'd this poyson derives it to the bowels and all other parts which being corrupted and infected with it by degrees turn all food into a juice alike venemous wherewith the whole body being nourish'd acquires a like nature and retains the same till death that gross humour being more apt then any other to retain the qualities once imprinted on it Now this disease comes either by birth or by contagion or by the proper vitiosity of the body As for the first 't is certain if the Parents be infected with this venemous disease they transmit the same to their children the formative faculty not being able to make any thing but sutably to the matter it works upon Many hold but groundlesly that women conceiving during their purgations bring forth leprous children As for the second Leprosie hath this common with all other contagious diseases to communicate it self not only by contact of bodies but also by inspiration of the air infected with the breath of the leprous or the virulent smell of their Ulcers As for the third which is the proper vitiosity of the body 't is produc'd when a great quantity of black choler putrifies and becomes venemous And there are
directly contrary to the felicity of a City which consists not onely in a society of Men but of Men of different conditions the meanest of which being commonly most necessary in a State would not be exercis'd if all were equally rich and powerful And if the necessity of Hunger which sometimes taught Pies and Crows to speak at Rome had not press'd most of the first inventors of Arts the same would be yet to discover Nothing is more beautiful in Nature then Variety nor yet in Cities Besides Men being apt to neglect the publick in comparison of their private interest were goods common they would be careless of preserving or increasing them and rely upon the industry of others Thus this equality would beget laziness whilst they that labour'd most could hope for no more then they that did nothing at all Moreover if Wives and Children were common as Socrates in Plato would have them it would be a great hindrance to propagation Children would not own their Parents nor these their Children and so there would be no paternal filial nor conjugal love which yet are the surest foundations of humane society Incests and Parricides would be frequent and there would be no place for the exercise of most virtues as of Chastity and Friendship the most perfect of all virtues much less of Liberality and Magnificence since nothing should be given but what belongs alike to all nor would any be capable of receiving The Third said That in a City which is a society of companions some things must be necessarily injoy'd in common as Publick Places Havens Fairs Priviledges Walls Town-houses Fortresses and publick charges But not all things in regard of the inconveniences which would follow thereupon and therefore Plato was forc'd to reform his first imaginary Republick and make another more sutable to the humours of men permitting every one the possession of some goods yet with this restriction that he would not have any become too unproportionably rich The Fourth said That Plato's design in his Republick was to conjoyn action and contemplation he would have a City first Mistress of her self then of the world more venerable then formidable to its neighbours less rich then just but sober temperate chaste and especially religious And to render it such he conceiv'd that by removing all impediments from within by equality of goods he trac'd out the way to contemplation which is the supreme good whereunto men aspire and therefore community of goods which is conducive thereunto cannot be too highly esteem'd But in this Age it would deprive all goods of that name by rendring them common and there would be no common good if there were none particular CONFERENCE LXXVII I. Of Sorcerers II. Of Erotick or Amorous Madness I. Of Sorcerers THe malignant Spirit 's irreconcilable to humane nature exalted above his own is such that he is not contented with doing all the mischief he can by himself but imployes his Ministers and Officers to that purpose as God whose Ape he is imployes his holy Spirits in his works These Officers are Magicians and Sorcerers The former are such as being either immediately instructed by the Devil or by Books of Magick use characters figures and conjurations which they accompany either with barbarous and insignificant words or some perversely taken out of the Holy Scripture by which means they make the Devil appear or else give some answer by sound word figure picture or other sign making particular profession of Divination Sorcerers are their servants aiming onely to do mischief and Sorcery is a species of Magick by which one hurts another by the Devils help And as the operation of the Devil is requisite thereunto so is the consent of the Sorcerers and Gods permission without which one hair falls not from our heads This consent is grounded upon a compact either express or tacite the former whereof is made by rendring