cannot Close up This Chapter with a more Generous Instance of Moderation than That of Fabricius Pyrrhus tempted him with a Sum of Money to betray his Country and Pyrrhus his Physician offer'd Fabricius for a Sum of Mony to Poyson his Master But he was too Brave either to be Overcome by Gold or to Overcome by Poyson so that he refus'd the Money and advis'd Pyrrhus to have a Care of Treachery and This in the Heat too of a Licentious War Fabricius valu'd himself upon his Poverty and was as much above the Thought of Riches as of Poyson Live Pyrrhus sayes he by my Friendship and Turn That to thy Satisfaction which was before thy Trouble that is to say That Fabricius could not be Corrupted CHAP. XVI Constancy of Mind gives a Man Reputation and makes him Happy in despite of all Misfortunes THE Whole Duty of Man may be reduc'd to the Two Poynts of Abstinence and Patience Temperance in Prosperity and Courage in Adversity We have already treated of the Former and the Other follows now in Course EPICURUS will have it that a Wise Man will Bear all Injuries but the Stoicks will not allow Those things to be Injuries which Epicurus calls so Now betwixt these Two there is the same difference that we find betwixt two Gladiators the One receives Wounds but yet maintains his Ground the Other tells the People when he is in Blood that 'T is but a scratch and will not suffer any body to part them An Injury cannot be Receiv'd but it must be Done but it may be Done and yet not Receiv'd as a Man may be in the Water and not Swim but if he Swims 't is presum'd that he is in the Water Or if a Blow or a Shot be levell'd at us it may so happen that a Man may miss his Aim or some Accident interpose that may divert the Mischief That which is Hurt is Passive and Inferior to that which Hurts it but you will say that Socrates was Condemn'd and put to Death and so receiv'd an Injury but I answer that the Tyrants Did him an Injury and yet he Receiv'd none He that steals any thing from me and Hides it in my Own house though I have not Lost it yet he has stoln it He that lies with his own Wife and takes her for another Woman though the Woman be Honest the Man is an Adulterer Suppose a Man gives me a draught of Poyson and it proves not strong enough to kill me his Guilt is never the Less for the Disappointment He that makes a Pass at me is as much a Murtherer though I put it by as if he had struck me to the Heart It is the Intention not the Effect that makes the Wickedness He is a Thief that has the Will of Killing and Slaying before his hand is dipt in Blood As it is Sacrilege the very Intention of laying violent Hands upon Holy Things If a Philosopher be expos'd to Torments the Axe over his Head his Body wounded his Guts in his Hands I will allow him to Grone for Virtue it self cannot divest him of the Nature of a Man but if his Mind stands Firm he has discharg'd his part A Great Mind enables a Man to maintain his Station with Honor So that he only makes Use of what he meets in his way as a Pilgrim that would fain be at his Journeys End IT is the Excellency of a Great Mind to Ask nothing and to Want nothing and to say I 'll have nothing to do with Fortune that Repulses Cato and Prefers Vatinius He that quits his Hold and accompts any thing Good that is not Honest runs gaping after Casualties spends his days in Anxiety and Vain Expectation That Man is Miserable And yet 't is hard you 'll say to be Banish'd or cast into Prison Nay what if it were to be burnt or any other way destroy'd We have Examples in all Ages and in all Cases of Great Men that have triumph'd over all Misfortunes Metellus suffer'd Exile Resolutely Rutilius Chearfully Socrates disputed in the Dungeon and though he might have made his Escape refus'd it To shew the World how easie a thing it was to subdue the Two Great Terrors of Mankind Death and a Iayle Or what shall we say of Mucius Scaevola a Man only of a Military Courage and without the Help either of Philosophy or Letters who when he found that he had kill'd the Secretary in stead of Porcenna the Prince burnt his Right Hand to Ashes for the Mistake and held his Arm in the Flame till it was taken away by his very Enemies Porcenna did more easily pardon Mucius for his Intent to kill him than Mucius forgave Himself for missing of his Aim He might have done a Luckyer thing but never a Braver DID not Cato in the last night of his Life take Plato to Bed with him with his Sword at his Beds-head the One that he might have Death at his Will the Other that he might have it in his Power being resolv'd that no Man should be able to say either that he kill'd or that he sav'd Cato So soon as he had compos'd his Thoughts he took his Sword Fortune sayes he I have hitherto Fought for my Countryes Liberty and for my Own and only that I might live Free among Freemen but the Cause is now Lost and Cato Safe With that word he cast himself upon his Sword and after the Physitians that press'd in upon him had bound up his Wound he tore it open again and so expir'd with the same Greatness of Soul that he Liv'd But these are the Examples you 'll say of Men Famous in their Generations Let us but Consult History and we shall find even in the most Effeminate of Nations and the most Dissolute of Times Men of all Degrees Ages and Fortunes nay even Women themselves that have overcome the Fear of Death which in truth is so little to be fear'd that duly consider'd it is one of the Greatest Benefits in Nature It was as great an Honor for Cato when his Party was Broken that He himself stood his Ground as it would have been if he had carry'd the Day and setled an Universal Peace For it is an Equal Prudence to make the Best of a Bad Game and to manage a Good one The Day that he was Repuls'd he Playd and the Night that he Kill'd himself he Read as valuing the Loss of his Life and the Missing of an Office at the same Rate People I know are apt to pronounce upon Other Mens Infirmities by the Measure of their Own and to think it Impossible that a Man should be content to be burnt Wounded Kill'd or Shackl'd though in some Cases he may It is only for a Great Mind to judge of Great things for otherwise that which is our Infirmity will seem to be another Bodies as a streight Stick in the Water appears to be Crooked He that Yields draws upon his own Head his
the Glory of my Life Did not Poyson make Socrates Famous And was not Cato 〈◊〉 a great part of his Honor Do we fear any Misfortune to be fall us We are not presently sure that it will Happen How many deliverances have Come Unlook'd for And How many Mischiefs that we look'd for have never come to pass 'T is time enough to lament when it comes and in the Interim to promise our selves the Best What do I know but some thing or other may delay or divert it Some have scap'd out of the Fire Others when a House has faln over their Heads have receiv'd no Hurt One Man has been sav'd when a Sword was at his Throat another has been Condemn'd and out-liv'd his Heads-man So that Ill Fortune we see as well as Good has her Levities Peradventure it will be Peradventure not and till it comes to Pass we are not sure of it We do many times take Words in a worse sense than they were intended and imagine things to be worse taken than they are 'T is time enough to bear a Misfortune when it Comes without Anticipating it HE that would deliver himself from all Apprehensions of the Future let him first take for granted that all his Fears will fall upon him and then Examine and Measure the Evil that he fears which he will find to be neither Great nor Long. Beside that the Ills which he fears he May Suffer he suffers in the very Fear of them As in the symptomes of an Approaching Disease a Man shall find himself Lazy and Listless a Weariness in his Limbs with a Yawning and Shuddering all over him So is it in the Case of a Weak Mind It Phancies Misfortunes and makes a Man wretched before his time Why should I torment my self at present with what perhaps may fall out Fifty year hence This Humor is a kind of Voluntary Disease and an Industrious Contrivance of our own Unhappiness to complain of an Affliction that we do not Feel Some are not only mov'd with Grief it self but with the meer Opinion of it as Children will start at a Shadow or at the Sight of a Deformed Person If we stand in fear of Violence from a Powerful Enemy it is some Comfort to us that whosoever makes himself terrible to Others is not without Fear Himself The least Noise makes a Lyon start and the Fiercest of Beasts whatsoever enrages them makes them tremble too A Shadow a Voice an Unusual Odour rouzes them THE things most to be fear'd I take to be of three Kinds Want Sickness and those Violences that may be impos'd upon us by a Strong Hand The Last of these has the greatest Force because it comes attended with Noise and Tumult Whereas the Incommodities of Poverty and Diseases are more Natural and steal upon us in Silence without any External Circumstances of Horror But the Other marches in Pomp with Fire and Sword Gibbets Racks Hooks Wild Beasts to devour us Stakes to Empale us Engines to Tear us to pieces Pitch'd Bags to burn us in and a thousand other Exquisite Inventions of Cruelty No wonder then if that be most Dreadful to us that presents it self in so many Uncouth shapes and by the very Solemnity is render'd the most Formidable The more Instruments of Bodily pain the Executioner shewes us the more Frightful he makes himself For many a Man that would have encounter'd Death in any Generous Form with Resolution enough is yet overcome with the Manner of it As for the Calamities of Hunger and Thirst Inward Ulcers Scorching Feavers Tormenting Fits of the Stone I look upon these Miseries to be at least as Grievous as any of the rest Only they do not so much affect the Phancy because they Lye out of Sight Some People talk High of Dangers at a Distance but like Cowards when the Executioner comes to do his Duty and shewes us the Fire the Axe the Scaffold and Death at Hand their Courage fails them upon the very Pinch when they have most need of it Sickness I hope Captivity Fire are no new things to us the Falls of Houses Funerals and Conflagrations are every day before our Eys The Man that I Supp'd with last Night is Dead before Morning Why should I wonder then seeing so many fall about me to be hit at last my Self What can be a Greater Madness than to cry out Who would have dream'd of This And why not I beseech you Where is that Estate that may not be reduc'd to Beggery That Dignity which may not be follow'd with Banishment Disgrace and Extreme Contempt That Kingdome that may not suddenly fall to ruine change its Master and be Depopulated That Prince that may not pass the Hand of a Common Hangman That which is one Mans Fortune may be anothers but the Foresight of Calamities to come breaks the Violence of them CHAP. XIV It is according to the True or False Estimate of Things that we are Happy or Miserable HOW many things are there that the Phancy makes Terrible by Night which the Day turns into Ridiculous What is there in Labour or in Death that a Man should be afraid of They are much Slighter in Act than in Contemplation and we May contemn them but we Will not So that it is not because they are Hard that we dread them but they are Hard because we are first afraid of them Pains and other Violences of Fortune are the same thing to Us that Goblins are to Children We are more Scar'd with them than Hurt We take up our Opinions upon Trust and Erre for Company still Judging That to be Best that has most Competitors We make a False Calculation of Matters because we advise with Opinion and not with Nature And this misleads Us to a higher esteem for Riches Honor and Power than they are worth We have been us'd to Admire and Recommend them and a Private Error is Quickly turn'd into a Publick The Greatest and the Smallest things are equally Hard to be comprehended we accompt many things Great for want of Understanding what effectually is so And we reckon other things to be Small which we find frequently to be of the Highest Value Vain things only move Vain Minds The Accidents that we so much Boggle at are not Terrible in themselves but they are made so by our Infirmities and we consult rather what we Hear than what we Feel without Examining Opposing or Discussing the things we fear so that we either stand still and Tremble or else directly Run for 't as those Troops did that upon the raising of the Dust took a Flock of Sheep for the Enemy When the Body and Mind are Corrupted 't is no Wonder if all things prove Intolerable and not because they are so in Truth but because we are Dissolute and Foolish For we are Infatuated to such a Degree that betwixt the Common Madness of Men and that which falls under the Care of the Physitian there is but this difference The
Converted Hypocrite To descend now from Truth it self to our own Experience Have we not seen even in our dayes a most Pious and almost a Faultless Prince brought to the Scaffold by his own Subjects The most Glorious Constitution upon the Face of the Earth both Ecclesiastical and Civil torn to Pieces and dissolv'd The Happyest People under the Sun Enslav'd Our Temples Sacrilegiously profan'd and a Licence given to all sorts of Heresie and Outrage And by whom but by a Race of Hypocrites who had nothing in their Mouths all this while but The Purity of the Gospel The Honour of the King and The Liberty of the People assisted underhand with Defamatory Papers which were levell'd at the King Himself thorough the sides of His most faithful Ministers This PROJECT succeeded so well against One Government that it is now again set a foot against Another and by some of the very Actors too in that TRAGEDY and after a most Gracious Pardon also when Providence had laid their Necks and their Fortunes at His Majesties Feet It is a wonderful thing that Libells and Libellers the most infamous of Practises and of Men the most Unmanly Sneaking Methods and Instruments of Mischief the very Bane of Humane Society and the Plague of all Governments It is a wonderful thing I say that these Engines and Engineers should ever find Credit enough in the World to engage a Party But it would still be more wonderful if the same Trick should pass twice upon the same People in the same Age and from the very same IMPOSTORS This Contemplation has carry'd me a little out of my way but it has at length brought me to my Text again for there is in the bottom of it the highest Opposition imaginable of Ingratitude and Obligation By this Taste the Reader will in some Measure be able to judge what he is further to expect that is to say as to the Cast of my design and the simplicity of the Stile and Dress for that will be still the same only accompany'd with variety of Matter Within a Term or two I do propound God willing to follow This with another Manual and so to go on till I have finish'd the whole Whether it pleases the World or not the Care is taken And yet I could wish that it might be as delightful to others upon the Perusal as it has been to me in the Speculation Next to the Gospel it self â—… do look upon it as the most Sovereign Remedy against the Miseries of Humane Nature and I have ever found it so in all the Injuries and Distresses of an Unfortunate Life You may read more of him if you please in the Appendix which I have here Subjoyn'd to this Preface concerning the Authority of his Writings and the Circumstances of his Life as I have extracted them out of Lipsius OF SENECA'S WRITINGS IT appears that our Author had among the Ancients three Profess'd Enemies In the first place Caligula who call'd his Writings Sand without Lime alluding to the starts of his Phancy and the Incoherence of his Sentences But Seneca was never the worse for the Censure of a Person that propounded even the suppressing of Homer himself and of casting Virgil and Livy out of all Publick Libraries The next was Fabius who Taxes him for being too bold with the Eloquence of former times and failing in that point himself and likewise for being too Queint and Finical in his Expressions which Tacitus imputes in part to the freedom of his own particular Inclination and partly to the Humour of the Times He is also charg'd by Fabius as no profound Philosopher but with all this he allows him to be a Man very Studious and Learned of great Wit and Invention and well read in all sorts of Litterature a severe Reprover of Vice most Divinely Sententious and well worth the Reading if it were only for his Moralls Adding that if his Judgment had been answerable to his Wit it had been much the more for his Reputation but he Wrote whatever came next so that I would advise the Reader sayes he to distinguish where He Himself did not for there are many things in him not only to be approv'd but admir'd and it was great Pity that he that could do what he would should not alwayes make the best Choice His Third Adversary is Agellius who falls upon him for his Style and a kind of Tinkling in his Sentences but yet commends him for his Piety and good Counsels On the other side Columella calls him A Man of excellent Wit and Learning Pliny The Prince of Erudition Tacitus gives him the Character of a Wise Man and a fit Tutour for a Prince Dio reports him to have been the greatest Man of his Age. Of those Pieces of his that are Extant we shall not need to give any Particular Accompt and of those that are lost we cannot any further than by Lights to them from other Authors as we find them cited much to his honor and we may reasonably compute them to be the greater part of his Works That he wrote several Poems in his Banishment may be gather'd partly from himself but more expresly out of Tacitus who sayes That he was reproach'd with his applying himself to Protry after he saw that Nero took pleasure in it out of a design to Curry-Favour St. Ierome refers to a Discourse of his concerning Matrimony Lactantius takes notice of his History and his Books of Moralities St. Augustin quotes some Passages of his out of a Book of Superstition Some References we meet with to his Books of Exhortations Fabius makes mention of his Dialogues And he himself speaks of a Treatise of his own concerning Earthquakes which he wrote in his Youth But the Opinion of an Epistolary Correspondence that he had with St. Paul does not seem to have much Colour for 't Some few Fragments however of those Books of his that are wanting are yet preserv'd in the Writings of other Eminent Authors sufficient to shew the World how great a Treasure they have lost by the Excellency of that little that 's left Seneca sayes Lactantius That was the sharpest of all the Stoicks How great a Veneration has he for the Allmighty As for Instance discoursing of a Violent Death Do you not understand sayes he the Majesty and the Authority of your Judge He is the Supreme Governor of Heaven and Earth and the God of all our Gods and it is upon him that all those Powers depend which we Worship for Deities Moreover in his Exhortations This God sayes he when he laid the Foundations of the Universe and enter'd upon the greatest and the best Work in Nature in ordering of the Government of the World though he was himself all in all yet he substituted other Subordinate Ministers as the Servants of his Commands And How many other things does this Heathen speak of God like one of Us Which the Acute Seneca sayes Lactantius again saw in his Exhortations
