all the arguments which Plato his followers bring to proue this by our desiring of things by seeking them by finding them and by the discerning of them it may suffice to referre you to what Plato hath left of this matter written vnder the person of Socrates in his dialogs intitled Menon and Phoedon and diuers other places And likewise to that which his expositors haue written among whō Plotinus though he be somewhat obscure deserueth the chiefe place as best expressing Plato his sence and meaning But let our knowledge come how it will either by learning anew or by recording what the soule knew before she hauing need howsoeuer it be of the ministery of the senses and seeing it is almost necessary to passe through the same meanes from not knowing to knowledge we shall euer find the like difficulties whether we rememorate or learne anew For without much study great diligence and long trauel are sciences no way to be attained Which thing Socrates who haply was the author of Plato his opinion shewed vs plainely For when the curtizan Theodota scoffing at him said she was of greater skill then he for she had drawne diuers of Socrates scholers from him to her loue where Socrates could draw none of her louers to follow him he answered that he thereat maruelled nothing at all for said he thou leadest them by a plaine smooth way to lust and wantonnesse and I leade them to vertue by a rough and an vneasie path Here Captaine Norreis said Though this controuersie betweene two so great Philosophers be not for ought I see yet decided and that if we should take vpon vs to discerne whose opinion were the better it might be imputed to presumption yet would I for my part be very glad to know what was the reason that induced Plato to say that our soule had the knowledge of all things before it came into the body and I pray you if your author speake any thing thereof that you will therein satisfie my desire Yes marry doth he sir said I and your desire herein sheweth very well the excellencie of your wit and your attention to that which hath bin said and both may serue for a sufficient argument what hope is to be conceiued of a gentleman so inclined and desirous to learne Thus therefore he saith to your question That whereas we according to truth beleeue that our soules are by the diuine power of God incontinently created and infused into our bodies when we beginne to receiue life and sense in our mothers womb Plato contrarily held that they were long before the bodies created and produced in a number certaine by God and that they were as particles descended from the Gods aboue into our bodies and therfore he thought it nothing absurd that they should haue the knowledge of al things that may be knowne For that they being in heauen busied in the contemplation of the diuine nature free from any impediment of the body and that diuine nature containing in it as he said the essentiall Ideas of all things which Ideas according to his opinion were separate and eternall natures remaining in the diuine minde of God to the patterne of which all things created were made they might said he in an instant haue the knowledge of all that could be knowne If this opinion were true said Captaine Norreis happie had it bin for vs that our soules had continued stil after they were sent into our bodies to be of that sort that they had bin in heauen for then should we not haue needed so much labour and paine in seeking that knowledge which before they had so perfectly And being so perfect to what end did he say they were sent into our bodies to become vnperfect His opinion said I was that the soules were created in a certaine number to the end they might informe so many bodies and therfore if they should not haue come into those bodies they should haue failed of the end for which they were created In which bodies the Platonikes say further that they were to exercise themselues and were giuen to the bodies not onely because they should giue them power to moue to see to feele and to do those other operations which are naturall but to the end that they should in that which appertaineth to the mind not suffer vs to be drowsie and lie as it were asleepe but rather to waken and stirre vs vp to the knowledge of those things that are fit for vs to vnderstand and this was the most accomplished operation sayd they that the soule could giue vnto the bodie whiles it was linked thereunto I cannot see said the Lord Primate how this hangeth together For I haue read that these kind of Philosophers held an opinion that our soules all the while they were tied to our bodies did but sleepe and that all which they do or suffer in this life was but as a dreame It is true said I that the Platonikes said so indeed and that was because they knew that whatsoeuer we do in this life is but a dreame in comparison of that our soules shal do in the other world when they shal be loosed from those bands which tie them to our bodies here through which bands they are hindred from the knowledge of those things perfectly which here they learne In regard whereof Carneades Arcesilas and others the authors of the new Accademie said constantly that in this world there was no certaine knowledge of any thing And Nausifanes affirmed that of all those things which here seeme to vs to be we know nothing so certainly as that they were not Vnto which opinion Protagoras also agreed saying that men might dispute of any thing pro contra as if he should say that nothing could be assuredly knowen to vs whiles we are here as our soules shall know them whensoeuer they shall be freed from our bodies and lie no more inwrapped in these mortall shadowes because then they shall be wholy busied in the contemplation of truth neither shal they be deceiued by the senses as in this life they are oftentimes who offer vnto them the images of things vncertainly not through default of the senses but by reason of the meanes whereby they apprehend the formes of things For the sense by his owne nature if he be not deceiued or hindred in receiuing of things sensible comprehendeth them perfectly nay becometh one selfe same thing with them And this is the cause why it is said that our soules sleepe whiles they remaine in this life and that our knowledge here is but as a dreame According to which conceit the inamoured Poet speaking of his Ladie Laura said very properly vpon her death in this sort Thou hast faire Damsell slept but a short sleepe Now wak'd thou art among the heau'nly spirits Where blessed soules interne within their maker Shewing that our life here is but a slumber and seeming to infer that she was now interned or become inward in the