homage either immediately to the Evil Spirit or to the Magician in his name or by addressing a request to him Commonly they take an oath of fidelity in a circle describ'd upon the ground the Devil herein as in other things imitating the Deity which is represented by a Circle A tacite compact is when one makes use of such means learn'd from a Magician or magical books known to be such or sometimes ignorantly But the most ordinary means which they use in their witchcrafts are powders which they mingle with food or else infect the body clothes water or air Amongst which the black powders are design'd to procure death the grey or red to cause sickness and the white to cure either when they are forc'd to it or in order to some greater mischief although this virtue depend not any ways upon their colour nor always upon their qualities Sometimes they perform their witcheries with words either threatnings or praises Not that these have any virtue in themselves any more then straws herbs and other things wherewith they bewitch people but because the Devil is by covenant to produce such or such effects by the presence of these things shewing himself a faithful performer in certain things to the intent he may at last deceive them in all The Second said That the charms of Sorcerers differ according to the end whereunto they are design'd some cause sleep and that by potions charmes and other enchantments the most usual of which are pieces of a dead body fastned to the house enchanted candles made of a particular wiek and fat or of the feet and hands of dead persons anointed with Oyle which the Devil gives them these they either light up or place candles at each finger and so long as this dismal light lasts they in the house remain in a deep sleep Other enchantments are to procure Love some of which act either within or without the body consisting of what is most sacred in Religion and most filthy in Nature so abominable is this practice and done in hatred of the Creator some likewise procure hatred hinder generation make women miscarry increase their pains of child-bearing dry up the milk breed thornes pieces of glass and iron knives hair and such other preternatural things in the body Of all which magical effects some indeed are real but the most part are prestigious The real are when the Devil makes use of natural causes for such an effect by applying actives to passives according to the most perfect knowledge which he hath of every things essence and properties having lost no gifts of Nature by sin but onely those of Grace But when the effect is above his power or God permits it not then he makes use of delusions to cover his impotence making appearance of what is not and hindring perception of what really is Such was Gyges's ring which render'd him invisible when he pleas'd and Pasetus's feasts from which the guests departed with intollerable hunger as also the money wherewith he pay'd his Merchants who found nothing at night in their bags And that
foal'd whence it must be taken betimes else the Mare bites it off and if she be deceiv'd of it never affects the foal afterwards and therefore 't is call'd by Virgil Matri praereptus Amor. The same effect is attributed to the seed of Mares to a plant call'd Hippomanes and by Pliny to the hair of a Wolfs tail the fish Remora the brain of a Cat and a Lizard and by Wierus to Swallows starv'd to death in an earthen pot the bones of a green Frog excarnated by Pismires the right parts of which he saith conciliate Love and the left hatred But to shew the vanity and impurity of these inventions most Philtres are taken from Animals generated of corruption excrements and other filthy and abominable things and commonly all rather excite Fury then Love as appears by many to whom Cantharides have been given and Caligula who was render'd mad by a drink of his wife Cesonia one Frederick of Austria and the Poet Lucretius by a Philtre given him by his Wife Lucilia Love is free and fixes not by constraint 't is not taken in at the mouth but the eyes the graces of the body being the most powerful charm as Olympia Wife of Philip of Macedon acknowledg'd when being jealous that her Husband lov'd a young Lady that was said to have given him amorous potions the Queen sent for her and having beheld her great Beauty said that she had those Philtres in her self Now if these gifts of the body be accompany'd with those of the mind and the party endu'd therewith testifie Love to another 't is impossible but the affection will become mutual Love being the parent of Love whence the Poets feign'd two Cupids Eros and Anteros and Ovid an intelligent person in this matter knew no surer course then this Vt ameris amabilis esto The Fourth said Love is a spiritual thing and consequently produc'd by means of the same nature Hence an ill report which is a thing not onely incorporeal but commonly phantastical and imaginary extinguishes all Love for a person otherwise lovely as to the graces of the body And the choice between equal Beauties shews