brings us to our Place of Repose Or if a Man should happen to be out where the Inhabitants might set him Right again But on the Contrary the beaten Road is here the most dangerous and the People in stead of helping us misguide us Let us not therefore follow like Beasts but rather govern our selves by Reason then by Example It fares with us in Humane Life as in a Routed Army one stumbles first and then another falls upon him and so they follow one upon the Neck of another till the whole Field comes to be but one heap of Miscarriages And the mischief is That the Number of the Multitude carries it against Truth and Iustice so that we must leave the Croud if we would be Happy For the Question of a Happy Life is not to be decided by Vote Nay so far from it that Plurality of Voices is still an Argument of the Wrong the Common People find it easier to Believe then to Judge and content themselves with what is Usual never examining whether it be Good or no. By the Common People is intended the Man of Title as well as the Clouted Shooe for I do not distinguish them by the Eye but by the Mind which is the proper Judge of the Mind Worldly Felicity I know makes the head giddy but if ever a Man comes to himself again he will confess that whatsoever he has done he wishes undone and that the things he fear'd were better then those he pray'd for THE true Felicity of Life is to be free from Perturbations to understand our Duties toward God and Man to enjoy the Present without any anxious dependence upon the Future Not to amuse our selves with either Hopes or Fears but to rest satisfy'd with what we have which is abundantly sufficient for he that is so wants nothing The great Blessings of Mankind are within us and within our Reach but we shut our Eyes and like People in the dark we fall foul upon the very thing we search for without finding it Tranquillity is a certain equality of Mind which no condition of Fortune can either exalt or depress Nothing can make it less for it is the State of Humane Perfection It raises us as high as we can go and makes every Man his own Supporter whereas he that is born up by any thing else may fall He that Judges aright and perseveres in it enjoyes a perpetual Calm he takes a true prospect of things he observes an Order a Measure a Decorum in all his Actions He has a Benevolence in his Nature he squares his Life according to Reason and draws to himself Love and Admiration Without a Certain and an Unchangeable Judgment all the rest is but Fluctuation But he that alwayes Wills and Nills the same thing is undoubtedly in the Right Liberty and Serenity of Mind must necessarily ensue upon the mastering of those things which either allure or affright us when in stead of those flashy Pleasures which even at the best are both vain and hurtful together we shall find our selves possess'd of Joyes transporting and everlasting It must be a Sound Mind that makes a Happy Man there must be a Constancy in all Conditions a Care for the things of this World but without trouble and such an Indifferency for the Bounties of Fortune that either with them or without them we may live contentedly There must be neither Lamentation nor Quarrelling nor Sloth nor Fear for it makes a Discord in a Mans Life He that fears Serves The Joy of a Wise Man stands firm without Interruption In all Places at all Times and in all Conditions his thoughts are chearful and quiet As it never came in to him from without so it will never leave him but it is born within him and inseparable from him It is a sollicitous Life that is egg'd on with the hope of any thing though never so open and easie Nay though a Man should never suffer any sort of disappointment I do not speak this either as a Bar to the fair enjoyment of Lawful Pleasures or to the gentle Flatteries of Reasonable Expectations but on the contrary I would have Men to be alwayes in good Humour provided that it arises from their own Souls and be cherish'd in their own Breasts Other delights are trivial they may smooth the Brow but they do not fill and affect the heart True Ioy is a severe and sober Motion and they are miserably out that take Laughing for Rejoycing The seat of it is within and there is no Chearfulness like the Resolution of a Brave Mind that has Fortune under its Feet He that can look Death in the Face and bid it wellcome open his dore to Poverty and Bridle his Appetites this is the Man whom Providence has establish'd in the Possession of Inviolable Delights The Pleasures of the vulgar are ungrounded thin and superficial but the other are Solid and Eternal As the Body it self is rather a Necessary thing than a Great so the Comforts of it are but Temporary and Vain Beside that without extraordinary Moderation their End is only Pain and Repentance Whereas a Peaceful Conscience Honest Thoughts Virtuous Actions and an Indifference for Casual Events are Blessings without End Satiety or Measure This Consummated State of Felicity is only a Submission to the Dictate of Right Nature The Foundation of it is Wisdome and Virtue the Knowledge of what we ought to doe and the Conformity of the Will to that Knowledge CHAP. II. Humane Happiness is founded upon Wisdome and Virtue and first of Wisdome TAKING for granted That Humane Happiness is founded upon Wisdome and Virtue we shall Treat of these two Points in order as they lye And First of Wisdome not in the Latitude of its various Operations but only as it has a regard to Good Life and the Happiness of Mankind WISDOME is a Right Understanding a Faculty of discerning Good from Evil What is to to be chosen and what rejected A Judgment grounded upon the value of things and not the Common Opinion of them An Equality of Force and a Strength of Resolution It sets a Watch over our Words and Deeds It takes us up with the Contemplation of the Works of Nature and makes us Invincible by either Good or Evil Fortune It is Large and Spatious and requires a great deal of Room to Work in It ransacks Heaven and Earth It has for its Object things past and to come Transitory and Eternal It examines all the Circumstances of Time what it is when it began and how long it will continue And so for the Mind whence it came what it is when it begins how long it lasts whether or no it passes from one Form to another or serves only one and wanders when it leaves us where it abides in the State of Separation and what the Action of it what use it makes of its Liberty whether or no it retains the Memory of things past and comes to the Knowledge of
fall under Natural Philosophy Arguments under Rational and Actions under Moral Moral Philosophy is again divided into Matter of Iustice which arises from the Estimation of Things and of Men and into Affections and Actions and a failing in any one of these disorders all the rest For What does it profit us to know the true value of things if we be transported by our Passions or to Master our Appetites without understanding the when the what the how and other Circumstances of our Proceedings For it is one thing to Know the Rate and Dignity of things and another to know the little Nicks and Springs of Acting Natural Philosophy is Conversant about things Corporeal and Incorporeal the disquisition of Causes and Effects and the Contemplation of the Cause of Causes Rational Philosophy is divided into Logick and Rhetorick the One looks after Words Sense and Order the Other Treats barely of Words and the Significations of them Socrates places all Philosophy in Moralls and Wisdome in the distinguishing of Good and Evil. It is the Art and Law of Life and it Teaches us what to do in all Cases and like good Markes-men to hit the White at any distance The force of it is incredible for it gives us in the weakness of a Man the security of a Spirit In Sickness it is as good as a Remedy to us for whatsoever eases the Mind is profitable also to the Body The Physitian may prescribe Dyet and Exercise and accommodate his Rule and Medicine to the Disease but 't is Philosophy that must bring us to a Contempt of Death which is the Remedy of all Diseases In Poverty it gives us Riches or such a State of Mind as makes them superfluous to us It armes us against all Difficulties One Man is prest with Death another with Poverty some with Envy others are offended at Providence and unsatisfied with the Condition of Mankind But Philosophy prompts us to relieve the Prisoner the Infirm the Necessitous the Condemn'd to shew the Ignorant their Errors and rectify their Affections It makes us inspect and govern our Manners it rouzes us where we are faint and drouzy it binds up what is loose and humbles in us that which is Contumacious It delivers the Mind from the Bondage of the Body and raises it up to the Contemplation of its Divine Original Honors Monuments and all the works of Vanity and Ambition are demolished and Destroyed by Time but the Reputation of Wisdome is venerable to Posterity and those that were envy'd or neglected in their Lives are ador'd in their Memories and exempted from the very Laws of Created Nature which has set bounds to all other things The very shadow of Glory carries a Man of Honor upon all dangers to the Contempt of Fire and Sword and it were a shame if Right Reason should not inspire as generous Resolutions into a Man of Virtue NEITHER is Philosophy only profitable to the Publick but one Wise Man helps another even in the Exercise of their Virtues and the One has need of the Other both for Conversation and Counsel for they Kindle a mutual Emulation in good Offices We are not so perfect yet but that many new things remain still to be found out which will give us the reciprocal Advantages of Instructing one another For as one Wicked Man is Contagious to another and the more Vices are mingled the worse it is so is it on the Contrary with Good Men and their Virtues As Men of Letters are the most useful and excellent of Friends so are they the best of Subjects as being better Judges of the Blessings they enjoy under a well-order'd Government and of what they owe to the Magistrate for their Freedome and Protection They are Men of Sobriety and Learning and free from Boasting and Insolence they reprove the Vice without Reproaching the Person for they have learn'd to be Wise without either Pomp or Envy That which we see in high Mountains we find in Philosophers they seem taller near hand then at a distance They are rais'd above other Men but their greatness is substantial Nor do they stand upon the Tiptoe that they may seem higher than they are but content with their own stature they reckon themselves tall enough when Fortune cannot reach them Their Laws are short and yet comprehensive too for they bind all IT is the Bounty of Nature that we live but of Philosophy that we live well which is in truth a greater Benefit than Life it self Not but that Philosophy is also the Gift of Heaven so far as to the Faculty but not to the Science for that must be the business of Industry No Man is born Wise but Wisdom and Virtue require a Tutor though we can easily learn to be Vicious without a Master It is Philosophy that gives us a Veneration for God a Charity for our Neighbor that teaches us our Duty to Heaven and exhorts us to an Agreement one with another It unmasks things that are terrible to us asswages our Lusts refutes our Errors restrains our Luxury Reproves our Avarice and Works strangely upon Tender Natures I could never hear Attalus sayes Seneca upon the Vices of the Age and the Errors of Life without a compassion for Mankind and in his discourses upon Poverty there was something me thought that was more than Humane More than we use saies he is more than we need and only a Burthen to the Bearer That saying of his put me out of countenance at the superfluities of my own fortune And so in his Invectives against vain pleasures he did at such a rate advance the felicities of a Sober Table a Pure Mind and a Chast Body that a man could not hear him without a Love for Continence and Moderation Upon these Lectures of his I deny'd my self for a while after certain delicacies that I had formerly used but in a short time I fell to them again though so sparingly that the Proportion came little short of a Total Abstinence NOW to shew you saies our Author how much earnester my entrance upon Philosophy was than my Progress My Tutor Sotion gave me a wonderful kindness for Pythagoras and after him for Sextius The former forbare shedding of Bloud upon his Metempsychosis and put men in fear of it least they should offer violence to the souls of some of their departed friends or relations Whether sayes he there be a Transmigration or not if it be true there 's no hurt in 't if false there 's frugality and nothing's gotten by Cruelty neither but the cozening a Wolfe perhaps or a Vulture of a Supper Now Sextius abstain'd upon another Account which was that he would not have men inur'd to hardness of heart by the Laceration and tormenting of Living Creatures beside that Nature had sufficiently provided for the Sustenance of Mankind without Bloud This wrought so far upon me that I gave over eating of flesh and in one year made it not only easie to me but
Submit to Bad He must stand upon his Guard against all Assaults He must stick to himself without any dependence upon other People VVhere the Mind is tinctur'd with Philosophy there 's no place for Grief Anxiety or Superfluous Vexations It is prepossess'd with Virtue to the neglect of Fortune which brings us to a degree of security not to be disturb'd 'T is easier to give Counsel than to take it and a Common thing for one Cholerick Man to condemn another VVe may be sometimes Earnest in Advising but not Violent or Tedious Few words with Gentleness and Efficacy are best the misery is that the Wise do not need Counsel and Fools will not take it A Good Man 't is true delights in it and it is a mark of Folly and Ill Nature to hate Reproof To a Friend I would be alwayes Frank and Plain and rather fail in the Success than be wanting in the Matter of Faith and Trust. There are some Precepts that serve in Common both to the Rich and Poor but they are too general as Cure your Avarice and the work is done It is one thing not to desire Mony and another thing not to understand how to use it In the Choice of the Persons we have to do withal we should see that they be worth our while In the Choice of our Business we are to consult Nature and follow our Inclinations He that gives sober Advice to a Witty Droll must look to have every thing turn'd into Ridicule As if you Philosophers sayes Marcellinus did not love your Whores and your Guts as well as other people and then he tells you of such and such that were taken in the Manner We are all sick I must confess and it is not for sick Men to play the Physitians but it is yet Lawful for a Man in an Hospital to discourse of the Common Condition and Distempers of the Place He that should pretend to teach a Mad Man how to Speak Walk and behave himself Were not he the Madder Man of the two He that directs the Pilot makes him move the Helme order the Sayls so or so and make the best of a scant Wind after this or that manner And so should we do in our Counsels Do not tell me what a Man should do in Health or Poverty but shew me the way to be either Sound or Rich. Teach me to Master my Vices For 't is to no purpose so long as I am under their Government to tell me what I must do when I am clear of it In Case of an Avarice a little eas'd a Luxury Moderated a Temerity Restrain'd a Sluggish Humor quicken'd Precepts will then help us forward and tutor us how to behave our selves It is the first and the main Tye of a Soldier his Military Oath which is an Engagement upon him both of Religion and Honor In like manner he that pretends to a Happy Life must first lay a Foundation of Virtue as a Bond upon him to Live and Dye true to that Cause We do not find Felicity in the Veins of the Earth where we dig for Gold nor in the Bottom of the Sea where we fish for Pearl but in a pure and untainted Mind which if it were not Holy were not fit to entertain the Deity He that would be truly Happy must think his own Lot best and so live with men as considering that God sees him and so speak to God as if Men heard him CHAP. VI. No Felicity like Peace of Conscience A GOOD Conscience is the Testimony of a Good Life and the Reward of it This is it that fortifies the Mind against Fortune when a Man has gotten the Mastery of his Passions plac'd his Treasure and his Security within himself Learn'd to be Content with his Condition and that Death is no Evil in it self but only the End of Man He that has dedicated his Mind to Virtue and to the Good of Humane Society whereof he is a Member has consummated all that is either Profitable or Necessary for him to Know or Do toward the Establishment of his Peace Every Man has a Judge and a Witness within himself of all the Good and Ill that he Does which inspires us with great Thoughts and Administers to us wholesome Counsels We have a Veneration for all the VVorks of Nature the Heads of Rivers and the Springs of Medicinal Waters the Horrors of Groves and of Caves strike us with an Impression of Religion and VVorship To see a Man Fearless in Dangers untainted with Lusts Happy in Adversity Compos'd in a Tumult and Laughing at all those things which are generally either Coveted or Fear'd all Men must acknowledge that this can be nothing else but a Beam of Divinity that Influences a Mortal Body And this it is that carries us to the Disquisition of things Divine and Humane VVhat the State of the VVorld was before the Distribution of the First Matter into Parts what Power it was that drew Order out of that Confusion and gave Laws both to the whole and to every Particle thereof VVhat that space is beyond the World and whence proceed the several operations of Nature Shall any Man see the Glory and Order of the Universe so many scatter'd Parts and Qualities wrought into one Mass such a Medly of things which are yet Distinguish'd the World enlighten'd and the Disorders of it so wonderfully Regulated and Shall he not consider the Author and Disposer of all This and whither we our selves shall go when our Souls shall be deliver'd from the Slavery of our Flesh The whole Creation we see conformes to the Dictate of Providence and follows God both as a Governor and as a Guide A Great a Good and a Right Mind is a kind of Divinity lodg'd in Flesh and may be the Blessing of a Slave as well as of a Prince it came from Heaven and 〈◊〉 Heaven it must return and it is a kind of Heavenly Felicity which a pure and virtuous Mind enjoyes in some Degree even upon Earth Whereas Temples of Honor are but empty Names which probably owe their Beginning either to Ambition or to Violence I am strangely transported with the thoughts of Eternity Nay with the Belief of it for I have a profound Veneration for the Opinions of Great Men especially when they promise things so much to My satisfaction for they do Promise them though they do not Prove them In the Question of the Immortality of the Soul it goes very far with me a General Consent to the Opinion of a Future Reward and Punishment which Meditation raises me to the Contempt of this Life in Hope of a Better But still though we know that we have a Soul yet What that Soul is How and from Whence we are utterly Ignorant This only we understand that all the Good and Ill we do is under the Dominion of the Mind that a Clear Conscience States us in an Inviolable Peace And that the greatest Blessing in Nature is that which
every honest Man may bestow upon himself The Body is but the Clog and Prisoner of the Mind tossed up and down and Persecuted with Punishments Violences and Diseases but the Mind it self is Sacred and Eternal and exempt from the Danger of all Actual Impressions PROVIDED that we look to our Consciences no matter for Opinion Let me Deserve Well though I Hear Ill. The Common People take Stomach and Audacity for the Marks of Magnanimity and Honor and if a Man be Soft and Modest they look upon him as an easie Fop but when they come once to observe the Dignity of his Mind in the Equality and Firmness of his Actions and that his External Quiet is founded upon an Internal Peace the very same People have him in Esteem and Admiration For there is no Man but Approves of Virtue though but few Pursue it we see where it is but we dare not venture to come at it And the Reason is we over-value that which we must quit to obtain it A good Conscience fears no Witnesses but a Guilty Conscience is sollicitous even in solitude If we do nothing but what is Honest let all the World know it but if otherwise What does it signifie to have no body else know it so long as I know it my self Miserable is he that slights that Witness Wickedness 't is true may scape the Law but not the Conscience For a Private Conviction is the First and the Greatest Punishment of Offenders so that Sin plagues it self and the Fear of Vengeance pursues even those that scape the stroke of it It were ill for Good Men that Iniquity may so easily evade the Law the Judge and the Execution if Nature had not set up Torments and Gibbets in the Consciences of Transgressors He that is Guilty lives in perpetual Terror and while he expects to be punish'd he punishes himself and whosoever Deserves it Expects it What if he be not Detected He is still in Apprehension yet that he may be so His sleeps are Painful and never Secure and he cannot speak of another Mans Wickedness without thinking of his own whereas a good Conscience is a Continual Feast Those are the only Certain and Profitable Delights which arise from the Conscience of a well-Acted Life No matter for Noise Abroad so long as we are Quiet Within but if our Passions be Seditious that 's enough to keep us Waking without any other Tumult It is not the Posture of the Body or the Composure of the Bed that will give rest to an Uneasie Mind There is an Impatient sloth that may be rouz'd by Action and the Vices of Lazyness must be Cur'd by Business True Happiness is not to be found in the Excesses of Wine or of Women nor in the Largest Prodigalities of Fortune What she has given me she may take away but she shall not Tear it from me and so long as it does not grow to me I can part with it without pain He that would perfectly know himself let him set aside his Mony his Fortune his Dignity and examine himself Naked without being put to learn from others the Knowledge of himself IT is dangerous for a Man too suddenly or too easily to believe himself Wherefore let us Examine Watch Observe and Inspect our own hearts for we our selves are our own greatest Flatterers We should every Night call our selves to an Accompt What Infirmity have I Master'd to day What Passion Oppos'd What Temptation resisted What Virtue Acquir'd Our Vices will abate of themselves if they be brought every day to the Shrift Oh the Blessed sleep that follows such a Diary Oh the Tranquillity Liberty and Greatness of that Mind that is a Spy upon it Self and a private Censor of its own Manners It is my Custome sayes our Author every Night so soon as the Candle is out to run over all the VVords and Actions of the past day and I let nothing scape me for VVhy should I fear the Sight of my own Errors when I can Admonish and Forgive my self I was a little too hot in such a Dispute my Opinion might have been as well spar'd for it gave Offence and did no good at all The thing was true but all truths are not to be spoken at all times I would I had held my tongue for there 's no contending either with Fools or our Superiors I have done Ill but it shall be so no more If every Man would but thus look into himself it would be the better for us all What can be more Reasonable than this Daily Review of a Life that we cannot warrant for a Moment Our Fate is set and the first breath we draw is only the first Motion toward our last One Cause depends upon another and the Course of all things Publick and Private is but a long connexion of Providential Appointments There is a great variety in our Lives but all tends to the same Issue Nature may use her own Bodies as she pleases but a Good Man has this Consolation that nothing perishes which he can call his own 'T is a great Comfort that we are only condemn'd to the same Fate with the Universe the Heavens themselves are Mortal as well as our Bodies Nature has made us Passive and to Suffer is our Lot While we are in Flesh every Man has his Chain and his Clog only it is looser and lighter to one Man than to another and he is more at ease that takes it up and Carries it than he that Drags it We are Born to Lose and to Perish to Hope and to Fear to Vex our selves and others and there is no Antidote against a Common Calamity but Virtue For the Foundation of true Ioy is in the Conscience CHAP. VII A Good Man can never be Miserable nor a Wicked Man Happy THERE is not in the Scale of Nature a more Inseparable Connexion of Cause and Effect than in the Case of Happiness and Virtue Nor any thing that more naturally produces the One or more Necessarily presupposes the Other For What is it to be Happy but for a Man to content himself with his Lot in a Chearful and Quiet Resignation to the Appointments of God All the Actions of our Lives ought to be Govern'd with a respect to Good and Evil And it is only Reason that distinguishes by which Reason we are in such manner Influenc'd as if a Ray of the Divinity were dipt in a Mortal Body and that 's the Perfection of Mankind 'T is true we have not the Eyes of Eagles or the Sagacity of Hounds Nor if we had could we pretend to value our selves upon any thing which we have in Common with Brutes What are we the better for that which is Forreign to us and may be given and taken away As the Beams of the Sun irradiate the Earth and yet Remain where they were so is it in some proportion with a Holy Mind that Illustrates all our Actions and yet adheres to its Original Why