iudgement of whom the wisest men of al ages haue esteemed that to be old with a yong mans mind is all one as to be yong in yeeres For it is not grey haires or furrowes in the face but prudence and wisedome that make men venerable when they are old neither can there be any thing more vnseemly then an old man to liue in such maner as if he begā but then to liue which caused Aristotle to say that it imported little whether a man were young of yeeres or of behauiour Neuerthelesse because dayly experience teacheth vs that yeares commonly bring wisedome by reason of the varietie of affaires that haue passed thorough old mens hands and which they haue seene managed by other men and that commonly youth hath neede of a guide and director to take care of those things which himselfe cannot see or discerne Therefore haue lawes prouided tutors for the ages before mentioned vntill they had attained the yeers by them limited thenceforth left men to their owne direction vnlesse in some particular cases accidentall as when they be distraught of their wits or else through extreme olde age they become children againe as sometimes it falleth out Knowledge then is the thing that maketh a man meete to gouerne himselfe and the same being attained but by long studie and practise wise men haue therefore concluded that youth cannot be prudent For indeed the varietie of humane actions by which from many particular accidents an vniuersall rule must be gathered because as Aristotle sayth the knowledge of vniuersalities springeth from singularities maketh knowledge so hard to be gotten that many yeares are required thereunto And from this reason is it also concluded that humane felicitie cannot be attained in yong yeares since by the definition thereof it is a perfect operation according to vertue in a perfect life which perfection of life is not to be allowed but to many yeers But the way vnto it is made opē by knowledge and specially by the knowledge of a mans selfe To which good education hauing prepared him and made him apt when he is come to riper iudgement by yeares he may the better make choise of that way which shall leade him to the same as the most perfect end and scope of all his actions And this by cōsidering wel of his own nature which hauing annexed vnto it a spark of diuinitie he shal not only as a meere earthly creature but also as partaker of a more diuine excellency raise himself haue perfect light to see the ready way which leadeth to felicitie To this knowledge of himselfe so necessary for the purchasing of humane felicitie is Philosophie a singular helpe as being called the science of truth the mother of sciences and the instructor of all things appertaining to happie life and therefore should yong men apply themselues to the studie thereof with all carefulnesse that thereby they may refine their mindes and their iudgements and find the knowledge of his wel-nigh diuine nature so much the more easily And as this knowledge is of all other things most properly appertaining to humane wisedome so is the neglecting thereof the greatest and most harmefull folly of all others for from the said knowledge as from a fountaine or well head spring all vertues and goodnes euen as from the ignorance thereof slow all vices and euils that are among men But herein is one special regard to be had which is that self loue cary not away the mind from the direct path to the same for which cause Plato affirmed that men ought earnestly to pray to God that in seeking to know themselues they might not be misled by their selfe loue or by the ouer-weening of themselues M. Spenser then said If it be true that you say by Philosophie we must learne to know our selues how happened it that the Brachmani men of so great fame as you know in India would admit none to be their schollers in Philosophy if they had not first learned to know them selues as if they had concluded that such knowledge came not from Philosophie but appertained to some other skill or science Their opinion said I differeth not as my author thinketh from the opinion of the wise men of Greece But that the said Brachmani herein shewed the selfe same thing that Aristotle teacheth which is that a man ought to make some triall of himselfe before he determinate to follow any discipline that he may discerne and iudge whether there be in him any disposition wherby he may be apt to learne the same or no. And to the same effect in another place he affirmeth that there must be a custome of wel-doing in thē that wil learne to be vertuous which may frame in them an aptnesse to learne by making them loue what is honest and commendable and to hate those things that are dishonest and reprochfull For all men are not apt for all things neither is it enough that the teacher be ready to instruct and skilfull but the learner must also be apt of nature to apprehend and conceiue the instructions that shall be giuen vnto him And this knowledge of himselfe is fit for euery man to haue before he vndertake the studie of Philosophie to wit that he enter into himselfe to trie whether he can well frame himself to endure the discipline of this mother of sciences and the patience which is required in al those things besides which appertaine to honestie and vertuous life For he that will learne vertue in the schoole of Philosophie must not bring a mind corrupted with false opinions vices wickednesse disordinate appetites ambitions greedie desires of wealth nor wanton lusts and longings with such like which will stop his eares that he shall not be able to heare the holy voice of Philosophie Therefore Epictetus said very well that they which were willing to study Philosophie ought first to consider well whether their vessel be cleane and sweet lest it should corrupt that which they meant to put into it Declaring thereby withall that learning put into a vicious mind is dangerous But this maner of knowing a mans selfe is not that which I spake of before though it be that which the sayd Indian Philosophers meant and is also very necessary and profitable For to know a mans selfe perfectly according to the former maner is a matter of greater importance then so Which made Thales when he was asked what was the hardest thing for a man to learne answer that it was to know himselfe For this knowledge stayeth not at the consideration of this exteriour masse of our body which represents it selfe vnto our eyes though euen therein also may well be discerned the maruellous and artificiall handy-work of Gods diuine Maiestie but penetrateth to the examination of the true inward man which is the intellectuall soule to which this body is giuen but for an instrument here in this life And this knowledge is of so great importance that man guided by the light of
reason knoweth that he is as Trismegistus saith a diuine miracle and therefore not made as bruite beasts are to the belly and to death but to vertue and to eternall life that thereby he may vnite himselfe at the last with his Creator and maker of all things when his soule shall be freed from these mortall bands and fetters of the flesh Towards whom neuerthelesse it is his part of raise himselfe with the wings of his thoughts euen whiles he is here in this world soaring aboue mortall things bending his mind to the contemplation of that diuine nature the most certaine roote of all goodnesse the infallible truth and the assured beginning and foundation of all vertues And therefore said Aristotle that the science of the soule was profitable to the knowledge of all truth Whereunto may be added that which Plato and his followers haue affirmed to wit that the soule knowing her self knoweth also her maker and disposeth her selfe not onely to obey him but also to become like vnto him whereof in another place occasion of further speech will be ministred Moreouer a man by knowing himselfe becommeth in this life sage and prudent and vnderstandeth that he is made not to liue onely as other creatures are but also to liue well For they that haue not this knowledge are like vnto bruite beasts and he seeth likewise that nature though she produceth man not learned yet she hath framed vs to vertue and apt to knowledge And that a man is placed as a meane creature betweene bruite beasts and those diuine spirits aboue in heauen hauing a disposition to decline if he list to the nature of those bruite beasts and also to raise himselfe to a resemblance of God himselfe Which things he weighing and considering he reacheth not onely to the knowledge