that Love is not founded upon the outside Wherefore they take the wisest course to get themselves lov'd who use inductions and perswasions which are the common means to make marriages By all which it appears that Amorous Madness is a distemper of the mind and as such to be cur'd CONFERENCE LXXVIII I. Why the Sensitive Appetite rules over Reason II. Whether Speech be natural and peculiar to Man I. Why the Sensitive Appetite rules over Reason APpetite is an inclination of every thing to what is good for it self There are three sorts in Man First the Natural which is in plants who attract their nourishment and also in some inanimate things as the Load-stone and Iron yea in the Elements as the dry earth covets water and all heavy bodies tend to their centre 'T is without Knowledge and Will even in Man for all natural actions are perform'd best in sleep Secondly the Sensitive common to Man and Beast which some erroneously deny to be a humane faculty because 't is the seat of the Passions the enemies of Reason which constitutes Man But the encounter of it with Reason argues their distinction Thirdly the Rational call'd the Will which is Mistress of the former two and besides makes use of Reason for the knowing of one or more things And because desire cannot be without knowledge therefore the Sensitive Appetite presupposes the knowledge of the Imagination and the Will that of the Understanding but the Natural Appetite depends on that of a First Cause which directs every natural form to its particular good though it know not the same Now 't is demanded how the Mistresse comes to obey the Servants notwithstanding the Maxime That the Will tends to nothing but what is good which cannot be without truth and this is not such unless it be approv'd by the Intellect It seems to me improper to say that the Sensitive Appetite prevails over Reason but rather hinders it by its disturbance from pronouncing sentence as a brawling Lawyer doth a Judge by his noise The Second said That Reason is alwayes Mistress For Men govern themselves according to Nature the universal rule of all things and this nature being rational they cannot be guided otherwise then the motions of Reason But some find Reason where other finds none The Thief accounts riches ill divided and therefore he may justly possess himself of what he wants and however he sees evil in the action yet he conceives more in his necessity which his Reason makes him account the greatest of all evils So that comparing them together he concludes the less evil to be good and wittingly attempts the crime not owning it for such whilst he commits it The same may be said of all other sins wherein the present sweetness exceeds the fear of future punishment If Conscience interpose they either extinguish it or else wholly forbear the action Unless the Mind happen to be balanc'd and then they are in confusion like the Ass which dy'd of hunger between two measures of corn not knowing which to go to For 't is impossible for the Will to be carry'd to one thing rather then another unless it find the one better and more convenient The Third said 'T is congruous to nature for the Inferior to receive Law from the Superior So Man commands over beasts and amongst Men some are born Masters and others slaves the Male hath dominion over the Female the Father over his Children the Prince over his Subjects the Body receives Law from the Soul the Matter from its Form the Angels of Inferior Hierarchies receive their intelligence from the Superior and the lower Heavens the rule of their motions from the higher the Elements are subject to the influences of those celestial bodies and in all mixts one quality predominates over the rest Since therefore the Sensitive Appetite is as much below Reason as a beast below a Man and the Imagination below the Intellect according to the same order establish'd in Nature Reason ought alwayes to have the command over it because having more knowledge 't is capable to direct it to its end But through the perversity of our Nature we more willingly follow the dictates of Sense then Reason of the Flesh then the Spirit because the former being more familiar and ordinary touch us nearer then Reason whose wholsome counsels move not our Will so much which being Mistress of all the faculties according to its natural liberty may sometimes command a virtuous action of whose goodnesse Reason hath inform'd it sometimes a vitious one by the suggestion of the Sensitive Appetite which makes it taste the present sweetness and delight whose attraction is greater then that of future rewards promis'd by virtue to her followers Hence the Law of the members so prevails over the law of the mind as sometimes wholly to eclipse the