do we not as well commend a Horse for his glorious Trappings as a Man for his Pompous Additions How much a braver Creature is a Lyon which by Nature ought to be Fierce and Terrible How much braver I say in his Natural Horror than in his Chains so that every thing in its pure Nature pleases us best It is not Health Nobility Riches that can Justifie a Wicked Man nor is it the want of all these that can discredit a Good one That 's the Sovereign Blessing which makes the Possessor of it valuable without any thing else and him that wants it Contemptible though he had all the World besides 'T is not the Painting Gilding or Carving that makes a good Ship but if she be a Nimble Sayler Tight and Strong to endure the Seas that 's her Excellency 'T is the Edge and Temper of the Blade that makes a good Sword not the Richness of the Scabbard and so 't is not Mony or Possessions that make a Man Considerable but his Virtue IT is every Man's Duty to make himself Profitable to Mankind If he can to Many if not to Fewer If not so neither to his Neighbors but however to Himself There are Two Republicks a Great one which is Humane Nature and a Less which is the Place where we were Born Some serve Both at a time some only the Greater and some again only the Less The Greater may be serv'd in Privacy Solitude Contemplation and perchance that way better than any other but it was the Intent of Nature however that we should serve Both A Good Man may serve the Publick his Friend and Himself in any Station If he be not for the Sword let him take the Gown If the Bar does not agree with him let him try the Pulpit If he be Silenc'd Abroad let him give Counsel at Home and discharge the Part of a Faithful Friend and a Temperate Companion When he is no longer a Citizen he is yet a Man the whole World is his Country and Humane Nature never wants Matter to Work upon But if nothing will serve a Man in the Civil Government unless he be Prime Minister or in the Field but to Command in Chief 't is his own fault The Common Soldier where he cannot use his Hands sights with his very Looks his Example his Encouragement his Voice and stands his Ground even when he has lost his hands and does Service too with his very Clamor so that in any Condition whatsoever he still discharges the Duty of a Good Patriot Nay he that spends â—…his time well even in a Retiâ—…ement gives a great Example We may enlarge indeed or Contract according to the Circumstances of Time Place or Abilities but above all things we must be sure to keep our selves in Action For he that is slothful is dead even while he lives Was there ever any State so desperate as that of Athens under the Thirty Tyrants where it was Capital to be Honest and the Senate House was turn'd into a College of Hangmen never was any Government so wretched and so hopeless and yet Socrates at the same time Preach'd Temperance to the Tyrants and Courage to the Rest and afterward dy'd an Eminent Example of Faith and Resolution and a Sacrifice for the Common Good IT is not for a Wise Man to stand shifting and â—…encing with Fortune but to oppose her bare-fac'd for he is sufficiently convinc'd that she can do him no hurt She may take away his Servants Possessions Dignity assault his Boâ—… put out his Eyes cut off his Hands and strip him of all the External Comforts of Life But What does all this amount to more than the recalling of a Trust which he has receiv'd with Condition to deliver it up again upon Demand He looks upon himself as Precarious and only Lent to himself and yet he does not value himself ever the less because he is not his Own but takes such care as an Honest Man should do of a thing that is committed to him in Trust. Whensoever he that lent me my Self and what I have shall call for all back again 't is not a Loss but a Restitution and I must willingly deliver up what most undeservedly was bestow'd upon me And it will become me to return my Mind better than I receiv'd it DEMETRIUS upon the taking of Megara ask'd Stilpo the Philosopher what he had lost Nothing sayes he for I have all that I could call my own about me And yet the Enemy had then made himself the Master of his Patrimony his Children and his Country But these he lookt upon only as Adventitious Goods and under the Command of Fortune Now he that neither lost any thing nor fear'd any thing in a Publick Ruin but was safe and at Peace in the Middle of the Flames and in the Heat of a Military Intemperance and Fury What Violence or Provocation imaginable can put such a Man as This out of the Possession of himself Walls and Castles may be Min'd and Batter'd but there is no Art or Engine that can subvert a Steady Mind I have made my way sayes Stilpo through Fire and Blood what is become of my Children I know not but these are Transitory Blessings and Servants that are condemn'd to Change their Masters What was my Own Before is my Own Still Some have lost their Estates others their Dear-bought Mistresses their Commissions and Offices the Usurers have lost their Bonds and Securities but Demetrius for my Part I have sav'd All And do not imagine after all this either that Demetrius is a Conqueror or that Stilpo is overcome 't is only Thy Fortune has been too hard for Mine Alexander took Babilon Scipio took Carthage the Capitol was Burnt but there 's no Fire or Violence that can discompose a Generous Mind And let us not take this Character neither for a Chimaera for all Ages afford some though not many Instances of this Elevated Virtue A Good Man does his Duty let it be never so painful so hazardous or never so great a loss to him and it is not all the Money the Power and the Pleasure in the World no not any Force or Necessity that can make him Wicked He considers what he is to Do not what he is to Suffer and will keep on his Course though there should be nothing but Gibbets and Torments in the way As in this Instance of Stilpo who when he had lost his Country his Wife his Children the Town on Fire over his head and Himself scaping hardly and naked out of the Flames I have sav'd all my Goods sayes he my Iustice my Courage my Temperance my Prudence accompting nothing his Own or Valuable and shewing how much easier it was to overcome a Nation than one Wise Man It is a Certain Mark of a Brave Mind not to be mov'd by any Accidents The upper Region of the Ayr admits neither Clouds nor Tempests The Thunder Storms and Meteors are form'd Below and
this is the Difference betwixt a Mean and an Exalted Mind The Former is Rude and Tumultuary the Latter is Modest Venerable Compos'd and alwayes Quiet in its Station In brief It is the Conscience that pronounces upon the Man whether he be Happy or Miserable But though Sacrilege and Adultery be Generally condemn'd How many are there still that do not so much as Blush at the One and in truth that take a Glory in the Other For nothing is more Common than for Great Thieves to ride in Triumph when the little ones are punish'd But Let Wickedness scape as it may at the Bar it never fails of doing Iustice upon it self for every Guilty Person is his own Hangman CHAP VIII The Due Contemplation of Divine Providence is the Certain Cure of all Misfortunes WHOEVER observes the World and the Order of it will find all the Motions in it to be only a Vicissitude of Falling and Rising Nothing extinguish'd and even those things which seem to us to Perish are in truth but Chang'd The seasons Go and Return Day and Night follow in their Courses The Heavens Roul and Nature goes on with her Work All things succeed in their Turns Storms and Calms the Law of Nature will have it so which we must follow and obey accompting all things that are done to be well done So that what we cannot Mend we must Suffer and wait upon Providence without Repining It is the part of a Cowardly Soldier to follow his Commander Groaning but a Generous Man delivers himself up to God without struggling and it is only for a Narrow Mind to condemn the Order of the World and to propound rather the mending of Nature than of Himself No Man has any Cause of Complaint against Providence if that which is Right pleases him Those Glories that appear fair to the Eye their Lustre is but false and superficial and they are only Vanity and Delusion They are rather the Goods of a Dream than a Substantial Possession they may Cozen us at a Distance but bring them once to the Touch they are Rotten and Counterfeit There are no greater wretches in the World than many of those which the People take to be Happy Those are the only true and Incorruptible Comforts that will abide all Tryals and the more we turn and examine them the more valuable we find them and The greatest Felicity of all is not to stand in need of Any What 's Poverty No Man lives so poor as he was born What 's Pain It will either have an end it self or make an end of us In short Fortune has no Weapon that reaches the Mind But the Bounties of Providence are Certain and Permanent Blessings and they are the Greater and the Better the longer we consider them That is to say The Power of contemning things Terrible and despising what the Common People Covet In the very Methods of Nature we cannot but observe the Regard that Providence had to the Good of Mankind even in the Disposition of the World in providing so amply for our Maintenance and Satisfaction It is not possible for us to Comprehend what that Power is which has made all things Some few sparks of that Divinity are discover'd but infinitely the greater part of it lies hid We are all of us however so far agreed First in the Acknowledgment and Belief of that Almighty Being and Secondly that we are to ascribe to it all Majesty and Goodness IF there be a Providence say some How comes it to pass that good Men labour under Affliction and Adversity and Wicked Men enjoy themselves in Ease and Plenty My Answer is That God deals by Us as a good Father does by his Children he Tryes us he Hardens us and Fits us for Himself He keeps a strict hand over those that he loves and by the rest he does as we do by our slaves he lets them go on in License and Boldness As the Master gives his most hopeful Scholars the hardest Lessons so does God deal with the most Generous Spirits and the Cross Encounters of Fortune we are not to look upon as a Cruelty but as a Contest The Familiarity of Dangers brings us to the Contempt of them and that part is strongest which is most exercis'd the Seamans Hand is Callous the Soldiers Arm is Strong and the Tree that is most expos'd to the Wind takes the best Root Those People that live in a perpetual VVinter in extremity of Frost and Penury where a Cave a Look of Straw or a few Leaves is all their Covering and wild Beasts their Nourishment All this by Custome is not only made tolerable but when 't is once taken up upon necessity by little and little it becomes pleasant to them Why should we then accompt that Condition of Life a Calamity which is the Lot of many Nations There is no State of Life so miserable but there are in it Remissions Diversions nay and Delights too such is the Benignity of Nature toward us even in the severest Accidents of Humane Life There were no Living if Adversity should hold on as it begins and keep up the Force of the First Impression We are apt to Murmure at many things as great Evils that have nothing at all of Evil in them beside the Complaint which we should more reasonably take up against our selves If I be Sick 't is part of my Fate and for other Calamities they are usual Things they Ought to be nay which is more they Must be for they come by Divine Appointment So that we should not only Submit to God but Assent to him and Obey him out of Duty even if there were no Necessity All those terrible Appearances that make us Groan and Tremble are but the Tribute of Life we are neither to Wish nor to Ask nor to Hope to scape them For 't is a kind of Dishonesty to pay a Tribute Unwillingly Am I troubl'd with the Stone or Afflicted with continual Losses Nay Is my Body in danger All this is no more than what I Pray'd for when I Pray'd for Old Age. All these things are as familiar in a Long Life as Dust and Dirt in a Long Way Life is a Warfare and What Brave Man would not rather Chuse to be in a Tent than in a Shambles Fortune does like a Sword-Man She Scorns to Encounter a fearful Man there 's no Honor in the Victory where there 's no Danger in the Way to 't She tryes Mucius by Fire Rutilius by Exile Socrates by Poyson Cato by Death 'T is only in Adverse Fortune and in Bad Times that we find great Examples Mucius thought himself happier with his Hand in the Flame than if it had been in the Bosome of his Mistriss Fabricius took more pleasure in eating the Roots of his own Planting than in all the Delicacies of Luxury and Expence Shall we call Rutilius miserable whom his very Enemies have ador'd who upon a Glorious and a Publick Principle chose rather to
getting more without end And so long as we are Sollicitous for the Encrease of Wealth we lose the true Use of it and spend our Time in Putting out Calling in and passing our Accompts without any Substantial Benefit either to the World or to our selves What is the Difference betwixt Old Men and Children The one cries for Nuts and Apples and the other for Gold and Silver The one sets up Courts of Justice Hears and Determines Acquits and Condemns in Jeast the other in Earnest The one makes Houses of Clay the other of Marble So that the Works of Old Men are nothing in the World but the Progress and Emprovement of Childrens Errors And they are to be Admonish'd and Punish'd too like Children not in Revenge for Injuries Receiv'd but as a Correction for Injuries Done and to make them give over There is some substance yet in Gold and Silver but as to Judgments and Statutes Procuration and Continuance-Money these are only the Visions and the Dreams of Avarice Throw a Crust of Bread to a Dog he takes it open-mouth'd swallows it whole and presently gapes for more Just so do we with the Gifts of Fortune down they go without Chewing and we are immediately ready for another Chop But What has Avarice now to do with Gold and Silver that is so much out-done by Curiosities of a far greater value Let us no longer complain that there was not a heavier Load laid upon those precious Mettals or that they were not bury'd deep enough when we have found out wayes by Wax and Parchments and by Bloody Usurious Contracts to undoe one another It is remarkable that Providence has given us all things for our Advantage near at hand but Iron Gold and Silver being both the Instruments of Blood and Slaughter and the Price of it Nature has hidden in the Bowels of the Earth THERE is no Avarice without some punishment over and above that which it is to it self How miserable is it in the desire How miserable even in the Attaining of our Ends For Money is a greater Torment in the Possession than it is in the pursuit The Fear of Losing it is a Great Trouble the Loss of it a greater and it is made a greater yet by Opinion Nay even in the Case of no direct Loss at all the Covetous Man loses what he does not get 'T is true the People call the Rich Man a Happy Man and wish themselves in his Condition But Can any Condition be worse than That which carries Vexation and Envy along with it Neither is any Man to boast of his Fortune his Heards of Cattle His Number of Slaves his Lands and Palaces for comparing that which he has to that which he farther Covets he is a Begger No Man can possess all things but any Man may Contemn them and the Contempt of Riches is the nearest way to the gaining of them SOME Magistrates are made for Money and Those commonly are brib'd with Money We are all turn'd Merchants and look not into the Quality of things but into the Price of them for Reward we are Pious and for Reward again we are Impious We are Honest so long as we may Thrive upon it but if the Devil himself give better wages we change our Party Our Parents have train'd us up into an Admiration of Gold and Silver and the Love of it is grown up with us to that Degree that when we would shew our Gratitude to Heaven we make Presents of those Metalls This is it that makes Poverty look like a Curse and a Reproach and the Poets help it forward The Chariot of the Sun must be all of Gold the Best of Times must be the Golden Age and thus they turn the greatest Misery of Mankind into the greatest Blessing NEITHER does Avarice only make us Unhappy in our selves but Malevolent also to Mankind The Soldier wishes for War the Husbandman would have his Corn dear the Lawyer prayes for Dissention the Physitian fora Sickly year He that deals in Curiosities for Luxury and Excess makes up his Fortunes out of the Corruptions of the Age High Winds and Publick Conflagrations make work for the Carpenter and Bricklayer and one Man lives by the Loss of another some few perhaps have the Fortune to be detected but they are all Wicked alike A great Plague makes work for the Sexton and in one word whosoever gains by the Dead has not much Kindness for the Living Demudes of Athens Condemn'd a Fellow that sold Necessaries for Funerals upon Proof that he wisht to make himself a Fortune by his Trade which could not be but by a great Mortality But perhaps he did not so much desire to have many Customers as to sell dear and Buy Cheap besides that all of That Trade might have been Condemn'd as well as he Whatsoever whets our Appetites Flatters and depresses the Mind and by dilating it weakens it first blowing it up and then filling and deluding it with Vanity TO proceed now from the most Prostitute of all Vices Sensuality and Avarice to that which passes in the World for the most Generous the Thirst of Glory and Dominion If they that run Mad after Wealth and Honor could but look into the hearts of them that have already gain'd these Poynts How would it startle them to see those hideous Cares and Crimes that wait upon Ambitious Greatness All those Acquisitions that dazle the Eyes of the Vulgar are but False Pleasures Slippery and Uncertain They are Atchiev'd with Labour and the very Guard of them is Painful Ambition puffs us up with Vanity and Wind and we are equally troubl'd either to see any Body before us or no Body behind us so that we lie under a double Envy for whosoever Envies another is also envy'd himself What matters it how far Alexander extended his Conquests if he was not yet satisfied with what he had Every Man wants as much as he Covets and 't is lost labour to pour into a Vessel that will never be full He that had subdu'd so many Princes and Nations upon the killing of Clytus one Friend and the Loss of Ephestion another deliver'd himself up to Anger and Sadness and when he was Master of the World he was yet a Slave to his Passions Look into Cyrus Cambyses and the whole Persian Line and you shall not find so much as one Man of them that dy'd satisfy'd with What he had gotten Ambition aspires from Great things to Greater and propounds Matters even Impossible when it has once arriv'd at things beyond Expectation It is a kind of Dropsie the more a Man drinks the more he Covets Let any Man but observe the Tumults and the Crouds that attend Palaces What Affronts must we endure to be admitted and How much greater when we are in The Passage to Virtue is Fair but the way to Greatness is Craggy and it stands not only upon a Precipice but upon Ice too and yet it is a hard