of himselfe but of other men also And by the guiding of Philosophie to direct himselfe and others to the well gouerning of himselfe of families and Common-wealths to the making of lawes and ordinances for the maintaining of vertue and beating downe of vice and finally to set men in the way to their felicitie by giuing them to vnderstand that they onely are happie which be wise and vertuous and meete to be Lords and rulers ouer other men and ouer all things else created for the vse of mankind Of all which things when they shall consider man onely to be the end maruelling at his excellencie they are driuen to acknowledge how much they are bound to the heauenly bountie and goodnesse for creating him so noble a creature and setting him so direct a course to euerlasting ioy and felicitie Hence groweth a desire in them of what is good beautifull and honest and of iustice and to make themselues like vnto their maker who as the Platonikes say is the centre about which all soules capable of reason turne euen as the line turneth about the mathematicall point to make a circle and so by good and vertuous operations to purchase in this life praise and commendation and in the life to come eternal happinesse These were the men whom the Lacedemonians accounted diuine and the Platonikes called the images of God Then said Captain Carleil this your discourse whereby you haue shewed the importance and right meant of knowing our selues hath bin very wise fruitful and fit to declare how we ought to frame our life in this world But I make a doubt whether all this that you haue layed before vs to be done be in our power or no for it seemeth strange that if it be in our power to giue our selues to a commendable life there be any as we see there are many so peruerse and of so crooked iudgement as to bend themselues to wickednesse and naughtie life who when they might be vertuous would rather chuse to be vicious And this maketh me oftentimes to thinke that the doing of good or euill is not in our power but that either destinie which as Thales was wont to say ruled and mastred all things or the starres with their influences doth draw vs to do what we do To this demaund of yours said I you shal haue an answer such as mine author maketh who as a Philosopher naturally discoursing of the actions of the soule deliuereth his minde according to the sentence of all Philosophers But because some part of your question toucheth a point now in controuersie concerning Religion it is good we haue a safe conduct of my Lord Primate that his sence as a Philosopher may haue free passage without danger of his censure That shall you haue said my Lord Primate with a good will for since we are here to discourse of Morall Philosophie we wil for this time put Diuinitie to silence so farre forth as your author say not any thing so repugnant to the truth as that it may breed any errour in the minds of the hearers Then said I the demaund of Captaine Carleil hath three seuerall points or articles the one is whether vertue and vertuous actions be in our power or no Another that it seemeth strange if vice vertue be in our power that any man should be so senslesse as to apply himselfe to vice and forsake vertue The last is whether the good or euill we do proceed frō the influence of the heauens or from necessitie of destinie and not from our owne free election And my author beginneth with the last which he affirmeth to be most contrary to truth and to the excellencie of mans nature proceeding thence to the second and lastly to the first Therefore he saith that whosoeuer holdeth mans will and election to be subiect to the necessitie of destiny destroyeth vtterly according to Aristotles saying all that appertaineth to humane prudence either in the care of himselfe or of his family or in the ordering of lawes and the vniuersall gouernment of Kingdomes and Common-weales as well in peace as in warre for if it were so what need haue men to do any thing but idly to attend what his destinie is to giue him or to denie him or to prouide for any of those things whereof our humane life hath neede What difference were there betweene the wise man and the foole the carefull and the rechlesse the diligent and the negligent The punishment of malefactors and the rewarding of wel-doers shold be vniust and needlesse For euery thing being done by the order of fatall disposition and not by election no man could either deserue praise or incurre blame Besides nature should in vaine haue giuen vs the vse of reason to discourse or to consult or the abilitie to will or chuse any thing for whatsoeuer were appointed by destinie should of necessitie come to passe and if of necessitie then neither prudence counsell nor election can haue any place And the vse of free-will being so taken from vs we should be in worse state and condition then bruite beasts for they guided by instinct of nature bend themselues to those things whereunto
to the vegetatiue soule shee chaungeth it not nor mooueth it from place to place for that is the office of the sensitiue soule and these be the motions which the bodie can haue from the soule sauing generation and corruption which are changes made in an instant therefore inasmuch as she is intellectiue she is not subiect to the consideration of the naturall Philosopher The other reason is for that the naturall Philosopher considereth not the substances separated from the matter and therefore his office is not to consider the excellencie of the Intellectiue soule which is not the actor of the bodie though she be the forme thereof And therefore Aristotle telleth vs in his second booke of Physikes that the terme or bound of the naturall Philosphers consideration is the Intellectiue soule For albeit he may consider the soule so farre as she moueth and is not moued as he may also the first mouer yet doth he not consider her essence nor the essence of the first mouer for this appertaineth to the Metaphysike who considereth of the substances separated and immortall And hence commeth it that Aristotle treating in his booke of Physikes of nature as she is the beginning of all mouings and of rest when he is come to the first mouer who is immoueable yet moueth all that is moued in the world proceeded not any further to shew his nature vnderstanding right well that the naturall Philosophers office was not to consider any thing that is simply immoueable as well in respect of the whole as of the parts as the first mouer is But let vs without questioning further thereupon hold this for certaine not onely by that which Christian Religion teacheth vs but also by that which Aristotle hath held that our soules are immorall For if it were otherwise we should be of all other creatures that nature produceth the most vnhappie and in vaine should that desire of immortalitie which all men haue be giuen vnto vs. Besides that man as man that is to say as a creature intellectiue should not haue that end which is ordained for him which is contemplatiue felicitie Neither is it to the purpose to say that such felicitie is not attained by morall vertues but by wisedome only or that there be but few so wise as to seek this excellent felicitie and infinite the number of those that thinke but little vpon it for all men are borne apt vnto it if they will apply their minds vnto the same And though among all generations of men there should be but three or foure that bent their endeuour to attaine it they onely were sufficient to proue our intention because it is most certaine that the number of foolish men is infinite who not knowing