no other discipline but Logick and Geometry in regard of the certainty of their principles which are so clear that they are alike known by all even the most ignorant who need only understand their terms to assent to their truth Such as these are every thing which is said of the Genus is also said of the Species and what is not said of the Genus is not said of the Species which they call Dictum de omni de nulle If to equal things you add equal things the remainder will be equal And if to unequal things you add unequal things the remainder will be unequal For whereas beasts have a natural faculty which is the common sense or estimative faculty whereby they judge of the convenience or inconvenience of objects the first time the same are presented to them Man beyond this natural power enabling him to judge of sensible objects hath a peculiar one which is the Intellectual by means whereof he is said to be every thing in power because it enables him to know every thing and to judge of the truth or falshood of universal things which are Principles And as the eye beholding white or black judges sufficiently what colour it is without seeking reasons thereof elsewhere then within it self so the Intellect discerns the truth of principles by it self without the help of any other faculty yea without the habit of any Science because these principles being before the Science whereof they are principles must be more clear and known then it whence Intelligence is defin'd the habit or knowledge of such first Principles Thus ask a Geometrician why the whole is greater then its part he can give you no other reason but that 't is a principle known of its own nature The Third said That Geometry being the knowledge of eternal truths by infallible principles is most certain And 't is an evidence of its certainty that it neither proposes nor demonstrates why a thing is such but only that it is such As 't is propos'd and demonstrated that in the same segment of a circle all the angles are equal but not why they are so because 't is a truth which comes to our knowledge by certain principles and propositions formerly demonstrated as certain as the principles themselves Hence this truth is demonstrated which nevertheless hath not any cause of its existence as frail and perishing things have no material being abstracted from all matter nor efficient for the agent is not any way consider'd therein nor formal an angle being of its own nature only the inclination of lines nor yet final this being not made to any intention In like manner 't is demonstrated that four numbers or four lines being proportional that is when there is such reason of the first to the second as of the third to the fourth the square of the two extreams is equal to the square of the two middlemost but not why 't is so this question occurring only in dubious things The Fourth said That knowledge being desir'd by all men who for this end are endu'd with an Intellect capable of all sorts of notions it must needs be found in some subjects otherwise nature should have given us a general desire of a thing which is not And since there are causes of every thing there must be a Science of those causes But the multitude of apparent causes is the reason that we are oftentimes ignorant of the right and take one for another the shadow for the body and apparence for truth Which argues not that there is no knowledge but rather few knowing persons For Socrates who said he knew nothing but that he knew nothing and the Pyrrhonians who doubted of every thing had even a knowledge of their ignorance Moreover the exact knowledge men have by the senses of particular things necessarily carries them to that of universals wherein Science consists As he that often experienc'd in divers persons that Sena purg'd their melancholy acquires of himself this general Notion that all Sena purges melancholy And on the contrary he who understands a general proportion in gross may of himself apply the same to all particulars so great a connexion there is between things universal and particular in which the fruit of Science consists The Fifth said Since all knowledge depends upon another prenotion which is what they call principles those which compose the Sciences must also distinguish the same Wherefore Sciences are to be term'd certain or uncertain according as the pre-existent notions whereupon they are founded are certain or not Now amongst those principles some are universal common to all Sciences as those of Metaphysicks in all things either the affirmative or the negative is true that which is not hath no propriety Besides which 't is necessary to have particular one 's proper to the Science which are true first immediate causes of the Conclusion preceding and more known then it The six conditions requisite to principles in order to a demonstration They must be true not false for that which is false exists not that which exists not cannot be a cause of that which exists nor consequently a false principle be the cause of a true demonstration First that is not proveable by others immediate so enjoyn'd with the attribute that there is nothing between them two to joyn them more neerly causes of the conclusion that is this principle must be the necessary cause of this truth and consequently precede and be more known then it As taking