matter to convince a Great Man that his Station is slippery or to Prevail with him not to depend upon his Greatness But all Superfluities are Hurtful a Rank Crop layes the Corn too great a Burthen of Fruit breaks the Bow and our Minds may be as well overcharg'd with an Immoderate Happiness Nay though we our selves would be at Rest our Fortune will not suffer it The way that leads to Honor and Riches leads to Troubles and we find the Causes of our Sorrows in the very Objects of our Delights What Joy is there is Feasting and Luxury in Ambition and a Croud of Clients In the Armes of a Mistriss or in the Vanity of an Unprofitable Knowledge These short and False Pleasures deceive us and like Drunkenness Revenge the Jolly Madness of one hour with the Nauseous and sad Repentance of Many Ambition is like a Gulph every thing is swallow'd up in it and bury'd beside the dangerous consequences of it For that which One has taken from All may be easily taken away again from All by One. It was not either Virtue or Reason but the Mad Love of a deceiptful Greatness that animated Pompey in his Wars either Abroad or at Home What was it but his Ambition that hurry'd him to Spain Affrica and elsewhere when he was too Great already in every bodies Opinion but his Own And the same Motive had Iulius Caesar who could not even then brook a Superior Himself when the Common-wealth had submitted unto Two already Nor was it any instinct of Virtue that push'd on Marius who in the Head of an Army was himself yet led on under the Command of Ambition but he came at last to the deserved Fate of other Wicked Men and to Drink himself of the same Cup that he had filled to others We Impose upon our Reason when we suffer our selves to be transported with Titles for we know that they are nothing but a more Glorious Sound and so for Ornaments and Gildings though there may be a Lustre to Dazle our Eyes our Understanding tells us yet that it is only Outside and that the Matter under it is Course and Common I will never Envy those that the People call Great and Happy A Sound Mind is not to be shaken with a Popular and Vain Applause nor is it in the Power of their Pride to disturbe the State of our Happiness An Honest Man is known now adayes by the Dust he raises upon the Way and 't is become a Point of Honor to overrun People and keep all at a distance though he that is put out of the way may perchance be Happier than he that takes it He that would exercise a Power Profitable to himself and Grievous to no body else let him practise it upon his Passions They that have Burnt Cities otherwise Invincible driven Armies before them and bath'd themselves in Humane Blood after that they have overcome all open Enemies they have been vanquish'd by their Lust by their Cruelty and without any Resistance Alexander was possess'd with the Madness of laying Kingdoms waste He began with Greece where he was brought up and there he quarry'd himself upon that in it which was Best He Enslav'd Lacedaemon and Silenc'd Athens Nor was he content with the Destruction of those Towns which his Father Philip had either Conquer'd or Bought but he made himself the Enemy of Humane Nature and like the worst of Beasts he worry'd what he could not eat Felicity is an Unquiet thing it torments it self and puzzles the Brain It makes some People Ambitious others Luxurious It puffs up some and softens others only as 't is with Wine some Heads bear it better than others But it dissolves all Greatness stands upon a Precipice and if Prosperity carries a Man never so little beyond his Poyze it over-beares and dashes him to pieces 'T is a rare thing for a Man in a great Fortune to lay down his Happiness gently it being a Common Fate for a Man to sink under the Weight of those Felicities that raise him How many of the Nobility did Marius bring down to Herdsmen and other mean Offices Nay in the very Moment of our despising Servants we may be made so our selves CHAP. XIII Hope and Feare are the Bane of Humane Life NO Man can be said to be perfectly Happy that runs the Risque of Disappointment which is the Case of every Man that Feares or Hopes for any thing For Hope and Fear how distant soever they may seem to be the one from the other they are both of them yet coupled in the same Chain as the Guard and the Prisoner and the one treads upon the Heel of the other The Reason of this is Obvious for they are Passions that look forward and are ever sollicitous for the Future only Hope is the more Plausible Weakness of the Two which in truth upon the Main are Inseparable for the one cannot be without the other but where the Hope is stronger than the Fear or the Fear than the Hope we call it the one or the other For without Fear it were no longer Hope but Certainty as without Hope it were no longer Fear but Despair We may come to Understand whether our Disquiets are vain or no if we do but Consider that we are either troubled about the Present the Future or Both. If the Present 't is easie to Judge and the Future is Uncertain 'T is a Foolish thing to be Miserable before-hand for fear of Misery to come for a Man loses the Present which he might enjoy in expectation of the Future Nay the Fear of losing any thing is as bad as the loss it self I will be as Prudent as I can but not Timorous or Careless And I will bethink my self and forecast what Inconveniences may happen before they come 'T is true a Man may Fear and yet not be Fearful which is no more than to have the Affection of Fear without the Vice of it but yet a frequent Admittance of it runs into a Habit. It is a Shameful and an Unmanly thing to be Doubtful Timorous and Uncertain to set one step forward and another backward and to be Irresolute Can there be any Man so Fearful that had not rather fall once than hang alwayes in suspence OUR Miseries are Endless if we stand in Fear of all Possibilities the best way in such a Case is to drive out one Nail with another and a little to qualifie Fear with Hope which may serve to Palliate a Misfortune though not to Cure it There is not any thing that we Fear which is so Certain to come as it is certain that many things which we do Fear will not come but we are loth to oppose our Credulity when it begins to move us and so to bring our Fear to the Test. Wâ—… but What if the Thing we fear should come to pass perhaps it will be the better for us Suppose it to be Death it self Why may it not prove
one labors of a Disease and the other of a False Opinion THE Stoicks hold That all those Torments that commonly draw from us Grones and Ejulations are in themselves Trivial and Contemptible But these High-flown Expressions apart how true soever Let us Discourse the Point at the rate of Ordinary Men and not make our selves Miserable before our time for The things we apprehend to be at Hand may possibly never come to pasâ—… Some things trouble us More than they should Other things Sooner and some things again disorder us that ought not to trouble us at all So that we either Enlarge or Create or Anticipate our Disquiets For the First part let it rest as a matter in Controversie for that which I accompt Light Another perhaps will Judge Insupportable One Man Laughs under the Lash and another Whines for a Phillip How sad a Calamity is Poverty to One Man which to Another appears rather Desirable than Inconvenient For the Poor Man that has nothing to Lose has nothing to Fear And he that would enjoy himself to the Satisfaction of his Soul must be either poor Indeed or at least look as if he were so Some people are extremely dejected with Sickness and Pain whereas Epicurus bless'd his Fate with his last Breath in the Acutest Torments of the Stone Imaginable And so for Banishment which to One Man is so Grievous and yet to Another is no more than a bare Change of Place A thing that we do every day for our Health Pleasure nay and upon the Accompt even of Common Business How Terrible is Death to One Man which to Another appears the greatest Providence in Nature even toward all Ages and Conditions It is the Wish of Some the Relief of Many and the End of All. It sets the Slave at Liberty carries the Banish'd Man Home and places all Mortals upon the same Level Insomuch that Life it self were a Punishment without it When I see Tyrants Tortures Violences the Prospect of Death is a Consolation to me and the only Remedy against the Injuries of Life NAY so great are our Mistakes in the True Estimate of things that we have hardly done any thing which we have not had reason to wish Undone and we have found the things we fear'd to be more desirable than those we coveted Our very Prayers have been more Pernicious than the Curses of our Enemies and we must Pray again to have our former Prayers forgiven Where 's the Wise Man that wishes himself the wishes of his Mother his Nurse or his Tutour the worst of Enemies with the Intention of the best of Friends We are Undone if their Prayers be heard and it is our Duty to Pray that they may not For they are no other than well-meaning Execrations They take Evil for Good and one Wish fights with another Give me rather the Contempt of all those things whereof they wish me the greatest Plenty We are equally hurt by some that Pray for us and by others that Curse us The One imprints in us a False Fear and the Other does us Mischief by a Mistake So that it is no wonder if Mankind be Miserable that is brought up from the very Cradle under the Imprecations of our Parents We pray for Trifles without so much as thinking of the greatest Blessings and we are not asham'd many times to ask God for That which we should blush to own to our Neighbor IT is with us as with an Innocent that Our Author had in his Family She fell blind on a sudden and no body could perswade her that she was Blind She could not endure the House she Cry'd it was so dark and was still calling to go abroad That which we laught at in her we find to be true in our selves we are Covetous and Ambitious but the World shall never bring us to acknowledge it and we Impute it to the Place Nay we are the worse of the Two for that blind Fool call'd for a Guide and we wander about without one It is a hard matter to Cure those that will not believe they are Sick We are asham'd to admit a Master and we are too old to Learn Vice still goes before Virtue So that we have two Works to do we must cast off the One and Learn the Other By One Evil we make way to another and only seek things to be avoided or those of which we are soon weary That which seem'd too Much when we wish'd for 't proves too Little when we have it and it is not as some Imagine that Felicity is Greedy but it is Little and Narrow and cannot Satisfie us That which we take to be very High at a distance we find to be but Low when we come at it And the Business is we do not understand the true State of Things we are deceiv'd by Rumors when we have Gain'd the thing we aim'd at we find it to be either Ill or Empty or perchance Less than we expected or otherwise perhaps Great but not Good CHAP XV. The Blessings of Temperance and Moderation THERE is not any thing that is Necessary to us but we have it either Cheap or Gratis and this is the Provision that our Heavenly Father has made for us whose Bounty was never wanting to our Needs 'T is true the Belly Craves and Calls upon us but then a small matter contents it A little Bread and Water is sufficient and all the rest is but superfluous He that lives according to Reason shall never be Poor and he that Governs his Life by Opinion shall never be Rich for Nature is Limited but Phancy is Boundless As for Meat Cloths and Lodging a little Feeds the Body and as little Covers it So that if Mankind would only attend Humane Nature without gaping at Superfluities a Cook would be found as needless as a Soldier For we may have Necessaries upon very Easie Termes whereas we put our selves to great Pains for excesses When we are Cold we may cover our selves with Skins of Beasts and against violent Heats we have Natural Grotto's or with a few Osyers and a little Clay we may defend our selves against all Seasons Providence has been kinder to us than to leave us to live by our Wits and to Stand in need of Invention and Arts It is only Pride and Curiosity that Involves us in Difficulties If nothing will serve a Man but Rich Cloths and Furniture Statues and Plate a Numerous Train of Servants and the Rarities of all Nations it is not Fortunes Fault but his Own that he is not Satisfied For his Desires are Insatiable and this is not a Thirst but a Disease and if he were Master of the whole World he would be still a Begger 'T is the Mind that makes us Rich and Happy in what Condition soever we are and Money signifies no more to 't than it does to the Gods If the Religion be Sincere no matter for the Ornaments 'T is only Luxury and Avarice that
makes Poverty Grievous to us For it is a very small matter that does our Business and when we have provided against Cold Hunger and Thirst all the Rest is but Vanity and Excess And there 's no need of Expence upon Forreign Delicacies or the Artifices of the Kitchin What is he the worse for Poverty that despises these things Nay Is he not rather the better for it because he is not able to go to the Price of them For he is kept sound whether he will or no And that which a Man Cannot do looks many times as if he would not WHEN I look back into the Moderation of past Ages it makes me asham'd to Discourse as if Poverty had need of any Consolation For we are now come to that degree of Intemperance that a fair Patrimony is too little for a Meal Homer had but One Servant Plato Three and Zeno the Master of the Masculine Sect of Stoicks had none at all The Daughters of Scipio had their Portions out of the Common Treasury for their Father left them not worth a Penny How Happy were their Husbands that had the People of Rome for their Father-in-Law Shall any Man now Contemn Poverty after these Eminent Examples which are sufficient not only to Justifie but to Recommend it Upon Diogenes's only Servant's running away from him he was told where he was and perswaded to fetch him back again What sayes he can Manes live without Diogenes and not Diogenes without Manes And so let him go The Piety and Moderation of Scipio has made his Memory more Venerable than his Armes and more yet after he left his Country than while he defended it For matters were come to that pass that either Scipio must be Injurious to Rome or Rome to Scipio Course Bread and Water to a Temperate Man is as good as a Feast and the very Herbs of the Field yield a Nourishment to Man as well as to Beasts It was not by Choice Meats and Perfumes that our Forefathers recommended themselves but by Virtuous Actions and the Sweat of Honest Military and of Manly Labours WHILE Nature lay in Common and all her Benefits were promiscuously enjoy'd What could be happier than that state of Mankind when People liv'd without either Avarice or Envy What could be Richer then when there was not a Poor Man to be found in the World So soon as this Impartial Bounty of Providence came to be restrain'd by Covetousness and that Particulars appropriated That to themselves which was intended for All then did Poverty creep into the World when some Men by desiring more than came to their share lost their Title to the Rest. A loss never to be repair'd for though we may come Yet to get Much we once had All. The Fruits of the Earth were in those dayes divided among the Inhabitants of it without either Want or Excess So long as Men contented themselves with their Lot there was no Violence no Engrossing or Hiding of those Benefits for Particular Advantages which were appointed for the Community but every Man had as much Care for his Neighbor as for Himself No Arms or Bloodshed no War but with wilde Beasts But under the Protection of a Wood or a Cave they spent their dayes without Cares and their nights without Grones Their Innocence was their Security and their Protection There were as yet no Beds of State no Ornaments of Pearl or Embrodery nor any of those Remorses that attend them but the Heavens were their Canopy and the Glories of them their Spectacle The Motions of the Orbs the Courses of the Stars and the wonderful order of Providence was their Contemplation There was no fear of the House falling or the Russling of a Rat behind the Arras they had no Palaces then like Cities but they had open Ayr and Breathing-Room Crystal Fountains Refreshing Shades the Meadows drest up in their Native Beauty and such Cottages as were according to Nature and wherein they liv'd contentedly without fear either of Losing or of Falling These people liv'd without either Sollicitude or Fraud and yet I must call them rather Happy than Wise. That Men were generally better before they were corrupted then after I make no doubt and I am apt to believe that they were both Stronger and Hardier too but their Wits were not yet come to Maturity for Nature does not give Virtue and it is a kind of Art to become Good They had not as yet torn up the Bowels of the Earth for Gold Silver or Precious Stones and so far were they from killing any Man as we do for a Spectacle that they were not as yet come to it either in Fear or Anger nay they spar'd the very Fishes But after all This they were Innocent because they were Ignorant and there 's a great difference betwixt not Knowing how to offend and not being Willing to do it They had in that rude Life certain Images and Resemblances of Virtue but yet they fell short of Virtue it self which comes only by Institution Learning and Study as it is perfected by Practice It is indeed the End for which we were born but yet it did not come into the World with us and in the best of Men before they are instructed we find rather the Matter and the Seeds of Virtue than the Virtue it self It is the wonderful Benignity of Nature that has laid open to us all things that may do us Good and only hidden those things from us that may hurt us as if she durst not Trust us with Gold and Silver or with Iron which is the Instrument of War and Contention for the other It is we our selves that have drawn out of the Earth both the Causes and the Instruments of our Dangers And we are so vain as to set the highest esteem upon those things to which Nature has assign'd the lowest place What can be more Course and Rude in the Mine than these precious Metalls or more Slavish and Dirty than the People that Dig and Work them And yet they defile our Minds more than our Bodies and make the Possessor fouler than the Artificer of them Rich Men in fine are only the Greater Slaves Both the One and the Other wants a great deal HAPPY is that Man that Eats only for b Hunger and Drinks only for Thirst that stands upon his own Legs and lives by Reason not by Example and provides for Use and Necessity not for Ostentation and Pomp. Let us Curb our Appetites encourage Virtue and rather be beholden to our Selves for Riches than to Fortune who when a Man draws himself into a narrow compass has the least Mark at him Let my Bed be plain and Clean and my Cloths so too my Meat without much Expence or many Wayters and neither a burthen to my Purse nor to my Body nor to go out the same way it came in That which is too little for Luxury is abundantly enough for Nature The end of Eating and Drinking