themselues cannot tell how to vse themselues direct their endeuours to that which is the proper end of man Of whom it is said People on whom night commeth before Sunne-set A wicked generation whose whole life-time flieth from them vnprofitably in such sort as they can scarce perceiue that they haue liued For although there be infinitely more such in this world then of quicke and eleuated spirits yet ought not we to endure that their negligence who know not themselues to be men should preiudice the mindes of such as know what they are and raise their thoughts carefully to diuine things And therefore leauing their opinions that will needs say that Aristole impiously and madly hath held the contrary it shall be best to proceed in our discourse of the felicitie that is to be attained by contemplation I pray you said Captaine Carleil since there is a contrarietie of opinions amōg Philosophers concerning the immortalitie of the soule and that the knowledge therof appertaineth to the better vnderstanding of this contemplatiue felicitie let vs heare if your author giue any furder light thereunto since such good fellowes seeke to cast so darke a mist before our eyes vnder the cloke of Aristotles opinion For albeit you spake somewhat of it yesterday so farre as concerned our maner of learning according to Aristotle yet was it but by the way and not as it concerned this felicitie and if such a matter as this were twise repeated it could not but be profitable to vs though it be somewhat troublesome to you Whereupon I said that which my author was not willing to vndertake you presse me vnto as if you were the same persons and had the same sence that those introduced by him had and therefore since you also will haue it so I am content to close vp this your feast with this last dish notwithstanding that the euening draw on and that to speake thereof at large would aske a long time But knitting vp as well as I can a great volume in a little roome I will deliuer vnto you that which the shortnesse of our time wil permit and pray with mine author his diuine Maiestie who hath giuen vs an immortall soule that he wil vouchsafe vs his grace to say so much and no more of this matter as may be to his glory and to all our comforts Know ye then that these men that out of Aristotles writings gather our intellectiue soule to be mortall take for their foundation and ground this that the soule is the actor of the bodie and vseth it but after the maner before mentioned And to maintaine this their opinion they wrest diuers places of his vntruly and contrary to the mind of this great Philosopher as shall be declared vnto you True it is that while the intellectiue soule is the forme of the body she hath some need of him to vnderstand For without the fantasie we can vnderstand nothing in this life since from the senses the formes of all things are represented vnto vs as yesterday was declared And this did Aristotle meane to teach vs when contrary to the opinion of some former Philosophers he said that sense and vnderstanding was not all one although there be some similitude betweene them And because the essences of things are knowne by their operations according to Aristotle and that the intellectiue soule vnderstandeth which is a spiritual operatiō it followeth that simply of her owne nature she is all spirit and therefore immortall for else to vnderstand would not be her propertie Whereunto also Aristotle agreeth in saying that some parts of the soule are not conioyned to the bodie and therefore are separable and that the vnderstanding and the cōtemplatiue power was another kind of soule and not drawne from the power of matter as the other two are whose operations were ordained for the Intellectiue soule insomuch as she is the forme of the bodie which sheweth plainely that she is eternall and immortall And in the twelfth of his Metaphysikes making a doubt whether any forme remaine after the extinguishing of the matter he sayd doubtfully of the other two that not euery soule but the Intellectiue onely remained And here is to be noted that his opinion was not though some
to liue among men These how faire soeuer be they children or men that cary one thing in their tongue and another in their heart be they that deserue to be hunted out of all ciuill societie that are ingrate for benefites receiued who hurt or seeke to hurt them that haue done them good and hate them onely because they cannot but know themselues to be bound vnto them These be they that in very truth are crooked mis-shapen and monstrous and might well be condemned to be buried quicke not simple innocent babes who hauing no election can yeeld not tokens either of good or euill against whom to pronounce sentence of death before they haue offended is great iniustice and exceeding crueltie And this loe is the sentence of this author touching the doubt proposed wherein if you rest satisfied I will proceede All the companie assented to the same and then Master Dormer said Now then I pray you let vs heare you declare what this end is whereof you were discoursing when this doubt was proposed and withall we must expect that you shall shew vs and set vs in the way wherein we are to trauel for the attaining thereof and giue vs precepts whereby that perfection may be purchased vnto which all men desirous to become happie in this life direct their actions and their endeuours Of this expectation quoth I you need not feare to be frustrated for here shall you haue enough I assure my selfe to fulfill your desire and therewith perusing my papers I thus followed The end of man in this life is happinesse or felicitie and an end it is called as before was said because all vertuous actions are directed thereunto and because for it chiefly man laboureth and trauelleth in this world But for that this felicitie is found to be of two kinds wherof one is called ciuill and the other contemplatiue you shall vnderstand that the ciuill felicitie is nothing else then a perfect operation of the mind proceeding of excellent vertue in a perfect life and is atchieued by the temper of reason ruling the disordinate affects stirred vp in vs by the vnreasonable parts of the mind as when the time shall serue will be declared and guiding vs by the meane of vertue to happy life The other which is called contemplation or contemplatiue felicitie is likewise an operation of the mind but of that part thereof which is called intellectiue so that those parts which are void of reasō haue no intermedling with the same for he which giueth himselfe to follow this felicitie suppresseth all his passions and abandoning all earthly cares bendeth his studies and his thoughts wholy vnto heauenly things and kindled and inflamed with diuine loue laboureth to enioy that vnspeakable beauty which hath bin the cause so to inflame him and to raise his thoughts to so high a pitch But forasmuch as our purpose is now to intreate onely of the humane precepts and instructions and of that highest good which in this vale of misery may be obtained ye shall vnderstand that the end whereunto man ought to direct all his actions is properly that ciuill felicitie before mentioned which is an inward reward for morall vertues and wherein fortune can chalenge no part or interest at all And this end is so peculiar to reason that not onely vnreasonable creatures can be no partakers thereof but yong children also are excluded from the same For albeit they be naturally capable of reason yet haue they no vse of her through the imperfection of their yong age because this end being to be attained