this for a principle that the interposition of an opake body between light and a body illuminated causes a shadow upon this body we conclude that as often as the earth is found interpos'd between the Sun which is the light and the Moon which is the body illuminated it will necessarily come to pass that there will be a shadow upon the body of the Moon which is its Eclipse The Sixth said 'T was the errour of Socrates that observing our Sciences depending on other preceding notions he apprehended that we learned nothing new but that Science was nothing but the remembrance of what the soul formerly knew before its being inclos'd in this body not considering that the knowledge of principles and notions is confus'd and not distinct and that the knowledge of them in gross is not sufficient to denominate a person knowing but that we must first draw universal conclusions from them then apply the same to particulars without which application those principles would be unprofitable and not produce any Science Thus the Divine applies this general principle that that which is contrary to the Law of God is evil to particular conclusions as to murder theft and perjury The Physitian who holds for a Principle that Contraries are cur'd by their Contraries draws these other conclusions from it that a cold distemper is cur'd by hot medicaments a hot by refrigerating obstruction by openers which he applies again to particular subjects The States-man from this general Principle
likewise had their Magi the Egyptians their Priests the Chaldeans and Babylonians their Astrologers and Sooth-sayers the Gaules their Druyds and Bards But the Greeks had more plenty and variety then any Their ancientest Philosophy was that of Musaeus Linus Orpheus Hesiod Homer who cover'd the Science of natural and supernatural things under the veil of Poetry and Fiction till the time of Pherecydes the master of Pythagoras who first writ the same in Prose Their Philosophers may be distinguish'd according to the diversity of subjects whereof they treat whence they who amuz'd themselves about ratiocination were nam'd Logicians the first of whom was Zeno. They who contemplated Nature Naturalists the first of whom was Thales they who soar'd to supernatural speculations Metaphysitians wherein Aristotle excell'd those who regulated manners Moralists of whom Socrates was the principal who was the son of a Sculptor and a Midwise But their principal division is of their different Sects which though in great number may be reduc'd to these following I. The Academick so called of the place where 't was taught so famous that all places destinated to instruction in Liberal Sciences retain the same name at this day 'T was divided into three namely the old Academy whereof Socrates and Plato were authors the middle which ow'd its institution to Archesilaus author of the famous Epoche or suspension of judgement concerning all things whom for that reason Tertullian calls Master of Ignorance and the new founded by Carneades and Lacides who held that there is something true but 't was incomprehensible which was almost the same Sect with the Scepticks and Pyrrhoneans II. The Cyrenaick introduc'd by Aristippus the Cyrenian disciple of Socrates who first took money for teaching others and held it as one of his principal maximes not to refuse any pleasure which presented it self to him yet not to seek it III. The Magarian establish'd by Euclides of Magara which proceeded by interrogations IV. The Cynick founded by Antisthenes Master to Diogenes and Menippus V. The Stoick whereof Zeno Cyttiensis Auditor of Crates the Cynick was author VI. The Epicurean of Epicurus the Athenian who conceiv'd that every thing was made by chance and that the chief good consisted in pleasure some say of the body others of the mind VII The Peripatetick instituted by Aristotle 'T would be endless to relate the extravagances of all particular persons But I conceive that of the Cynicks was the most dishonest that of the Stoicks most majestical that of the Epicureans most blameable that of Aristotle most honourable that of the Academicks most safe that of the Pyrrhoneans or Scepticks the most easie For as 't is not very creditable so nothing is easier when any thing is ask'd of us then to say that we are incertain of it instead of answering with certainty or else to say that we know nothing of it since to know our ignorance of a thing is not to be wholly ignorant of it The Third said That the Sect of the Scepticks had more followers then any other doubters being incomparably more numerous then Doctors and is the more likely to be true For compare a Gorgias Leontinus or other Sophister of old time or one of the most vers'd in Philosophy in this age who glory of knowing all and of resolving all questions propounded with a Pyrrhonean the first will torture his wit into a thousand postures to feigen and perswade to the hearers what himself knows not and by distinctions cast dust in their eyes as the Cuttle-fish vomits Ink to soil the water