stand the Test. One Man is Forsaken for Fear or Profit Another is Betray'd 'T is a Negotiation not a Friendship that has an Eye to Advantages only through the Corruption of Times that which was formerly a Friendship is now become a Design upon a Booty Alter your Testament and you lose your Friend But my End of Friendship is to have One dearer to me than my Self and for the saving of whose Life I would chearfully lay down my Own taking this along with me that only Wise Men can be Friends Others are but Companions and that there 's a great Difference also betwixt Love and Friendship The One may sometime do us Hurt the Other alwayes does us Good for One Friend is Helpful to Another in all Cases as well in Prosperity as Affliction We receive Comfort even at a Distance from those we Love but then it is Light and Faint whereas Presence and Conversation touches us to the Quick especially if we find the Man we Love to be such a person as we wish IT is Usual with Princes to Reproach the Living by Commending the Dead and to Praise those People for speaking Truth from whom there is no longer any Danger of Hearing it This was Augustus his Case He was forc'd to banish his daughter Iulia for her Common and Prostituted Impudence and still upon Fresh Informations he was often heard to say If Agrippa or Mecaenas had been now alive this would never have been But yet where the Fault lay may be a Question for perchance it was his Own that had rather complain for the Want of them than seek for Others as Good The Roman Losses by War and by Fire Augustus could quickly Supply and Repair but for the Loss of Two Friends he lamented his whole Life after Xerxes a Vain and a Foolish Prince when he made War upon Greece One told him 'T would never come to a Battel Another That he would find only empty Cities and Countryes for they would not so much as stand the very Fame of his Coming Others sooth'd him in the Opinion of his Prodigious Numbers and they all concurr'd to puff him up to his destruction Only Demaratus advis'd him not to depend too much upon his Numbers for he would rather find them a Burthen to him than an advantage And that 300 Men in the Streights of the Mountains would be sufficient to give a Check to his whole Army and that such an Accident would Undoubtedly turn his vast Numbers to his Confusion It fell out afterward as he foretold and he had Thanks for his Fidelity A Miserable Prince that among so many Thousand Subjects had but One Servant to tell him the Truth CHAP. XIX He that would be happy must take an Accompt of his Time IN the distribution of Humane Life we find that a great part of it passes away in Evil-doing A Greater yet in doing just Nothing at all and effectually the whole in doing things beside our business Some hours we bestow upon Ceremony and Servile Attendances Some upon our Pleasures and the Remainder runs at Waste What a deal of Time is it that we spend in Hopes and Fears Love and Revenge in Balls Treats making of Interests Suing for Offices Solliciting of Causes and Slavish Flatteries The shortness of Life I know is the Common Complaint both of Fools and Philosophers as if the Time we have were not sufficient for our duties But 't is with our Lives as with our Estates a good Husband makes a Little go a great way whereas let the Revenue of a Prince fall into the Hands of a Prodigal 't is gone in a moment So that the Time allotted us if it were well employ'd were abundantly enough to answer all the Ends and Purposes of Mankind But we squander it away in Avarice Drink Sleep Luxury Ambition fawning Addresses Envy Rambling Voyages Impertinent Studies Change of Counsels and the like and when our Portion is spent we find the want of it though we gave no heed to it in the Passage In so much that we have rather Made our Life Short than found it so You shall have some People perpetually playing with their Fingers Whistling Humming and Talking to themselves and Others consume their dayes in the Composing Hearing or Reciting of Songs and Lampoons How many precious Mornings do we spend in Consultation with Barbers Taylors and Tire-Women Patching and Painting betwixt the Comb and the Glass A Counsel must be call'd upon every Hair we cut and one Curle amiss is as much as a Bodies Life is worth The truth is we are more sollicitous about our Dress than our Manners and about the Order of our Perriwigs than that of the Government At this rate let us but discount out of a Life of a Hundred years that Time which has been spent upon Popular Negotiations frivolous Amours Domestick Brawls Sauntrings up and down to no purpose Diseases that we have brought upon our selves and this large extent of Life will not amount perhaps to the Minority of another Man It is a Long Being but perchance a Short Life And what 's the Reason of all this we Live as if we should never Dye and without any thought of Humane Frailty when yet the very Moment we bestow upon this Man or Thing may peradventure be our last But the greatest Loss of Time is Delay and Expectation which depends upon the Future We let go the Present which we have in our own Power we look Forward to that which depends upon Fortune and so quit a Certainty for an Uncertainty We should do by Time as we do by a Torrent make Use of it while we may have it for it will not last alwayes THE Calamities of Humane Nature may be Divided into the Fear of Death and the Miseries and Errors of Life And it is the great Work of Mankind to Master the One and to Rectifie the Other And so to Live as neither to make Life Irksome to us nor Death Terrible It should be our Care before we are Old to Live Well and when we are so to Die well that we may expect our End without Sadness For it is the Duty of Life to prepare our selves for Death and there is not an hour we Live that does not Mind us of our Mortality Time Runs on and all things have their Fate though it lies in the Dark The Period is Certain to Nature but What am I the better for it if it be not so to me We propound Travels Armes Adventures without ever considering that Death lies in the way Our Term is set and none of us Know how Near it is but we are all of us Agreed that the Decree is Unchangable Why should we wonder to have That befall us to Day which might have happen'd to us any Minute since we were Born Let us therefore Live as if every Moment were to be our Last and set our Accompts Right every day that passes over our Heads We are not Ready for Death
Security If Death be at Any time to be Fear'd it is Allwayes to be Fear'd but the way never to Fear it is to be often thinking of it To what end is it to put off for a little while that which we cannot avoid He that Dyes does but follow him that is Dead Why are we then so long afraid of that which is so little a while a doing How miserable are those People that spend their Lives in the Dismal Apprehensions of Death For they are beset on all hands and every Minute in Dread of a surprize We must therefore look about us as if we were in an Enemies Country and Consider our Last hour not as the Punishment but as the Law of Nature The Fear of it is a Continual Palpitation of the Heart and he that overcomes That Terror shall never be troubled with any Other Life is a Navigation we are perpetually wallowing and dashing one against another Sometimes we suffer Shipwrack but we are Alwayes in Danger and in Expectation of it And what is it when it comes but either the End of a Journey or a Passage It is as great a Folly to Fear Death as to Fear Old Age. Nay as to Fear Life it self for he that would not Dye ought not to Live since Death is the Condition of Life Beside that it is a Madness to Fear a thing that is Certain for where there is no Doubt there is no place for Fear WE are still chiding of Fate and even those that exact the most Rigorous Justice betwixt Man and Man are yet themselves Unjust to Providence Why was such a One taken away in the Prime of his Years As if it were the Number of years that makes Death easie to us and not the Temper of the Mind He that would Live a little Longer to Day would be as loth to Dye a Hundred year Hence But which is more Reasonable for Us to obey Nature or for Nature to obey us Go we must at Last and no Matter how soon 'T is the Work of Fate to make us Live Long but 't is the Business of Virtue to make a short Life sufficient Life is to be measur'd by Action not by Time a Man may Dye Old at Thirty and Young at Fourscore Nay the One Lives after Death and the Other Perish'd before he Dy'd I look upon Age among the Effects of Chance How Long I shall Live is in the Power of Others but it is in my Own how Well The largest space of Time is to live till a Man is Wise. He that Dyes of Old Age does no more than go to Bed when he is weary Death is the Test of Life and it is that only which discovers what we are and distinguishes betwixt Ostentation and Virtue A Man may Dispute Cite Great Authorities Talk Learnedly Huff it out and yet be Rotten at Heart But let us Soberly attend our Business and since it is Uncertain When or Where we shall Dye let us look for Death in all Places and at all Times We can never Study that Point too much which we can never come to Experiment whether we know it or no. It is a Blessed thing to dispatch the Business of Life before we Dye and then to Expect Death in the Possession of a Happy Life He 's the Great Man that is willing to Dye when his Life is pleasant to him An Honest Life is not a Greater Good than an Honest Death How many Brave young Men by an Instinct of Nature are carry'd on to Great Actions and even to the Contempt of all Hazards 'T IS Childish to go out of the World Groning and Wailing as we came into 't Our Bodies must be thrown away as the Secondine that wraps up the Infant the other being only the Covering of the Soul We shall then discover the Secrets of Nature the Darkness shall be Discuss'd and our Souls Irradiated with Light and Glory A Glory without a Shadow a Glory that shall surround us and from whence we shall look down and see Day and Night beneath us If we cannot lift up our Eyes toward the Lamp of Heaven without dazling What shall we do when we come to behold the Divine Light in its Illustrious Original That Death which we so much dread and decline is not a Determination but the Intermission of a Life which will return again All those things that are the very Cause of Life are the way to Death We Fear it as we do Fame but it is a great Folly to Fear Words Some People are so impatient of Life that they are still wishing for Death but he that wishes to dye does not desire it Let us rather wait Gods Pleasure and Pray for Health and Life If we have a Mind to Live Why do we wish to dye If we have a Mind to dye we may do it without talking of it Men are a great deal more Resolute in the Article of Death it self than they are about the Circumstances of it For it gives a Man Courage to Consider that his Fate is Inevitable the slow Approches of death are the most Troublesome to us as we see many a Gladiator who upon his wounds will direct his Adversaries weapon to his very Heart though but Timorous perhaps in the Combat There are some that have not the Heart either to Live or Dy and that 's a Sad Case But this we are sure of The Fear of Death is a Continual Slavery as the Contempt of it is Certain Liberty CHAP. XXII Consolations against Death from the Providence and the Necessity of it THIS Life is only a Prelude to Eternity where we are to expect Another Original and Another State of Things We have no Prospect of Heaven Here but at a Distance Let us therefore expect our Last and Decretory Hour with Courage The Last I say to our Bodies but not to our Minds Our Luggage we must leave behind us and return as Naked Out of the World as we came Into 't The day which we fear as our Last is but the Birth-day of our Eternity and it is the only way to 't So that what we Fear as a Rock proves to be but a Port In many Cases to be Desir'd Never to be Refus'd and he that Dyes Young has only made a Quick Voyage on 't Some are Becalm'd Others cut it away before the Wind and we Live just as we Saile First we run our Childhood out of sight our Youth next and then our Middle Age After That follows Old Age and brings us to the Common End of Mankind It is a great Providence that we have more wayes Out of the World than we have Into 't Our Security stands upon a Point the very Article of Death It draws a great many Blessings into a very Narrow Compass And although the Fruit of it does not seem to extend to the Defunct yet the Difficulty of it is more than ballanc'd by the Contemplation of the Future Nay suppose that all the
Business of This World should be Forgotten or my Memory traduc'd What 's all this to me I have done my Duty Undoubtedly That which puts an End to all Other Evils cannot be a very great Evil it Self and yet it is no Easie thing for Flesh and Blood to despise Life What if Death comes If it does not stay with us why should we Fear it One Hangs himself for a Mistress Another Leaps the Garret Window to avoid a Cholerick Master a Third runs away and Stabs himself rather than he will be brought back again We see the Force even of our Infirmities and shall we not then do greater things for the Love of Virtue To suffer Death is but the Law of Nature and it is a great Comfort that it can be done but Once In the very Convulsions of it we have This Consolation that our Pain is near an end and that it frees us from all the Miseries of Life What it is we Know not and it were Rash to Condemn what we do not Understand But this we Presume either that we shall pass out of This into a Better Life where we shall Live with Tranquillity and Splendor in Diviner Mansions or else return to our First Principles free from the Sense of any Inconvenience There 's Nothing Immortal nor Many things Lasting but by Diverse wayes every thing comes to an End What an Arrogance is it then when the World it self stands Condemn'd to a Dissolution that Man alone should expect to live for Ever It is Unjust not to allow unto the Giver the Power of disposing of his Own Bounty and a Folly only to value the Present Death is as much a Debt as Mony and Life is but a Journey towards it Some dispatch it Sooner others Later but we must All have the same Period The Thunder-Bolt is undoubtedly Just that draws even from those that are stuck with it a Veneration A Great Soul takes no Delight in Staying with the Body it considers whence it Came and Knows whither it is to Go. The day will come that shall separate this Mixture of Soul and Body of Divine and Humane My Body I will leave where I found it My Soul I will restore to Heaven which would have been There already but for the Clog that keeps it down And beside How many Men have been the worse for longer Living that might have dy'd with Reputation if they had been sooner taken away How many Disappointments of Hopeful Youths that have prov'd Dissolute Men Over and above the Ruines Shipwracks Torments Prisons that attend Long Life A Blessing so deceiptful that if a Child were in Condition to Judge of it and at Liberty to Refuse it he would not take it WHAT Providence has made Necessary Humane Prudence should comply with Chearfully As there is a Necessity of Death so that Necessity is Equal and Invincible No Man has cause of Complaint for that which Every Man must suffer as well as himself When we should dye we Will not and when we would not we must But our Fate is Fixt and Unavoidable is the Decree Why do we then stand Trembling when the Time comes Why do we not as well lament that we did not Live a Thousand years agoe as that we shall not be alive a Thou sand years hence 'T is but travelling the Great Road and to the Place whither we must All go at Last 'T is but submitting to the Law of Nature and to That Lot which the whole World has suffer'd that is gone Before us and so must They too that are to Come After us Nay how many Thousands when our Time comes will Expire in the same Moment with us He that will not Follow shall be drawn by Force And Is it not much better now to do That willingly which we shall otherwise be made to do in spite of our Hearts The Sons of Mortal Parents must expect a Mortal Posterity Death is the End of Great and Small We are Born Helpless and expos'd to the Injuries of all Creatures and of all Weathers The very Necessaries of Life are Deadly to us We meet with our Fate in our Dishes in our Cups and in the very Ayr we Breathe Nay our very Birth is Inauspicious for we come into the World Weeping and in the Middle of our Designs while we are meditating great Matters and stretching of our Thoughts to After Ages Death cuts us off and our longest Date is only the Revolution of a few years One Man Dyes at the Table Another goes away in his Sleep a Third in his Mistress's Armes a Fourth is Stabb'd Another is Stung with an Adder or Crush'd with the Fall of a Horse We have several wayes to our End but the End it self which is Death is still the same Whether we dye by a Sword by a Halter by a Potion or by a Disease 't is all but Death A Child dies in the Swadling Clouts and an Old Man at a Hundred they are Both Mortal alike though the One goes sooner than the Other All that lies betwixt the Cradle and the Grave is Uncertain If we compute the Troubles the Life even of a Child is Long if the Swiftness of the Passage That of an Old Man is short The whole is slippery and Deceiptful and only Death Certain and yet all People Complain of That which never Deceiv'd any Man Senecio rais'd himself from a small Beginning to a Vast Fortune being very well skill'd in the Faculties both of Getting and of Keeping and either of them was sufficient for the doing of his Business He was a Man Infinitely Careful both of his Patrimony and of his Body He gave me a Mornings Visit sayes our Author and after that Visit he went away and spent the rest of the day with a Friend of his that was desperately Sick At Night he was Merry at Supper and seiz'd immediately after with a Squincy which dispatch'd him in a few hours This Man that had Mony at Use in all Places and in the very Course and Height of his Prosperity was thus Cut off How Foolish a thing is it then for a Man to flatter himself with Long Hopes and to Pretend to Dispose of the Future Nay the very Present slips through our Fingers and there is not that moment which we can call our Own How vain a thing is it for us to enter upon Projects and to say to our selves Well! I 'll go Build Purchase Discharge such Offices Settle my Affairs and then Retire We are all of us Born to the same Casualties All equally Frail and Uncertain of To morrow At the very Altar where we Pray for Life we Learn to Dy by seeing the Sacrifices Kill'd before us But there 's no Need of a Wound or Searching the Heart for 't when the Noose of a Cord or Smothering of a Pillow will do the Work All things have their Seasons they Begin they Encrease and they Dye The Heavens and the Earth grow Old and are appointed
it by Choice and not by Necessity for the Practice of Poverty in Jeast is a Preparation toward the Bearing of it in Earnest But it is yet a Generous Disposition so to provide for the worst of Fortunes as what may be easily born the Premeditation makes them not only Tolerable but delightful to us for there 's That in them without which nothing can be Comfortable that is to say Security If there were nothing else in Poverty but the Certain Knowledge of our Friends it were yet a most Desirable Blessing when every Man leaves us but those that Love us It is a shame to place the Happyness of Life in Gold and Silver for which Bread and Water is sufficient Or at the Worst Hunger puts an end to Hunger For the Honor of Poverty it was both the Foundation and the Cause of the Roman Empire and no Man was ever yet so Poor but he had enough to carry him to his Journeys End ALL I desire is that my Poverty may not be a Burthen to my self or make me so to others and That is the best State of Fortune that is neither directly necessitous nor far from it A Mediocrity of Fortune with a Gentleness of Mind will preserve us from Fear or Envy which is a Desirable Condition for no Man wants power to do Mischief We never consider th Blessing of Coveting nothing and the Glory of being full in our selves without Depending upon Fortune With Parcimony a Little is sufficient and without it Nothing whereas Frugality makes a Poor Man Rich. If we lose an Estate we had better never have had it He that has Least to Lose has Least to Fear and those are better satisfy'd whom Fortune never favour'd then those whom she has forsaken That State is most Commodious that lies betwixt Poverty and Plenty Diogenes understood this very well when he put himself into an Incapacity of losing any thing That Course of Life is most Commodious which is both safe and wholsome the Body is to be indulg'd no farther than for Health and rather Mortify'd than not kept in Subjection to the Mind It is Necessary to provide against Hunger Thirst and Cold and somewhat for a Covering to shelter us against other Inconveniences but not a Pin matter whether it be of Turf or of Marble A Man may lye as warm and as Dry under a Thatch'd as under a Gilded Roof Let the Mind be Great and Glorious and all other things are Despicable in Comparison The Future is Uncertain and I had rather beg of my Self not to Desire any thing than of Fortune to Bestow it The End SENECA OF Anger AND Clemency THE Contents Chap. I. ANger describ'd It is against Nature and only to be found in Men. p. 1. Chap. II. The Rise of Anger p. 7. Chap. III. Anger may be Supprest p. 12. Chap. IV. It is a short Madness and a deformed Vice p. 20. Chap. V. Anger is neither Warrantable nor Useful p. 25. Chap. VI. Anger in General with the Danger and Effects of it p. 45. Chap. VII The Ordinary Grounds and Occasions of Anger p. 65. Chap. VIII Advice in the Case of Contumely and Revenge p. 76. Chap. IX Cautions against Anger in the Matter of Education Converse and other General Means of preventing it both in our selves and others p. 86. Chap. X. Against Rash Iudgment p. 100. Chap. XI Take nothing ill from another Man till you have made it your own Case p. 109. Chap. XII Of Cruelty p. 115. OF Clemency p. 125. SENECA OF Anger CHAP. I. Anger describ'd It is against Nature and only to be found in Men. WE are here to Encounter the most Outrageous Brutal Dangerous and Intractable of all Passions the most Loathsome and Unmannerly Nay the most ridiculous too and the subduing of this Monster will do a great deal toward the Establishment of Humane Peace It is the Method of Physitians to begin with a Description of the Disease before they meddle with the Cure and I know not why this may not do as well in the Distempers of the Mind as in those of the Body THE Stoicks will have Anger to be A desire of Punishing another for some Injury done Against which it is Objected That we are many times Angry with those that never did hurt us but possibly may though the harm be not as yet done But I say that they hurt us already in Conceipt and the very Purpose of it is an Injury in Thought before it breaks out into Act. It is opposed again That if Anger were a Desire of Punishing Meà n People would not be Angry with Great Ones that are out of their Reach For no Man can be said to Desire any thing which he Judges Impossible to Compass But I answer to this That Anger is the Desire not the Power and Faculty of Revenge Neither is any Man so low but that the greatest Man alive may peradventure lye at his Mercy ARISTOTLE takes Anger to be A desire of paying sorrow for sorrow and of Plaguing those that have Plagued us It is argu'd against both that Beasts are Angry though neither provok'd by any Injury nor mov'd with a desire of any bodies Grief or Punishment Nay though they cause it they do not design or seek it Neither is Anger how unreasonable soever in it self found any where but in Reasonable Creatures It is true that Beasts have an Impulse of Rage and Fierceness as they are more affected also than Men with some Pleasures But we may as well call them Luxurious and Ambitious as Angry And yet they are not without certain Images of Humane Affections They have their Likings and their Lothings but neither the Passions of Reasonable Nature nor their Virtues nor their Vices They are mov'd to Fury by some Objects they are quieted by others they have their Terrors and their Disappointments but without Reflection And let them be never so much Irritated or Affrighted so soon as ever the Occasion is remov'd they fall to their Meat again and lye down and take their Rest. Wisdom and Thought are the Goods of the Mind whereof Brutes are wholly Incapable and we are as unlike them within as we are without They have an odd Kind of Phancy and they have a Voice too but Inarticulate and Confus'd and Incapable of those Variations which are Familiar to us ANGER is not only a Vice but a Vice point blank against Nature for it Divides in stead of Joyning and in some measure frustrates the End of Providence in Humane Society One Man was born to help another Anger makes us destroy one another the one Unites the other Separates the one is Beneficial to us the other Mischievous the one Succors even Strangers the other Destroyes even the most Intimate Friends The one Ventures all to Save another the other Ruines himself to Undo another Nature is Bountiful but Anger is Pernicious For it is not Fear but Mutual Love that binds up Mankind THERE are some Motions