by perfect operations in a perfect life neither of which the child nor the yong man is able to performe it followeth that neither of them can be accounted happie And by the same reason it commeth to passe that though man be the subiect of felicitie yet neither the child nor the yong man may be said properly to be the subiect therof but in power and possibilitie only yet the yong man approcheth nearer thereunto then the child And thus much may suffice for a beginning to satisfie the first part of your demaund Then said Captaine Carleil seeing you haue proposed to vs this end which is the marke as it were whereat all ciuill actions do leuel as at their highest or chiefest good we will now be attentiue to heare the rest and how you will prescribe a man to order his life so as from his childhood and so forward from age to age he may direct his thoughts and studies to the compassing of this good or summum bonum as Philosophers do terme it That shal you also vnderstand quoth I but then must the discourse thereof be drawne from a deeper consideration Those men that haue established lawes for people to be ruled by ought to haue framed some among the rest for the foundation of mans life by which a true and certaine forme of life might be conceiued and such as beginning to leade him from his childhood might haue serued him for a guide vntill he had attained to those riper yeares wherein he might rather haue bin able to instruct others then need to be himselfe instructed For the foundation of honest and vertuous liuing beginneth euen in childhood neither shal he euer be good yong mā that in his childhood is naught nor a wicked yong man lightly proue good when he is old For such as are the principles and beginnings of things such are the proceedings Whereupon the wisest men of the world haue euer thought that the way to haue cities and common-wealths furnished with vertuous and ciuil men consisted in the bringing vp of childrē commendably But among all the lawes of our time there is no one that treateth of any such matter There are orders and lawes both vniuersall and particular how to determine causes of controuersie to end strifes and debates and how to punish malefactors but there is no part in the whole body of the law that setteth downe any order in a thing of so great importance Yet Plato held it of such moment as knowing that the well bringing vp of children was the spring or wel-head of honest life he thought it not sufficient that the fathers onely should take care of nurturing their children but appointed besides publike magistrates in the common-wealth who should attend that matter as a thing most necessary For though man be framed by nature mild and gentle yet if he be not from the beginning diligently instructed and taught he becometh of humane and benigne that he was more fierce and cruell then the most wild and sauage beast of the field Wheras if he be conueniently brought vp and directed to a commendable course of life of benigne and humane that he is he becometh through vertue in a sort diuine And to the end the cause may be the better knowne why so great diligence is needful and requisite you must vnderstand that although our soule be but one in substance and properly our true forme yet
Supposing as men blinded in their owne conceits that they exceed all other writers and that from them only others that write in that kind shold take their rules and example So drowning their corrupted iudgements in their ignorance that where they be worthy blame they esteeme themselues comparable to the most famous and excellent Poets that euer wrote and that they ought to be partakers of their glory and greatest honors But to men of iudgement and able to discerne the difference betweene well writing and presumptuous scribling they minister matter of scorne and laughter when they consider their disioynted phrases their mis-shapen figures their shallow conceits lamely expressed and disgraced in stead of being adorned with vnproper and vnfit metaphors well declaring how vnworthy they be of the title of Poets Such are they who being themselues ful of intemperance and wantonnes write nothing but dishonest and lasciuious rimes and songs apt to root out all honest and manly thoughts out of their mindes that are so foolish as to lose their time in reading of them These indeed ought to be driuen out and banished frō al Commonweales as corrupters of manners and infecters of young mens mindes who may well be compared to rocks that lie hidden vnder water amid the sea of this our life on which such yong men as chance to strike are like to suffer shipwracke and sinking in the gulfe of lust and wantonnesse to be drowned and dead to all vertue But true Poesie well vsed is nothing else but the most ancient kind of Philosophie compounded and interlaced with the sweetnesse of numbers and measured verses A thing as saith Musaeus most sweet and pleasing to the mind teaching vs vertue by a singular maner of instruction and couering morall sences vnder fabulous fictions to the end they might the sooner be receiued vnder that pleasing forme and yet not be vulgarly vnderstood but by such onely as were worthy to tast the sweetnesse of their inuentions For so did the Philosophers of old write their mysteries vnder similitudes to the end they might not be straight comprehended by euery dul wit and lose their reputation by being common in the hands and mouth of euery simple fellow This maner first began among the wiser Aegiptians and was afterwards followed by Pythagoras and Plato And Aristotle though he wrote not by similitudes and allegories yet wrapt he vp his conceits in so darke a maner of speech and writing as hardly were they to be vnderstood by those that heard himselfe teach and expound his writings But to make an end with Poets he that marketh those fictions which Homer hath written of their Gods like as those of Virgil and other of the heathen Poets though at the first they seeme strange and absurd yet he shall find vnder them naturall and diuine knowledge hidden to those that are not wise and learned which neither time nor occasion would that I should here insist vpon Let it suffice that yong men are to make great account of that part of Musike which beareth with it graue sentences fit to compose the mind to good order by vertue of the numbers and sound which part proceedeth from the Poets whom Plato himself called the fathers and guides of those that afterwards were called Philosophers But this that by varietie of tunes and warbling diuisions confounds the words and sentences and yeeldeth onely a delight to the exterior sense and no fruit to the mind I wish them to neglect and not to esteeme Indeed said captain Carleil I agree with you that our musike is far different from the ancient musike and that well may it serue to please the eare but I yeeld that it effeminateth the minde and rather diuerteth it from the way of blisse and felicitie then helpeth him thereunto But are there not other disciplines besides these two which you haue specified last wherein yong men are to be instructed to further them to the attaining of that end about which all this our discourse is framed Yes marry said I and so far as youth is capable it might well be wished that he had knowledge of them all But of these our author hath first spoken supposing that from Grammer and such other the liberall Arts as those first yeares could reach to vnderstand he should be straight brought to the excercise of the body and to Musike Neuertheles it is requisite withal that as his yeares increase he