when it finds it self caught On the contrary the Sceptick will freely confess the debt and whether you convince him or not will always shew that he has reason to doubt Nevertheless though this Sect be the easiest 't is not in every thing the truest For as 't is temerity and intolerable arrogance to pronounce sentence confidently upon things which are hid to us and whereof we have not any certain knowledge as the quadrature of the circle the duplication of the cube the perpetual motion the Philosophers Stone so 't is too gross stupidity to doubt of the existence of things to judge whereof we need no other help but perfect senses as that it is this day when the Sun shines that the fire burns and that the whole is greater then its parts The Fourth said That Philosophy being the desire of Wisdom or rather Wisdom it self which is nothing else but a store of all the virtues Intellectual and Moral that is the perfectest Philophy which renders those addicted to it most sure in their knowledge and inclin'd to virtue And because there was never sect but had some defect neither in the theory or the practice the best of all is not to be any but to imitate the Bee and gather what is good of each sort without espousing it which was the way of Potamon of Alexandria who as Diogenes Laertius records founded a Sect call'd Elective which allow'd every one to choose what was best in all Philosophies 'T is also the way that Aristotle held in all his Philosophy especially in his Physicks and Politicks which are nothing but a collection of opinions of the Ancients amongst whom he hath often taken whole pages out of Hippocrates though he name him not Nor are we more oblig'd to embrace Aristotle's Philosophy then he did that of his Predecessors it being free for us to frame one out of his precepts those of Raimond Lully Ramus and all others The Fifth said That amongst all sects the most excellent as also the most severe is that of the Stoicks whom Seneca ranks as much above other Philosophers as men above women Their manner of discoursing and arguing was so exquisite that if the Gods said one would reason with men they would make use of the Logick of Chrysippus the Stoick Their Physicks treated partly of bodies partly of incorporeal Beings Bodies according to them are either principles or elements which are ours Their principles are two God and Matter which are the same with the Unity and Binary of Pythagoras the fire and water of Thales They call God the cause and reason of all things and say that he is fire not the common and elementary but that which gives all things their being life and motion And they believ'd that there is one God supremely good bountiful and provident but that he is single in his essence herein following Pythagoras who said that God is not so much one as Unity it self Seneca saith that he is all that thou seest all intire in every part of the world which he sustaines by his power Briefly they conclude their natural knowledge of God as the sovereign cause by his Providence by Destiny which he hath establish'd in all things and by the Genii Heroes and Lares whom they constitute Angels and Ministers of this Supreme Providence The Second Principle Matter they make coeternal to God grounding their doctrine upon the Maxime of Democritus that as
nothing can be annihilated so nothing can be made of nothing Which was likewise the error of Aristotle who is more intricate then the Stoicks in his explication of the first matter which he desines to be almost nothing True it is they believ'd that every thing really existent was corporeal and that there were but four things incorporeal Time Place Vacuum and the Accident of some thing whence it follows that not onely Souls and God himself but also the Passions Virtues and Vices are Bodies yea Animals since according to their supposition the mind of man is a living animal inasmuch as 't is the cause that we are such but Virtues and Vices say they are nothing else but the mind so dispos'd But because knowledge of sublime things is commonly more pleasant then profitable and that according to them Philosophy is the Physick of the Soul they study chiefly to eradicate their Vices and Passions Nor do they call any wise but him that is free from all fear hope love hatred and such other passions which they term the diseases of the Soul Moreover 't was their Maxime that Virtue was sufficient to Happiness that it consisted in things not in words that the sage is absolute master not onely of his own will but also of all men that the supream good consisted in living according to nature and such other conclusions to which being modifi'd by faith I willingly subscribe although Paradoxes to the vulgar II. Whence comes the diversity of proper names Upon the Second Point 't was said That a name is an artificial voice representing a thing by humane institution who being unable to conceive all things at once distinguish the same by their differences either specifical or individual the former by appellative names and the other