been left at liberty to do my own Business For all the Impertinents were either at the Theatre at Bowls or at the Horse-match My Body does not require much Exercise and I am beholden to my Age for it A Little makes me Weary and That 's the end also of that which is most Robust My Dinner is a Piece of Dry Bread without a Table and without fouling of my Fingers My Sleeps are short and in truth a little Doubtful betwixt slumbering and waking One while I am reflecting upon the Errors of Antiquity and then I apply my Self to the Correcting of my Own In my Reading with Reverence to the Antients Some things I Take Others I Alter and some again I Reject Others I Invent without enthralling my self so to anothers Judgment as not to preserve the Freedom of my Own Sometimes of a sudden in the Middle of my Meditations my Ears are struck with the Shout of a Thousand People together from some Spectacle or other The Noise does not at all discompose my Thoughts it is no more to me than the Dashing of Waves or the Wind in a Wood but possibly sometimes it may divert them Good Lord think I if Men would but exercise their Brains as they do their Bodies and take as much Pains for Virtue as they do for Pleasure For Difficulties Strengthen the Mind as well as Labor does the Body You tell me That you want my Books more than my Counsels which I take just as kindly as if you should have ask'd me for my Picture For I have the very same Opinion of my Wit that I have of my Beauty You shall have both the One and the Other with my very Self into the Bargain In the Examination of my own Heart I find some Vices that lie Open Others more Obscure and out of Sight and some that take me only by Fits Which Last I look upon as the most Dangerous and Troublesome For they lie upon the Catch and keep a Man upon a Perpetual Guard Being neither provided against them as in a State of War nor Secure as in any Assurance of Peace To say the Truth we are all of us as Cruel as Ambitious and as Luxurious as our Fellows But we want the Fortune or the Occasion perchance to shew it When the Snake is Frozen 't is Safe but the Poyson is still in it though it be Num'd We hate Upstarts that use their Power with Insolence when yet if we had the same Means 't is Odds that we should do the same thing our selves Only our Corruptions are Private for want of Opportunity to Employ them Some things we look upon as Superfluous and Others as not worth the while But we never consider that we pay dearest for that which we pretend to receive Gratis As Anxiety Loss of Credit Liberty and Time So Cheap is every Man in effect that pretends to be most Dear to Himself Some are Dipt in their Lusts as in a River there must be a hand to help them out Others are Strangely Careless of Good Counsel and yet well enough dispos'd to follow Example Some again must be forc'd to their Duties Because there 's no Good to be done upon them by Perswasion But out of the whole Race of Mankind How few are there that are able to help themselves Being thus Conscious of our own Frailty we should do well to keep our selves quiet and not to Trust Weak Minds with Wine Beauty or Pleasure We have much adoe you see to keep our Feet upon Dry Ground What will become of us then if we venture our selves where it is Slippery 'T is not to say This is a hard Lesson and we cannot go through with it For we Can if we Would Endeavour it But we Cannot because we give it for granted That we Cannot without trying whether we Can or No. And what 's the Meaning of all This but that we are pleas'd with our Vices and willing to be Master'd by them So that we had rather Excuse than cast them off The true Reason is we Will not but the Pretence is that we Cannot And we are not only under a Necessity of Error but the very Love of it To give you now a Brief of my own Character I am none of Those that take Delight in Tumults and in Struggling with Difficulties for had rather be Quiet than in Armes for I accompt it my Duty to bear up against Ill Fortune but without Chusing it I am no Friend to Contention Especially to That of the Barr But I am very much a Servant to all Honest Business that may be done in a Corner And there is no Retreat so Unhappy as not to yield Entertainment for a great Mind by which he may make himself Profitable both to his Country and to his Friends by his Wisdom by his Interest and by his Counsel It is the Part of a good Patriot to prefer Men of Worth to Defend the Innocent to Provide Good Laws and to Advise in War and in Peace But is not He as good a Patriot that instructs Youth in Virtue that furnishes the World with Precepts of Morality and keeps Humane Nature within the Bounds of Right Reason Who is the Greater Man he that Pronounces a Sentence upon the Bench or he that in his Study reads us a Lecture of Justice Piety Patience Fortitude the Knowledge of Heaven the Contempt of Death and the Blessing of a Good Conscience The Soldier that guards the Ammunition and the Baggage is as Necessary as he that fights the Battel Was not Cato a greater Example than either Ulysses or Hercules They had the Fame you know of being indefatigable Despisers of Pleasures and great Conquerors both of their Enemies and of their Appetites But Cato I must Confess had no Encounters with Monsters nor did he fall into those Times of Credulity when people believ'd that the weight of the Heavens rested upon one Mans Shoulders But he grappled with Ambition and the unlimited Desire of Power which the whole World divided under a Triumvirate was not able to satisfie He Oppos'd himself to the Vices of a degenerate City even when it was now sinking under its own weight He stood single and supported the falling Common-Wealth till at last as Inseparable Friends they were crush'd together For Neither would Cato Survive the Publick Liberty nor did That Liberty Outlive Cato To give you now a Farther Accompâ—… of my Self I am Naturally a Friend to all the Rules and Methods of Sobriety and Moderation I like the Old Fashion'd Plate that was left me by my Country Father It is Plain and Heavy And yet for all this there is a kind of Dazling methinks in the Ostentations of Splendor and Luxury But it strikes the Eye more than the Mind and though it may shake a Wise Man it cannot Alter him Yet it sends me home many times sadder perhaps than I went out but yet I hope not Worse though not without some secret Dissatisfaction at my Own
Matter but an Ambitious Vanity that has crept in at the Back Dore A Wise Man will keep himself Clear of all these Fooleries without disturbing Publick Customs or making himself a Gazing Stock to the People But Will This Secure him think you I can no more warrant it than that a Temperate Man shall have his Health But it is very Probable that it may A Philosopher has enough to do to stand right in the World let him be never so modest And his out-side shall be still like That of Other people let them be never So Unlike within His Garments shall be neither Rich nor Sordid No matter for Arms Motto's and other Curiosities upon his Plate But he shall not yet make it a Matter of Conscience to have no Plate at all He that likes an Earthen Vessel as well as a Silver has not a greater Mind then he that uses Plate and reckons it as Dirt. It is our Duty to Live Better than the Common-People but not in Opposition to them as if Philosophy were a Faction for by so Doing in stead of Reforming and gaining upon them we drive them away and when they find it unreasonable to Imitate us in All things they will follow us in Nothing Our Business must be to live according to Nature and to own the Sense of Outward things with other people Not to Torment the Body and with Exclamations against that which is Sweet and Cleanly to Delight in Nastiness and To use not only a Course but a Sluttish and Offensive Diet. Wisdom Preaches Temperance not Mortification and a Man may be a very Good Husband without being a Sloven He that Stears a Middle Course betwixt Virtue and Popularity That is to say betwixt Good Manners and Discretion shall gain both Approbation and Reverence But What if a Man Governs himself in his Cloths in his Diet in his Exercises as he ought to do It is not that his Garments his Meat and Drink or his Walking are things Simply Good but it is the Tenor of a Mans Life and the Conformity of it to Right Nature and Reason Philosophy obliges us to Humanity Society and the Ordinary Use of External things It is not a thing to please the People with or to entertain an Idle Hour but a Study for the Forming of the Mind and the Guidance of Humane Life And a Wise Man should also Live as he Discourses and in all Points be like himself And in the first place set a Value upon himself before he can pretend to become Valuable to Others As well our Good Deeds as our Evil come home to us at last He that is Charitable makes others so by his Example and finds the Comfort of That Charity when he wants it himself He that is Cruel seldom finds Mercy 'T is a hard Matter for a Man to be both Popular and Virtuous for he must be Like the People that would oblige them and the Kindness of Dishonest Men is not to be acquir'd by Honest Means He Lives by Reason not by Custome He shuns the very Conversation of the Intemperate and Ambitious He knows the Danger of Great Examples of Wickedness and that Publick Errors impose upon the World under the Authority of Presidents For they take for Granted that they are never out of the way so long as they keep the Road. We are beset with Dangers and therefore a Wise Man should have his Virtues in Continual Readiness to Encounter them Whether Poverty Loss of Friends Pain Sickness or the like He still maintains his Post Whereas a Fool is Surpriz'd at every thing and afraid of his Very Succors Either he makes no Resistance at all or else he does it by Halves He will neither take Advice from Others nor look to himself He reckons upon Philosophy as a thing not worth his time and if he can but get the Reputation of a Good Man among the Common People he takes no farther Care but Accompts that he has done his Duty EPIST. IX The Blessings of a Vigorous Mind in a Decay'd Body with some Pertinent Reflections of Seneca upon his Own Age. WHen I call Claranus my School-fellow I need not say any thing more of his Age having told you that He and I were Cotemporaries You would not Imagine how Green and Vigorous his Mind is and the perpetual Conflict that it has with his Body They were Naturally Ill-match'd unless to shew that a Generous Spirit may â—…e lodg'd under any shape He has Surmounted all Difficulties and from the Contempt of Himself is advanc'd to the Contempt of All things else When I consider him well methinks his Body appears to me as fair as his Mind If Nature could have brought the Soul Naked into the World perhaps she would have done it But yet she does a greater thing in Exalting that Soul above all Impediments of the Flesh. It is a great Happiness to preserve the Force of the Mind in the Decay of the Body and to see the Loss of Appetite More than Requited with the Love of Virtue But whether I Owe This Comfort to my Age or to Wisdome is the Question And whether if I Could any longer I Would not still do the same things over again which I Ought not to do If Age had no other Pleasure than This that it neither Cares for any thing nor stands in need of any thing it were a Great one to me to have left all my painful and troublesome Lusts Behind me But ' T is uneasie you 'll say to be alwayes in Fear of Death As if That Apprehension did not Concern a Young Man as well as an Old Or that Death only call'd us according to our Years I am however beholden to my Old Age that has now confin'd me to my Bed and put me out of Condition of doing those things any longer which I should not do The Less my Mind has to do with my Body the Better And if Age puts an end to my Desires and does the Business of Virtue there can be no Cause of Complaint nor can there be any Gentler End than to melt away in a kind of Dissolution Where Fire meets with Opposition and Matter to work upon it is Furious and Rages but where it finds no Fewel as in Old Age it goes out quietly for want of Nourishment Nor is the Body the Setled Habitation of the Mind but a Temporary Lodging which we are to leave whensoever the Master of the House pleases Neither does the Soul when it has left the Body any more Care what becomes of the Carkass and the several parts of it than a Man does for the shavings of his Beard under the hand of the Barber There is not any thing that Exposes a Man to more Vexation and Reproach than the overmuch Love of the Body For Sence neither looks Forward nor Backward but only upon the Present Nor does it judge of Good or Evil or Foresee Consequences which give a Connexion to the Order and Series of
Horrid the Spectacle of an Execution Strikes the Mind and works upon the Imagination Some People are strangely subject to Sweat to Tremble to Stammer their very Teeth will Chatter in their Heads and their Lips Quiver and especially in Publick Assemblies These are Natural Infirmities and it is not all the Resolution in the World that can ever Master them Some Redden when they are Angry Sylla was one of those and when the Blood Flush'd into his Face you might be sure he had Malice in his Heart Pompey on the other side that hardly ever spake in Publick without a Blush had a wonderful Sweetness of Nature and it did exceedingly well with him Your Comedians will represent Fear Sadness Anger and the like but when they come to a bashful Modesty though they 'll give you humbleness of Looks softness of Speech and down-Cast-Eyes to the very Life yet they can never come to express a Blush for it is a thing neither to be Commanded nor Hindred but it comes and goes of its own accord The Course of Nature is Smooth and Easie but when we come to Cross it we strive against the Stream It is not for one Man to Act another Mans Part. For Nature will quickly Return and take off the Mask There is a kind of Sacred Instinct that moves us Even the worst have a Sense of Virtue We are not so much Ignorant as Careless Whence comes it that Grazing Beasts distinguish Salutary Plants from Deadly A Chicken is afraid of a Kite and not of a Goose or a Peacock which is much Bigger A Bird of a Cat and not of a Dog This is Impulse and not Experiment The Cells of Bees and the Webs of Spiders are not to be imitated by Art but it is Nature that teaches them The Stage-Player has his Actions and Gestures in Readiness but This is only an Emprovement by Art of what Nature teaches them who is never at a Loss for the Use of her self We come into the World with This Knowledge and we have it by a Natural Institution which is no Other than a Natural Logick We brought the Seeds of Wisdom into the World with us but not Wisdom it self There is the Goodness of God and That of Man the One is Immortal the Other Mortal Nature perfects the One and Study the Other EPIST. XI We are Divided in our Selves and Confound Good and Evil. IT is no wonder that Men are Generally very much Unsatisfy'd with the World when there 's not One Man of a Thousand that agrees with himself and that 's the Root of our Misery only we are willing to Charge our Own Vices upon the Malignity of Fortune Either we are Puff'd up with Pride Wrack'd with Desires Dissolv'd in Pleasures or Blasted with Cares and which perfects our Unhappiness we are never Alone but in perpetual Conflict and Controversie with our Lusts. We are Startled at all Accidents We Boggle at our own Shadows and Fright one Another Lucretius sayes that we are as much afraid in the Light as Children in the Dark but I say That we are alltogether in Darkness without any Light at all and we run on blindfold without so much as Groping out our way Which Rashness in the Dark is the worst sort of Madness He that is in his way is in hope of coming to his Journeys End but Error is Endless Let every Man therefore Examine his Desires whether they be according to Rectify'd Nature or Not. That Mans Mind can never be Right whose Actions Disagree We must not Live by Chance for there can be no Virtue without Deliberation and Election And where we cannot be Certain let us follow that which is most Hopeful and Probable Faith Justice Piety Fortitude Prudence are Venerable and the Possessions only of Good Men but a Plentiful Estate a Brawny Arm and a Firm Body are Many times the Portion of the Wicked The Perfection of Humane Nature is that State which supports it self and so is out of the Fear of Falling It is a great weakness for a Man to value himself upon any thing wherein he shall be Out-done by Fools and Beasts We are to consider Health Strength Beauty and other Advantages of That Kind only as Adventitious Comforts We may preserve them with Care provided that we be alwayes ready to Quit them without Trouble There is a Pleasure in Wickedness as well as in Virtue and there are that take a Glory in it too wherefore our Forefathers prescrib'd us the Best Life and not the most Plentiful and allow'd us Pleasure for a Companion but not for a Guide We do many times take the Instruments of Happiness for the Happiness it self and rest upon those Matters that are but in the way to 't That Man only lives Compos'd who thinks of every thing that May Happen before he Feels it But this is not yet to advise either Neglect or Indifference For I would avoid any thing that may hurt me where I may honorably do it But yet I would consider the worst of things before-hand Examine the Hope and the Fear and where things are uncertain favor your self and believe That which you had rather should come to pass There are not many Men that know their own Minds but in the Very Instant of Willing any thing We are for One thing to Day another thing to Morrow So that we Live and Die without coming to any Resolution Still seeking That Elsewhere which we may give our Selves That is to say a Good Mind And in truth we do perswade our selves that in several Cases we do Desire the thing which effectually we do not Desire And all This for want of Laying down some Certain Principles to make the Judgment Inflexible and Steady When we do any Evil it is either for fear of a greater Evil or in Hope of such a Good as may more than Ballance that Evil. So that we are here Distracted betwixt the Duty of Finishing our Purpose and the Fear of Mischief and Danger This Infirmity must be discharg'd In the Pursuite of Pleasures we should take Notice that there are not only sensual but sad Pleasures also which Transport the Mind with Adoration though they do not Tickle the Senses and give us a Veneration for those Virtues that exercise themselves in Sweat and Blood All True Goods hold an Affinity and Friendship one with another and they are Equal but False Ones have in them much of Vanity they are large and Specious to the Eye but upon Examination they want weight Now though Virtues are all Alike they may yet be distinguish'd into Desirable and Admirable Virtues of Patience and of Delight But in the Matter of Common Accidents there is not any thing which is truely worthy either of our Joy or of our Fear For Reason is Immoveable and does not Serve but Command our Senses What is Pleasure but a Low and Brutish thing Glory is Vain and Volatile Poverty only hard to him that does not Resist it Superstition