should apply himselfe without losse of time to learne principally Geometry and Arithmetike two liberal arts and of great vse and necessitie for all humane actions in this life because they teach vs measure and numbers by which all things mans life hath need of are ordered and ruled For by them we measure land we build we deuise Arts and set them forth all things are directed by number and measure as occasions serue and without the help of these two faculties all would be confused and disordered And therefore did the Aegyptians set their children carefully to learne them for that by them they decided the discords and differences growing among the dwellers along the banks of the riuer of Nyle which with her inundations and breaking of their meares and limits did giue them often cause to fall at variance and strife among themselues For nauigation likewise how needfull they are all men do know that know the necessitie of the vse thereof for humane life since all that nature produceth to all people and nations in the world particularly is thereby made common to all with the helpe of commutation and of coyne From these two also cometh the exact knowledge not onely of the earth and of the sea but of the heauens likewise and of their motions of the starres and course of time of the rising and setting of the plannets and to conclude all in few words of the whole frame and order of nature and of her skill by which she knitteth and vniteth together in peace and amitie things in themselues most contrary All done so cunningly by number and measure as a whole yeares discourse would not serue to display the same at large The Art of warre in like maner so needful for States and Commonweales to keepe in due obedience stubborne and rebellious subiects and to repell the violence of forreine enemies if it were not directed by measure and number what would it be but a confusion and a most dangerous and harmfull thing which would soone fall from the reputation it hath and euer had For these considerations therefore and others is youth that bendeth his course to vertue to exercise it selfe in Geometry and Arithmetike which in ancient times men would acquaint their children withall euen from their childhood as Arts that haue more certainty then any other But they are not to be attained without Logike because from it are gotten the instruments and the maner to deuide to compound to inuent and find out reasons and arguments and finally to discerne and iudge of truth and
for those that apply themselues wholy to their pleasures and delights it is to be held that they neither can be accounted happie because forsaking their proper end and good which is honestie they bend themselues to the sensitiue part onely which is common with them to brute beasts Here M. Dormer interrupting me desired that I would stay a while to resolue him of one doubt which my former words had bred in his mind which was that hauing said riches were of small account among wise men and could not make men happie it might seeme that nature had in vaine produced them That followeth not said I of any thing which I haue spoken For I haue not said that they were not necessary for the vse of them for common sence experience and the want of things behouefull to mans life would say the contrary Besides that Aristotle in his tenth booke of Ethikes affirmeth that not onely to the attaining of ciuill felicitie but also for the contemplatiue life these exterior goods are needfull because a man may the better thereby contemplate when want distractetth not his minde though among the Platonikes some say the contrary alledging that men are better disposed to contemplation without them then with them But thus much indeede I said that they are not the true end or good of man nor could yeeld him happinesse of themselues or make him worthy honour And that they that bend their mindes onely to scrape and heape together mucke and pelfe are of all others the basest and vnworthiest yet being vsed as they ought to be for the behoofe and maintenance of mans life and not as an end or the proper good of man I do not only not discommend them but do also esteeme them in their quality so far forth as the infirmity of mans nature hath neede of them whereof since we shall haue occasion to speake more hereafter let vs in Gods name proceed to speake of the life of them that haue subiected their minds to that part of the soule which is wholy bent to sensualitie and delight These men are like vnto brute beasts wanting reason and worse for brute beasts following their naturall instinct and appetite passe not the bonds of nature and though they get no praise thereby yet incurre they not any blame in that behalfe But man who setting reason aside chuseth vaine pleasures as his scope and end and so plungeth his minde in them that reason cannot performe her office and dutie can in no wise escape from exceeding blame and reproch for the same Of which sort of men the Platonikes opinion was that they were so far from being happie as they were not to be reputed among the liuing but the dead not only in respect of the body but of the soule likewise For they held that the soule being drowned in delights might wel be reckoned as dead because beastly delight like an ill weed spreadeth it selfe in mans mind till it ouergrow all goodnesse and so taketh away the vse of reason as it depriueth him of the qualitie proper to man and draweth him into the pure qualitie of vnreasonable creatures which how grieuous and hatefull a thing it is neede not be declared Aristotle resembleth them to wilde young Stiers that must be tamed with the yoke But to shew you how this disordinate or tickling itch of delight proceedeth in this sort it is wheras man is composed of two principall parts the body and the soule or mind the latter to rule and commaund the former to obey and serue They which propose to them their delight and pleasure onely take a cleane contrary course making the body to commaund and rule and the minde to serue and obey And as in a houshold or family al wold go to wrack if the master or father of the family being prudent and carefull should be constrained to obey his sonne or seruant who were foolish and negligent euen so must it of necessitie be in him that by vice maketh his mind subiect to the bodie making it serue onely for the delighting thereof and neglecting that which he should most earnestly study to maintaine and cherish whence cometh as Socrates saith all euill and ruines among men For from these disordinate pleasures which spring from the senses of the body through that power which the facultie of the soule ministreth vnto them do all wicked affections take their beginning as angers furies fond loues hatreds ambitions lustes suspicions ielousies ill speaking backbiting false ioyes and true griefes and finally the consuming of the body and goods and the losse of honor and reputation And oftentimes it is seene that whiles a man spareth nothing so as he may purchase the fulfilling of his appetites how vnruly soeuer they be he looseth by infirmitie or other vnhappie accidents his owne bodie for whose pleasures he so earnestly trauelled For so it is writtē of Epicurus who being growne ful of sicknes through his disordinate life died miserably tormented with pains griefes the like wherof we may daily see in many if we consider their life and end In respect hereof some wise men haue thought that pleasures are not in any wise to be accounted among the goods that are requisite for the attaining of humane felicitie and Antisthenes so hated them