by proper as those of Cities Rivers Mountains and particularly those of men who also give the like to Horses Dogs and other domestick creatures Now since conceptions of the Mind which represent things have affinity with them and words with conceptions it follows that words have also affinity with things by the Maxime of Agreement in the same third Therefore the wise to whom alone it belongs to assign names have made them most conformable to the nature of things For example when we pronounce the word Nous we make an attraction inwards On the contrary in pronouncing Vous we make an expulsion outwards The same holds in the voices of Animals and those arising from the sounds of inanimate things But 't is particularly observ'd that proper names have been tokens of good or bad success arriving to the bearers of them whence arose the reasoning of the Nominal Philosophers and the Art of Divination by names call'd Onomatomancy and whence Socrates advises Fathers to give their Children good names whereby they may be excited to Virtue and the Athenians forbad their slaves to take the names of Harmodius and Aristogiton whom they had in reverence Lawyers enjoyn heed to be taken to the name of the accused in whom 't is capital to disguise it and Catholicks affect those of the Law of Grace as Sectaries do those of the old Law the originals whereof were taken from circumstances of the Bodie as from its colour the Romans took those of Albus Niger Nigidius Fulvius Ruffus Flavius we those of white black grey red-man c. from its habit Crassus Macer Macrinus Longus Longinus Curtius we le Gros long tall c From its other accidents the Latines took Caesar Claudius Cocles Varus Naso we le Gouteux gowty le Camus flat-nos'd from Virtues or Vices Tranquillus Severus we hardy bold sharp from Profession Parson Serjeant Marshal and infinite others But chiefly the names of places have been much affected even to this day even since the taking of the name of the family for a sirname And if we cannot find the reason of all names and sirnames 't is because of the confusion of languages and alteration happening therein upon frequent occasions The Fourth said That the cause of names is casual at least in most things as appears by equivocal words and the common observation of worthless persons bearing the most glorious names as amongst us a family whose males are the tallest in France bears the name of Petit. Nor can there be any affinity between a thing and a word either pronounc'd or written and the Rabbins endeavour to find in Hebrew names which if any must be capable of this correspondence in regard of Adam's great knowledge who impos'd them is no less an extravagance then that of matters of Anagrams In brief if Nero signifi'd an execrable Tyrant why was he so good an Emperor the first five years And of that name import any token of a good Prince why was he so execrable in all the rest of his life CONFERENCE LXXXIX I. Of Genii II. Whether the Suicide of the Pagans be justifiable I. Of Genii PLato held three sorts of reasonable natures the Gods in Heaven Men on Earth and a third middle nature between those two whose mansion is from the sphere of the Moon to the Earth he calls them Genii from their being the causes of Generations here below and Daemons from their great knowledge These Genii whom his followers accounted to be subtile bodies and the instruments of Divine Providence are according to them of three sorts Igneous Aereous and Aqueous the first excite to contemplation the second to action the third to pleasure And 't was the belief of all Antiquity that every person had two Genii one good which excited to honesty and virtue as the good Genius of Socrates whom they reckon'd in order of the Igneous and the other bad who incited to evil such as that was which appeard to Brutus and told him he should see him at Philippi Yet none can perceive the assistance of their Genius but onely such whose Souls are calm and free from passions and perturbations of life Whence Avicenna saith that onely Prophets and other holy Personages have found their aid in reference to the knowledge of future things and government of life For my part I think these Genii are nothing else but our reasonable souls whose intellectual and superior part which inclines us to honest good and to virtue is the good Genius and the sensitive inferior part which aims onely to sensible and delightful good is the evil genius which incessantly sollicites us to evil Or if the Genii be any thing without us they are no other then our good and evil Angels constituted the former to guard us the second to make us stand upon our guard Moreover 't was expedient that since inferior bodies receive their motion from the superior so spiritual substances inherent in bodies should be assisted in their operations by superior spirits free from matter as 't is an ordinary thing in Nature for the more perfect to give law to such as are less in the same kind And not onely men but also all other parts of the world have Angels deputed