is a Frantick Error that Fears where it should Love and Rudely Invades where it should Reverentially Worship Death it self is no Evil at all but the Common Benefit and Right of Nature There is a great Difference betwixt those things which are Good in Common Opinion and those which are so in Truth and Effect The Former have the Name of Good things but not the Propriety They may Befall us but they do not Stick to us And they may be taken away without either Pain to us or Diminution We may Use them but not Trust in them For they are Only Deposited and they must and will Forsake us The only Treasure is That which Fortune has no Power over And the Greater it is the Less Envy it carries along with it Let our Vices Die before us and let us Discharge our Selves of our Dear-bought Pleasures that hurt us as well Past as to Come for they are follow'd with Repentance as well as our Sins There 's neither Substance in them nor Truth for a Man can never be weary of Truth but there 's a Satiety in Error The Former is alwayes the same but the Latter is Various and if a Man looks near it he may see through it Beside that the Possessions of a Wise Man are Maintain'd with Ease He has no need of Embassadors Armies and Castles but like God himself he does his Business without either Noise or Tumult Nay there is something so Venerable and Sacred in Virtue that if we do but meet with any thing like it the very Counterfeit Pleases us By the help of Philosophy the Soul gives the slip to the Body and Refreshes itself in Heaven Pleasures at best are Short-Liv'd but the Delights of Virtue are Secure and Perpetual Only we must Watch Labor and attend it our selves For 't is a Business not to be done by a Deputy Nor is it properly a Virtue to be a little better than the Worst Will any Man boast of his Eyes because they tell him that the Sun shines Neither is he presently a Good Man that thinks Ill of the Bad. For Wicked Men do That too and 't is perhaps the Greatest punishment of Sin the Displeasure that it gives to the Author of it The saddest Case of all is when we become Enamour'd of our Ruine and make Wickedness our Study When Vice has got a Reputation and when the Dissolute have lost the Only Good thing they had in their Excesses the Shame of Offending And yet the Lewedest part of our Corruptions is in Private which if any body had look'd on we should never have Committed Wherefore let us bear in our Minds the Idea of some great Person for whom we have an Awful Respect and his Authority will even Consecrate the very Secrets of our Souls and make us not only mend our Manners and purifie our very Thoughts but in good time render us Exemplary to Others and Venerable to our Selves If Scipio or Laelius were but in our Eye we should not dare to Transgress Why do we not make our selves then such persons as in whose Presence we dare not offend EPIST. XII We are Moved at the Novelty of things for want of Understanding the Reason of them THe whole Subject of Natural Philosophy falls under these Three Heads the Heavens the Air and the Earth The First Treats of the Nature of the Stars their Form and Magnitude The Substance of the Heavens whether Solid or not and whether they move of Themselves or be moved by any thing Else whether the Stars be Below them or fixed in their Orbs In what manner the Sun divides the Seasons of the Year and the like The Second Part Enquires into the Reason of things betwixt the Heavens and the Earth as Clouds Rain Snow Thunder and whatsoever the Air either Does or Suffers The Third handles matters that have a regard to the Earth as the difference of Soils Minerals Metalls Plants Groves c. But these are Considerations wholly forreign to our Purpose in the Nature of them though they may be of very Proper and Pertinent Application There is not any Man so Brutal and so Groveling upon the Earth but his Soul is rouz'd and carry'd up to higher Matters and Thoughts upon the Appearance of any New Light from Heaven What can be more worthy of Admiration than the Sun and the Stars in their Courses and Glory And yet so long as Nature goes on in her Ordinary way there 's no body takes Notice of them But when any thing falls out beyond Expectation and Custome what a Gazing Pointing and Questioning is there presently about it The People gather together and are at their Wits End not so much at the Importance of the Matter as at the Novelty Every Meteor sets People agog to know the Meaning of it and what it Portends and whether it be a Star or a Prodigy So that it is worth the while to enquire into the Nature and Philosophy of these Lights though not the business of this Place that by discovering the Reason we may overcome the Apprehension of them There are many things which we know to Be and yet we know nothing at all of what they Are. Is it not the Mind that Moves us and Restreins us But What that Ruling Power is we do no more understand than Where it is One will have it to be a Spirit Another will have it to be a Divine Power Some only a Subtile Ayr Others an Incorporeal Being and some again will have it to be only Blood and Heat Nay so far is the Mind from a Perfect understanding of Other things that it is still in search of it Self It is not long since we came to find out the Causes of Eclipses And farther Experience will bring more things to Light which are as yet in the Dark But one Age is not sufficient for so many Discoveries It must be the Work of Successions and Posterity and the time will come when we shall wonder that Mankind should be so long Ignorant of things that lay so open and so easie to be made Known Truth is offer'd to all But we must yet content our selves with what 's already found and leave some Truths to be retriv'd by After Ages The Exact truth of things is only known to God but it is yet Lawful for us to Enquire and to Conjecture though not with too much Confidence Nor yet alltogether without Hope In the First place however let us Learn things Necessary and if we have any time to spare we may apply it to Superfluities Why do we trouble our selves about things which Possibly May Happen and peradventure Not Let us rather provide against those Dangers that Watch us and lie in wait for us To suffer Shipwrack or to be Crush'd with the Ruin of a House these are great Misfortunes but they Seldom Happen The Deadly and the hourly danger that threatens Humane Life is from One Man to Another Other Calamities do Commonly give us Some Warning
The Smoak gives us notice of a Fire the Clouds bid us provide for a Storm but Humane Malice has no Prognostick and the Nearer it is â—…he Fairer it Looks There is no Trust to Countenances we carry the Shapes of Men and the Hearts of Beasts Nay we are worse than Beasts for a Beast â—…as only no Reason at all but the Other is Perverted and turns his Reason to his Mischief Beside that all the Hurt which They do is out of Fear or Hunger but Man takes delight in Destroying his Own Kind From the Danger we are in from Men we may Consider our Duty to Them and take Care that we neither Do nor Suffer Wrong It is but Humane to be Troubled at the Misfortunes of Another and to Rejoyce at his Prosperity And it is likewise Prudent to Bethink our selves what we are to Do and what we are to Avoid by which means we may keep our selves from being either Harm'd or Deceiv'd The things that most Provoke One Man to do Hurt to Another are Hope Envy Hatred Fear and Contempt but Contempt is the Slightest Nay many Men have betaken themselves to it for their Security There is no doubt but he that is Contemn'd shall be Trod upon but then his Enemy passes over him as not worth his Anger EPIST. XIII Every Man is the Artificer of his Own Fortune Of Justice and Injustice THe short of the Question betwixt you and me is This. Whether a Man had better part with Himself or something else that belongs to him And it is Easily Resolv'd in all Competitions betwixt the Goods of Sence and Fortune and those of Honor and Conscience Those things which all Men Covet are but Specious Outsides and there 's nothing in them of Substantial Satisfaction Nor is there any thing so Hard and Terrible in the Contrary as the Vulgar Imagine only the word Calamity has an Ill Reputation in the World and the very Name is more Grievous than the Thing it Self What have I to Complain of if I can turn That to a Happiness which others Count a Misery A Wise Man either Repells or Elects as he sees the Matter before him without Fearing the Ill which he Rejects or Admiring what he Chuses He is never Surpriz'd but in the midst of Plenty he prepares for Poverty as a Prudent Prince does for War in the Depth of Peace Our Condition is Good enough if we make the Best on 't and our Felicity is in our own Power Things that are Adventitious have no Effect upon him that Studies to make sure of his Happiness within Himself Every Man should stand upon his Guard against Fortune and take most heed to himself when she speaks him Fairest All the Advantage she gets upon us is at Unawares whereas he that is Provided for her and stands the First Shock carries the Day It is not with Common Accidents of Life as with Fire and Sword that Burn and Cut all alike but Misfortunes work more or less according to the Weakness or Resolution of the Patient He that grieves for the Loss of Casual Comforts shall never want Occasion of Sorrow We say Commonly That every Man has his weak side But give me leave to tell you That he that Masters One Vice may Master all the Rest. He that subdues Avarice may Conquer Ambition It is not for Philosophy to Excuse Vices The Patient has little Hope of Health when the Physitian prescribes Intemperance Though I know on the other side that he that does any thing above the Ordinary does but set up himself for a Mark to Malevolence and Envy Where Laws are Neglected Corruptions must Inevitably be Introduc'd for the Authority of Virtue is Shaken And what are Laws but only Precepts mingled with Threats with This Difference that the Former Deter us from Wickedness and the Latter Advise us to Virtue A Preamble methinks Derogates from the Honor of a Law which ought to be Short and Clear and to Command without Suffering any Expostulation It is a Flat and an Idle thing a Law with a Prologue Let me only be told my Duty and I am not to Dispute but to Obey If I have not acquitted my self of my Last Promise to you know that in all Promises there is a Tacite Reserve If I Can If I Ought or if things Continue in the same State So that by the Change of Circumstances I am discharg'd of my Obligation I know very well the Bonds of Justice and yet the Practices of the World to the Contrary There are no greater Exacters of Faith than the Perfidious no greater Persecuters of Falshood than the Perjurious He that loves his Neighbors Wife and for that very Reason because she is another Mans Locks up his Own The Wickedness of other Men we have alwayes in our Eye but we cast our own over our Shoulders A worse Father Chastises a Better Son He that denyes nothing to his Own Luxury will Pardon Nothing in Another Mans. A Tyrant is offended at Blood-shed the Sacrilegious Punishes Theft and the greater part of the World Quarrels rather with the Offender than with the Offence It is very Rare that either the Joy or the Benefit of an Estate Injuriously gotten continues Long. Men go together by the Ears about the Booty and we pay dear for things of Little Vasue We live and die Lugging one another Breaking one anothers Rest and our Lives are without Fruit and without Pleasure Justice is a Natural Principle I must Live Thus with my Friend Thus with my Fellow-Citizen Thus with my Companion And why Because 't is just not for Design or Reward For it is Virtue it Self and nothing Else that pleases us There is no Law Extant for keeping the Secrets of a Friend or for not breaking Faith with an Enemy And yet there 's Just Cause of Complaint if a Body betrayes a Trust. If a Wicked Man call upon me for Mony that I owe him I 'll make no Scruple of Pouring it into the Lap of a Common Prostitute if she be appointed to Receive it For my Business is to Return the Mony not to Order him how he shall Dispose of it I must pay it upon Demand to a Good Man when it is Expedient and to a Bad when he Calls for 't EPIST. XIV Of Trust in Friendship Prayer and Bodily Exercise THere are some People that if any thing goes Cross with them though of a quality only fit for the Ear of a Friend out it goes at a Venture to the next Comer Others again are so Suspicious and so obstinately Close that they will rather Perish than trust the best Friend they have with it They are Both of them in the Wrong only the One is the Better-natur'd Error and the Other the Safer Now as to the Trust of a Friend there are many Innocent things which in their Own Nature may seem to be Privacies and which Custom has ever Reputed So in which Cases there is place enough for the Offices of
are brought up only to Carve others to Season and all to serve the Turns of Pomp and Luxury Is it not a Barbarous Custome to make it almost Capital for a Servant only to Cough Sneeze Sigh or but wag his Lips while he is in waiting and to keep him the whole Night Mute and Fasting Yet so it comes to pass that they that dare not speak Before their Masters will not forbear talking Of them and those on the other side that were allow'd a modest Freedom of Speech in their Masters Entertainments were most obstinately silent upon the Torture rather than they would betray them But we live as if a Servant were not made of the same Materials with his Master or to Breath the same Ayr or to Live and Dye under the Same Conditions It is worthy of Observation that the most Imperious Masters over their own Servants are at the same time the most Abject Slaves to the Servants of other Masters I will not distinguish a Servant by his Office but by his Manners The One is the work of Fortune the Other of Virtue But we look only to his Quality and not to his Merit Why should not a Brave Action rather Dignify the Condition of a Servant than the Condition of a Servant Lessen a Brave Action I would not value a Man for his Cloaths or Degree any more than I would do a Horse for his Trappings What if he be a Servant shew me any Man that is not so to his Lusts his Avarice his Ambition his Palate to his Quean nay to other Mens Servants and we are all of us Servants to Fear Insolent we are many of us at Home Servile and Despised Abroad and none are more Liable to be trampled upon than those that have gotten a habit of Giving Affronts by Suffering them What matters it how many Masters we have When 't is but One Slavery And whosoever Contemns That is perfectly Free let his Masters be never so Many That Man is only Free not whom Fortune has a Little Power over but over whom she has none at all Which State of Liberty is an Inestimable Good when we desire Nothing that is either Superfluous or Vitious They are Asses that are made for Burthen and not the Nobler sort of Horses In the Civil Wars betwixt Caesar and Pompey the Question was not who should be Slaves or Free but who should be Master Ambition is the same thing in Private that it is in Publick and the Duties are Effectually the same betwixt the Master of a Kingdom and the Master of a Family As I would treat some Servants kindly Because they are Worthy and Others to make them so so on the Other side I would have a Servant to Reverence his Master and rather to Love him than Fear him Some there are that think this too little for a Master though it is all that we pay even to God himself The Body of a servant may be bought and sold but his Mind is Free EPIST. XVIII We are Iuster to Men than to God Of Life and Death of Good and Evil. IT is without Dispute that the Loss of a Friend is one of the greatest Tryals of Humane Frailty and no Man is so much exalted above the sense of that Calamity as not to be affected with it And yet if a Man bears it Bravely they cry he has no Sense of Piety or Good Nature in him if he sink under it they call him Effeminate so that he lies both wayes under a Reproach But What 's the Ground of your Trouble I beseech you but that he might have Liv'd Longer in respect of his years and in effect that he ought to have done so in regard of his Usefulness to the World I cannot but wonder to see that a Person so Just and so Temperate in all his Dealings with Men and in Business should so exceedingly forget himself in This Point But you have in Excuse of this Error the Failings of the whole VVorld with you for Company For even those that are the most scrupulously Consciencious toward Men are yet Unthankful and Injurious to Providence It is not the Number of Dayes that makes a Life Long but the Full Employment of them upon the main End and Purpose of Life which is the Perfecting of the Mind in making a Man the Absolute Master of Himself Ireckon the Matter of Age among External things the main point is to Live and Die with Honor. Every Man that Lives is upon the way and must go through with his Journy without stopping till he comes at the End And wheresoever it ends if it ends well it is a Perfect Life There is an Invincible Fate that attends all Mortals and one Generation is condemn'd to tread upon the Heels of another Take away from Life the Power of Death and 't is a slavery As Caligula was passing upon the way an Old man that was a Prisoner and with a Beard down to his Girdle made it his request to Caesar that he might be put to death Why sayes Caesar to him are you not dead already So that you see Some Desire it as well as others Fear it And why not When it is one of the Duties of Life to Dye And it is one of the Comforts of it too For the Living are under the Power of Fortune but she has no Dominion at all over the Dead How can Life be Pleasant to any Man that is not prepar'd to part with it Or what Loss can be easier to us than that which can never be Miss'd or Desir'd again I was brought by a Defluxion into a hopeless Consumption and I had it many times in my Thought to Deliver my self from a Miserable Life by a Violent Death But the Tenderness I had for an Aged and Indulgent Father held my hand for thought I to my self it will be very hard for my Father to be without me though I could most willingly part with my self In the Case of a Particular Disease a Physitian may propound a Remedy but the onely Remedy for all Diseases is the Contempt of Death Though I know too that it is the business of a Long Life to Learn That Lesson Oh! The Happiness of distinguishing Good from Evil in the Works of Providence But in stead of raising our Thoughts to the Contemplation of Divine Matters and enquiring into the Original the State and the Appointed Issue of Created Nature we are digging of the Earth and serving of our Avarice Neglecting all the good things that are so frankly offer'd us How great a Folly and Madness is it for Men that are Dying and in the hands of Death already to extend their Hopes and to carry their Ambition and Desires to the Grave Unsatisfy'd For whosoever is tainted with those Hydroptick Appetites can never have enough either of Mony or Power It is a Remarkable thing that among those that place their Happiness in Sense they are the most miserable that seem to be happiest The Riches