that he wished he might rather become mad then to be ouer mastered by his sensuall delight And in very deed they are no otherwise to be esteemed then mad men who set their delights and pleasures before them as their end not caring what they do so as they may compasse the same Plato therfore not without good cause said that pleasure was the baite which allured men to all euil And Architas the Tarentine was of opinion that the pestilence was a lesser euill among men then pleasure of the bodie from whence came trecheries and betraying of countries destructions of common-weales murders rapes adulteries and all other euils euen as from a spring or fountain The cause whereof Pythagoras desiring to find out said that delight first crept into cities then satietie next violence and lastly the ruine and ouerthrow of the Common-wealth And to this opinion Tullie in his first booke of Lawes seemeth to leane where he sayth that this counterfetter of goodnesse and mother of all euils meaning pleasure intruding her selfe into our senses suffered vs not to discerne those goods which are naturall and true goods indeed and cary not with them such a scabbe and itch which pleasure euermore hath about her who finally is the roote of those principall passions from which as from the maine roote all the rest do spring as hope and feare sorrow and gladnesse For we receiue not any pleasure but that some molestation hath opened the way for it into our mindes as no man taketh pleasure to eate vntill the molestation of hunger call him thereunto nor yet to drinke if the annoyance of thirst go not before to shew that the vnnoblest and basest power of the minde must
may I say of my selfe that am tied to declare to you in our lāguage inferior much to the Italian al that he hath set downe touching the same Sure it is that if I were able to set before the eyes of your mindes a liuely image of this excellent end you wold be so delighted therewith that in regard thereof you would contemne and set light by all other pleasures in the world But howsoeuer my vtterance be which I will do my best to fit as wel as I can to so high a subiect you shall heare what he in substance saith therupon and I assure my self that the quality of the matter will easily supply whatsoeuer defect you may find in my phrase or maner of speech You are therefore to vnderstand that as they whose iudgements are corrupted and minds informed with an il habite to make them liue after the maner before mentioned do swarue frō the nature of man so much as they become like brute beasts or insensible plants voide of reason euen so are they among men as diuine creatures who apply themselues to liue according to reason And such haue aunciently bin called Heroes because they approched in their actions neerer to God then others that liued not so For they put all their endeuours to adorne and set foorth that part of man which maketh him like vnto the diuine nature or rather partaker of the same teacheth him what is good comely honest and honorable and inuiteth him continually to that which may conduct him to the highest and supreme good This part is the minde with the vse of reason proceeding from it as from a roote But because two speciall offices appertaine to the vse of reason so farre foorth as serueth to this purpose the one contemplation and the other action Touching the first it raiseth vs by the means of Arts and sciences which purge the minde from base and corrupt affections to the knowledge of those things that are vnchangeable and still remaine the same howsoeuer the heauens turne time runne on or fortune or any other cause rule things subiect vnto them By means of which sciences the minde climbing by degrees vp to the eternall causes considereth the order maner wherewith things are knit together linked in a perpetual bād And thence it comprehendeth the forme of regiment which the Creator and mouer of all things vseth in the maintaining and keeping them euerlastingly in their seuerall offices and duties And out of the consideration hereof we learne that he that directeth not his course of gouernment by this rule as neere as he can to guide himselfe his family and the Common-wealth can seldome or neuer attaine a good and happie end Wherefore he draweth the celestiall gouernement to the vse of humane and ciuill things so farre as mans frailtie will permit As Socrates did who was said to haue drawne Philosophie from heauen to the earth to reforme the life and māners of men Thus turning himselfe to the knowledge of his owne nature and finding that he is composed of three seuerall natures whereof ech hath her seuerall end yet seeketh he to draw the ends of the two lesse perfect to the end of that which is most perfect and proper to him But finding that continuall contemplation of higher things would be profitable onely to himself and to none other in that he should thereby purchase no happinesse to any but to himselfe And because he knoweth that he is not borne to himselfe alone but to ciuill societie and conuersation and to the good of others as well as of himselfe he therefore doth his endeuour with all care and diligence so to cary himselfe in words and in deeds as he might be a patterne and example to others of seemly and vertuous speeches and honest actions and do them all the good he could in reducing them to a good and commendable forme of life For the performance whereof he perceiueth how requisite it is that honestie and vertue be so vnited with profite and pleasure that by a iust and equall temper of them both himselfe and others may attaine that end which is the summum bonum and the thing wherupon all our discourse hath bin grounded This end is not to be attained but by the meanes of morall vertues which are the perfection of the minde setled habits in ruling the appetite which ariseth out of the vnreasonable parts of the soule for vertues are grounded in those parts which are without reason but yet are apt to be ruled by reason He therefore seeing morall vertues are not gotten by knowing onely what they be but through the long practise of many vertuous operations whereby they fasten themselues so to the mind as being conuerted once into an habite it is very hard afterwards to lose the same euen as of vicious actions on the other side the like ensueth therefore with all carefulnesse and diligence possible he laboreth to embrace the one and to eschue the other euermore striuing to hold himselfe in the meane and to auoide the approching of the extremes to which profite and delight vnder deceitful maskes of good would entise and allure him I pray you said Captain Norreis tel vs since you say that vertue is in the mids betweene two extremes whether that meane you speake of wherin vertue sits be so equally in the midst as the extremes which be vicious be alike distant from the same or no No said I they are not in that manner equidistant for oftentimes vertue approcheth neerer to one of the extremes then to the other As for example Fortitude which consisteth in a meane betweene fearefulnesse and foole-hardinesse hath yet a neerer resemblance to foole-hardinesse then to cowardise and consequently is not alike distant from them both and is in this manner to be vnderstood that albeit vertue consist in a meane between two extremes whereof the one is a defect and the other a superabundance yet she is neither of them both as by our example of Fortitude appeereth which is neither foole-hardines nor yet cowardise but onely a commendable meane or temper betweene them both And therfore Aristotle said right well that the meane of vertue betweene two extremes was a Geometricall meane which hath a respect to proportion and not an Arithmeticall meane which respecteth equall distance so as you must vnderstand that vertue is not called a meane betweene two extremes because she participateth of either of them both but because she is neither the one nor the other And why said Captaine Norreis is the Geometricall proportion rather to be obserued therein then the Arithmeticall Because said I though vertues are in the meane yet do they bend oftentimes towards one of the extremes more then to the other as hath bin said already and by proportion Geometricall they are in the middest which by Arithmeticall would not be so For thereby they must be in the iust middest and equally distant from both the extremes As for example let vs
not to amend themselues and are like to a man full of dropsie for their viciousnesse is as hopelesse of recouery as is the dropsie when it is ful growne within the body And therfore they may well be accounted of a lost life who haue contracted so ill an habit that they still keepe reason subiect to their passions appetites which is called by Plotinus the infirmity of the mind But where Temperance ruleth bridleth the inordinate delights it is not so for this vertue which is the meane in all actions and a seemlinesse in all things appertaining to ciuill life doth increase mans praise and cōmendations multiplieth honor vpon him lengtheneth his life and lightneth the burthen of all his troubles finally it so fashioneth a man as whether he be alone or in company whether he be in publike or in priuat he neuer vndertaketh any thing but that which carieth withall reputation dignitie honor For it withholdeth him from all that is vnseemly and leadeth him to all that is honest and commendable Neither is this vertue exercised only in things appertaining to the appetite but as Aristotle saith she is the conseruer of prudence and by Plato his opinion she stretcheth her power to those actions that appertaine to Fortitude also For she teacheth man to know the meane of fearfulnes in cases of danger apparant in what measure paine or trouble is to be endured Pythagoras said she was the mean of al things and therfore as the beauty of the body is a meet seemly disposition of the members breeding grateful sweetnes and being tempered with fresh colours draweth the eyes of men to behold it with wonder delight euen so this vertue causeth al the actions of a temperate man with her bright shining light to be admired and extolled for she is called by Pythagoras the rule of al decency comelines Of her hath youth more need according to Aristotle then old age because young men are much more stirred with concupiscence and vnruly affections then old men And the Philosophers haue assigned her for companiōs shamefastnes which holdeth men from doing any filthy act honestie abstinence continency which bridleth the concupiscible passions that they ouer-rule not the will mansuetude or mildnes which tempereth the fury of anger modestie which is the rule of decent motions of the body and to be short al those gifts of the mind which accompany seemlines and decency of which we shal particularly say somewhat as briefly as we may And because this vertue stretcheth her branches so far Plato said it was hard to define her and more hard to vse her the one because she is hardly discerned frō other vertues the other because we bring with vs frō our mothers wōb the desire of delight wherby we are norished grow draw out the line of our life for which cause Arist said that it was harder for a mā to resist the pleasures of the body then pain Next followes the excellent vertue of Liberality which is busied about giuing and receiuing conueniently and is placed between two extremes the one Auarice which taketh more or giueth lesse then is meet the other Prodigalitie which giues more then is conuenient and he that can cary himself euen between these two extremes may iustly be called a liberall man giuing where whē to such persons and in such sort as is fit for respect of honestie Vnto liberality is ioyned magnificence which is a vertue concerning riches also which the magnificall man vseth in great things and such as are to haue long continuance are done in respect of vertue as sumptuous buildings rich furnitures and the like therfore a poore man cannot actually attaine to be either magnificent or liberal The liliberall man is not magnificent because magnificence is more then liberalitie but the magnificent man is liberal Arme in arme with Magnificence goeth Magnanimity waited vpō by Mansuetude desire of honor veritie affablity vrbanity Al which vertues appertain to ciuil conuersatiō are very profitable breeding decēcy honesty dignitie and honour And though honor be reckoned in the number of those things that are called exterior goods yet is it highly to be prised among all other because it is the certaine token of vertuous life and is the due reward of vertue For vertue hath two sorts of rewards the one that is outward and that is honour which cometh from others that honor vertue and is not in the vertuous man himselfe the other inward which is felicitie the true and perfectest end of all our vertuous actions whiles we are aliue And man hauing all these vertuous habits in him gotten by continuall wel doing which consisteth in particulars he hath also need of the conuersation of other men lest the occasiō of doing vertuously shold faile him For though a mā haue neuer so perfect a knowledge of al the vertues vnles he put them in action he can neuer be happie And specially therfore is friendship necessary for him which either is a vertue or fast linked to vertue and groweth out of the loue which men beare first to their parents and kinsmen next to their citizens or countreymen and lastly to strangers For as concerning ciuill felicitie man cannot nor ought not to be alone in which respect conuersation and friendship are necessary for the accomplishment of the same Some therefore haue sayd that it were as hurtfull to take the bright shining beames of the Sunne from the world as to depriue men of the benefite of friendship since without friends a man is so farre from being happie as it may be said he cannot liue or be at all This friendship is a communion and knitting together of minds which neither length of time distance of place great prosperitie nor great aduersitie ne yet any other grieuous accident may seuer or separate And Plotinus though all his drift were to raise man from all base affects of the mind and to settle him in contemplation yet he thought friendship necessary no lesse for the mind then for the body Aristotle sayd that he that liued alone could be none other then either a God or a brute beast Solitarinesse then is euill for all sorts of men but most of all for yong men who wanting experience in themselues haue great neede of the good instructions and admonitions of others Therefore Crates the Philosopher seeing a yong man alone went vnto him asked of him what he was doing so all alone and the young man answering that he was discoursing with himselfe take heed said Crates then that thou talk not with an il man Considering wisely that a man void of prudence as yong mē commonly are is like to busie his head with ill thoughts which will prouoke him to ill deeds also Conuersation therfore and friendship are necessary for the accomplishment of ciuill felicitie which without loue cannot be And that friendship is firme and durable which groweth out of vertue and from similitude of behauiour