of Nature are the most precious Treasures What has any Man to desire more than to keep himself from Cold Hunger and Thirst It is not the Quantity but the Opinion that Governs in this Case That can never be Little which is Enough Nor does any Man accompt That to be Much which is too Little The Benefits of Fortune are so far Comfortable to us as we enjoy them without losing the Possession of our selves Let us Purge our Minds and follow Nature we shall otherwise be still either Fearing or Craving and Slaves to Accidents Not that there is any Pleasure in Poverty but it is a great Felicity for a Man to bring his Mind to be contented even in That State which Fortune it self cannot make worse Methinks our Quarrels with Ambition and Profitable Employments are somewhat like those we have with our Mistresses we do not Hate them but Wrangle with them In a word betwixt those things which are Sought and Coveted and yet Complain'd of and those things which we have Lost and pretend that we cannot live without our Misfortunes are purely Voluntary and we are Servants not so much by Necessity as by Choice No Man can be Happy that is not Free and Fearless And no Man can be so but he that by Philosophy has got the better of Fortune In what Place soever we are we shall find our selves beset with the Miseries of Humane Nature Some Without us that either Encompass us Deceive us or Force us Others Within us that eat up our very Hearts in the Middle of Solitude And it is not yet as we imagine that Fortune has Long Armes She meddles with no body that does not first lay hold upon Her We should keep a Distance therefore and withdraw into the Knowledge of Nature and of our Selves We Understand the Original of things the Order of the World the Circulation of the Seasons the Courses of the Stars and that the whole Frame of the Universe only the Earth excepted is but a Perpetual Motion We know the Causes of Day and Night of Light and of Darkness but it is at a distance Let us direct our Thoughts then to That Place where we shall see all nearer Hand And it is not This Hope neither that makes a Wise Man Resolute at the Point of Death because Death lies in his way to Heaven For the Soul of a Wise Man is there before-hand Nay if there were nothing after Death to be either Expected or Fear'd he would yet leave this World with as great a Mind though he were to pass into a State of Annihilation He that reckons every hour his Last a Day or an Age is all one to him Fate is doing our Work while we Sleep Death steales upon us Insensibly and the more Insensibly because it passes under the name of Life From Childhood we grow up without perceiving it to Old Age and this Encrease of our Life duely consider'd is a Diminution of it We take Death to be Before us but it is Behind us and has already swallow'd up all that is past Wherefore make use of the Present and trust nothing to the Morrow for Delay is just so much time lost We catch hold of Hopes and Flatteries of a little longer Life as Drowning Men do upon Thorns or Straws that either Hurt us or Deceive us You will ask perhaps what I do my Self that Preach at this Rate Truely I do like some ill Husbands that spend their Estates and yet keep their Accompts I run out but yet I can tell which way it goes And I have the Fate of Ill Husbands too another way for every Body Pitties me and no Body Helps me The Soul is never in the Right place so long as it fears to quit the Body Why should a Man trouble himself to extend Life which at Best is a kind of Punishment And at Longest amounts to very little more than Nothing He is Ungrateful that takes the Period of Pleasure for an Injury and he is Foolish that knows no Good but the Present Nay there are some Courses of Life which a Man ought to quit though with Life it self As the Trade of Killing Others in stead of Learning to Dye Himself Life it self is neither Good nor Evil but only a Place for Good and Evil. It is a kind of Trage-Comedy Let it be well Acted and no matter whether it be Long or Short We are apt to be missed by the Appearances of things and when they come to us recommended in Good Terms and by Great Example they will impose many times upon very Wise Men. The Mind is never Right but when it is at peace within it self and Independent upon any thing from Abroad The Soul is in Heaven even while it is in the Flesh if it be purg'd of Natural Corruptions and taken up with Divine Thoughts And whether any body sees us or takes notice of us it matters not Virtue will of it self break forth though never so much pains be taken to suppress it And it is all one whether it be known or no But After Ages however will do us Right when we are Dead and Insensible of the Veneration they allow us He that is wise will compute the Conditions of Humanity and contract the Subject both of his Joyes and Fears And it is time well spent so to Abate of the One that he may likewise Diminish the Other By this Practice he will come to understand how short how uncertain and how safe many of those things are which we are wont to Fear When I see a Splendid House or a glittering Train I look upon it as I do upon Courts which are only the Schools of Avarice and Ambition and they are at best but a Pompe which is more for Shew than Possession Beside that Great Goods are seldome Long-liv'd and That is the Fairest Felicity which is of the shortest Growth EPIST. XIX Of True Courage FOrtitude is properly the Contempt of all Hazards according to Reason though it be commonly and promiscuously used also for a Contempt of all Hazards even Without or Against Rea-Reason Which is rather a Daring and a Brutal Fierceness than an Honorable Courage A Brave Man fears Nothing more than the Weakness of being affected with Popular Glory His Eyes are not Dazled either with Gold or Steel he tramples upon all the Terrors and Glories of Fortune he looks upon himself as a Citizen and Soldier of the World and in despite of all Accidents and Oppositions he maintains his Station He does not only Suffer but Court the most Perilous Occasions of Virtue and those Adventures which are most Terrible to Others for he values himself upon Experiment and is more Ambitious of being reputed Good than Happy Mucius Lost his hand with more Honor than he could have Preserv'd it He was a greater Conqueror Without it than he could have been With it For with the very Stump of it he overcame two Kings Tarquin and Porsenna Rutilia follow'd Cotta into
Banishment she stay'd and she return'd with him too and soon after she Lost him without so much as shedding a Tear a Great Instance of her Courage in his Banishment and of her Prudence in his Death This sayes Epicurus is the Last and the Blessed'st day of my Life when he was ready to Expire in an extreme torment of the Stone It is never said of the 300 Fabii that they were Overcome but that they were Slain Nor of Regulus that he was Vanquish'd by the Carthaginians but that he was Taken The Spartans prohibited all Exercises where the Victory was declar'd by the Voice and Submission of him that was worsted When Phaeton begg'd of Phoebus the Government of the Chariot of the Sun for one day the Poet makes him so far from being Discouraged by his Fathers telling him of the Danger of the Undertaking and how he himself had much adoe to keep his Seat for Fear when he look'd down from the Meridian that it prov'd a Spur to his Importunity That 's the thing sayes Phaeton that I would be at to stand Firm in That difficulty where Phoebus himself Trembles Security is the Caution of Narrow Minds But as Fire tries Gold so does Difficulty and Hazard try Virtuous Men. Not but that he may be as Valiant that Watches upon the Tower as he that fights upon his Knees only the One has had the good Fortune of an Occasion for the Proof of his Resolution As some Creatures are Cruel Others Crafty and some Timorous so Man is endu'd with a Glorious and an Excellent Spirit that prompts him not so much to regard a Safe Life as an Honest. Providence has made him the Master of this Lower World and he reckons it his Duty to Sacrifice his Own Particular to the Advantage of the Whole And yet there is a vast Difference even in the same Action done by a Brave Person and by a Stupid as the Death of Cato was Honorable but that of Brutus was Shameful Nor is it Death it self that we recommend for Glorious but it is a glorious thing to Dye as we Ought Neither is it Poverty Banishment or Pain that we commend but the Man that behaves himself Bravely under those Afflictions How were the Gladiators Contemn'd that call'd for Quarter And those on the other side Favour'd that Despis'd it Many a Man saves his Life by not fearing to Lose it and Many a Man Loses his Life for being over-sollicitous to save it We are many times afraid of Dying by One thing and we come to Dye by Another As for Example we are Threatned by an Enemy and we Dye by a Pleurisie The Fear of Death enlarges all other things that we Fear To Bear it with Constancy we should Compute that whether our Lives be long or short it comes all to a Point Some Hours we lose What if they were Dayes Months Years What matters it if I never Arrive at that which I must certainly Part with when I have it Life is but one Point of Flying Time and that which is to come is no more Mine than that which is Past. And we have this for our Comfort too that whosoever now Fears Death will some time or other come to Wish it If Death be Troublesome or Terrible the Fault is in us and not in Death it self It is as great a Madness for a Man to Fear that which he is not to Feel as that which he is not to Suffer The Difference lies in the Manner of Dying and not in the Issue of Death it Self 'T is a more Inglorious Death to be Smother'd with Perfumes than to be torn to pieces with Pincers Provided my Mind be not Sick I shall not much heed my Body I am Prepar'd for my last Hour without tormenting my self when it will come It is betwixt the Stoicks and other Philosophers as betwixt Men and Women They are Both Equally Necessary for Society only the one is Born for Government and the other for Subjection Other Sects deal with their Disciples as Plausible Physitians do with their Patients they Flatter and Humor them whereas the Stoicks go a Bolder way to work and consider rather their Profit than their Pleasure EPIST. XX. 'T is never too Late to Learn The Advantages of a Private Life and the Slavery of a Publick The Ends of Punishment LEt no Man presume to advise Others that has not first given Good Counsel to himself And he may Then pretend to help his Neighbor It is in short as hard a matter to Give Good Counsel as to Take it Let it however be agreed betwixt the Two Parties that the One designs to Confer a Benefit and the Other to Receive it Some People Scorn to be Taught Others are Asham'd of it as they would be of going to School when they are Old But it is never too late to Learn what it is alwayes Necessary to Know And it is no Shame to Learn so long as we are Ignorant that is to say so long as we Live When any thing is Amiss in our Bodies or Estates we have Recourse presently to the Physitian or the Lawyer for Help And why not to the Philosopher in the Disorders of our Mind No Man Lives but he that applyes himself to Wisdom for he takes into his own Life the Supplement of all Past Ages 'T is a Fair Step toward Happiness and Virtue to Delight in the Conversation of Good and of Wise Men And where That cannot be had the next point is to keep no Company at all Solitude affords Business enough and the Entertainment is Comfortable and Easie. Whereas Publick Offices are Vexatious and Restless There 's a great Difference betwixt a Life of Leisure and of Lazyness When People will Express their Envy of a Man in a Happy Condition they 'll say He lives at his Ease When in truth the Man is Dead Alive There is a Long Life and there is a Long Death The Former when we enjoy the Benefits of a Right Mind and the Other when the Senses are Extinguish'd and the Body Dead before-hand He that makes me the Master of my Own Time and places me in a State of Freedom layes a great Obligation upon me As a Merchant that has a Considerable Fortune Aboard is more sensible of the Blessing of a Fair Wind and a Safe Passage than he that has only Ballast or some Course Commodity in the Vessel So That Man that employes his Privacy upon Thoughts Divine and Precious is more sensible of the Comfort of that Freedom than he that bends his Meditations an Ill way For he considers all the Benefits of his Exemption from Common Duties he enjoyes himself with Infinite Delight and makes his Gratitude Answerable to his Obligations He is the best of Subjects and the Happiest of Men and he lives to Nature and to himself Most Men are to Themselves the worst Company they can keep If they be Good Quiet and Temperate they are as good Alone as in Company But if
which we can either Give or Receive are of very little Conducement to a Happy Life Those things which the Common People gape after are Transitory and Vain Whereas Happiness is Permanent Nor is it to be Estimated by Number Measure or Parts For it is Full and Perfect I do not speak as if I my self were arriv'd at that Blessed State of Repose But it is something yet to be on the Mending hand It is with me as with a Man that 's Creeping out of a Disease he Feels yet some Grudgings of it he is every Foot Examining of his Pulse and suspects every Touch or Heat to be a Relick of his Feaver Just at That rate am I jealous of my self The best Remedy that I know in this Case is to go on with Confidence and not to be missed by the Errors of Other People It is with our Manners as with our Healths 't is a Degree of Virtue the Abatement of Vice as it is a Degree of Health the Abatement of a Fit Some Place their Happiness in Wealth Some in the Liberty of the Body and Others in the Pleasures of the Sense and Palate But What are Mettals Tasts Sounds or Colours to the Mind of a Reasonable Creature He that sets his Heart upon Riches the very Fear of Poverty will be grievous to him He that 's Ambitious shall be gall'd with Envy at any Man that gets before him For in that Case he that is not First is Last I do not speak against Riches neither For if they hurt a Man 't is his Own Folly They may be indeed the Cause of Mischief as they are a Temptation to those that do it In stead of Courage they may Inspire us with Arrogance and in stead of Greatness of Mind with Insolence which is in truth but the Counterfeit of Magnanimity What is it to be a Prisoner and in Chains It is no more than that Condition to which many Princes have been Reduc'd and out of which Many Men have been Advanc'd to the Authority of Princes 'T is not to say I have no Master In time you may have one Might not Hecuba Croesus and the Mother of Darius have said as much And where 's the Happyness of Luxury either when a Man divides his Life betwixt the Kitchin and the Stews betwixt an Anxious Conscience and a Nauseous Stomach Caligula who was born to shew the World what mischief might be done by a Concurrence of Great Wickedness and a Great Fortune Spent near 10 000 l. Sterling upon a Supper The Works and Inventions of it are Prodigious not only in the Counterfeiting of Nature but even in Surpassing it The Romans had their Brooks even in their Parlors and found their Dinners under their Tables The Mullet was reckon'd stale unless it dy'd in the Hand of the Guest And they had their Glasses to put them into that they might the better observe all the Changes and Motions of them in the Last Agony betwixt Life and Death So that they fed their Eyes before their Bodies Look how it Reddens sayes one there 's no Vermilion like it Take notice of these Veins and that same grey brightness upon the Head of it And now he is at 's Last Gasp See how Pale he turns and all of a Colour These people would not have given themselves half this trouble with a Dying Friend Nay they would leave a Father or a Brother at his Last Hour to entertain themselves with the Barbarous Spectacle of an expiring Fish And that which enhances the Esteem of every thing is the Price of it Insomuch that Water it self which ought to be Gratuitous is expos'd to Sale in their Conservatories of Ice and Snow Nay we are troubled that we cannot buy Breath Light and that we have the Ayr it self Gratis As if our Condition were Evil because Nature has left something to us in Common But Luxury contrives wayes to set a Price upon the most Necessary and Communicable Benefits in Nature Even those Benefits which are Free to Birds and Beasts as well as to Men and serve Indifferently for the Use of the most Sluggish Creatures But How comes it that Fountain Water is not Cold enough to Serve us unless it be bound up into Ice So long as the Stomach is Sound Nature discharges her Functions without Trouble But when the Blood comes to be enflam'd with Excess of Wine or Meats Simple Water is not Cold Enough to Allay that Heat and we are forc'd to make use of Remedies which Remedies themselves are Vices We heap Suppers upon Dinners and Dinners upon Suppers without Intermission Good God! How easie is it to quench a Sound and an Honest Thirst But when the Palate is grown Callous we Taste nothing and that which we take for Thirst is only the Rage of a Feaver Hippocrates deliver'd it as an Aphorisme that Women were never Ball'd nor Gouty but in one Singular Case Women have not alter'd their Natures since but they have Chang'd the Course of their Lives for by taking the Liberties of Men they partake as well of their Diseases as of their Wickedness They sit up as much Drink as much nay in their very Appetites they are Masculine too they have lost the Advantages of their Sex by their Vices Our Ancestors when they were Free liv'd either in Caves or in Arbours But Slavery came in with â—…ildings and with Marble I would have him that comes into my House take more Notice of the Master then of the Furniture The Golden Age was before Architecture Arts came in with Luxury and we do not hear of any Philosopher that was either a Locksmith or a Painter Who was the Wiser Man think you he that Invented a Saw or the Other who upon seeing a Boy drink Water out of the Hollow of his Hand Brake his Pitcher with this Check to himself What a Fool am I to trouble my self with Superfluities Carving is one Mans Trade Cooking is Anothers Only he is more miserable that teaches it for Pleasure than he that learns it for Necessity It was Luxury not Philosophy that Invented Fish-Pools as well as Palaces Where in Case of Foul weather at Sea they might have Fishes to supply their Gluttony in Harbor We do not only Pamper our Lusts but Provoke them As if we were to Learn the very Art of Voluptuousness What was it but Avarice that Originally brake the Union of Society and Prov'd the cause of Poverty even to those that were the most Wealthy Every Man Possess'd All till the World came to Appropriate Possessions to themselves In the First Age Nature was both a Law and a Guide and the Best Govern'd Which was but according to Nature too The largest and the strongest Bull leads the Heard the Goodliest Elephant and among Men too in the Blessed times of Innocence the Best was Uppermost They chose Governors for their Manners who neither Acted any Violence nor suffer'd any They Protected the Weak against the Mighty and Perswaded
to our Will but that we are all Over-Rul'd by Fatalities When we come to handle that Matter we shall shew the Consistency of Free-Will with Fate having already made it appear that notwithstanding the Certain order of Fate Judgments may be Averted by Prayers and Supplications And without any Repugnancy to Fate for they are part even of the Law of Fate it self You will say Perhaps VVhat am I the better for the Priest or the Prophet for whether he bidâ—… me Sacrifice or no I lye under the necessity of doing it Yes in this I am the better for it as he is the Minister of Fate We may as well say that it is Matter of Fate that we are in Health and yet we are indebted for it to the Physitian because the Benefit of that Fate is convey'd to us by his Hand EPIST. XXVI All things are Produced out of Cause and Matter Of Providence A Brave Man is a Match for Fortune I Had yesterday but the one Half of it to my Self My Distemper took up the Morning the Afternoon was my Own My First Tryal was how far I could endure Reading and when I saw I could bear That I fell to Writing and pitch'd upon a Subject Difficult enough for it requir'd great Intention but yet I was resolv'd not to be Overcome Some of my Friends coming in told me that I did Ill and took me off So that from Writing we pass'd into Discourse and made you the Judge of the Matter in Question The Stoicks you know will have all things to be Produc'd out of 〈◊〉 and Matter The Matter is Dull and 〈◊〉 sive Susceptible of any thing but 〈◊〉 Capable of Doing any thing it Selâ—… 〈◊〉 Cause is that Power that Formâ—… 〈◊〉 Matter this or that way at Pleasure Some thing there must be of which every thing is Made and then there must be a Workman to Form every thing All Art is but an Imitation of Nature and that which I speak in General of the World holds in the Case of every Particular Person As for Example The Matter of a Statue is the Wood the Stone or the Marble the Statuary shapes it and is the Cause of it Aristotle assigns Four Causes to every thing The Material which is the Sine quâ non or That without which It could not be The Efficient as the VVorkman The Formal as That which is stamp'd upon all Operations and the Final which is the Design of the whole VVork Now to explain This. The First Cause of the Statue for the Purpose is the Copper For it had never been made if there had not been something to work upon The Second is the Artificer for if he had not understood his Art it had never Succeeded The Third Cause is the Form For it could never properly have been the Statue of such or such a Person if such a Resemblance had not been put upon it The Fourth Cause is the End of making it without which it had never been made As Money if it were made for Sale Glory if the Workman made it for his Credit or Religion if he design'd the Bestowing of it upon a Temple Plato adds a Fifth which he calls the Idea or the Exemplar by which the Workman draws his Copy And he makes God to be full of these Figures which he represents to be Inexhaustible Unchangable and Immortal Now upon the whole Matter give us your Opinion To me it seems that here are either too many Causes assign'd or too few and they might as well have Introduc'd Time and Place as some of the rest Either Clear the Matter in Question or deal Plainly and tell us that you cannot And so let us return to those Cases wherein all Mankind is agreed the Reforming of our Lives and the Regulation of our Manners For these Subtilties are but time lost Let us search our selves in the first Place and afterward the World There 's no great Hurt in passing over those things which we are never the better for when we know and it is so order'd by Providence that there is no great difficulty in Learning or Acquiring those things which may make us either Happier or Better Beside that whatsoever is Hurtful to us we have drawn out of the very Bowels of the Earth Every Man knows without Telling that this Wonderful Fabrick of the Universe is not without a Governor and that a Constant Order cannot be the Work of Chance For the Parts would then fall foul one upon another The Motions of the Stars and their Influences are Acted by the Command of an Eternal Decree It is by the Dictate of an Allmighty Power that the Heavy Body of the Earth hangs in Ballance Whence comes the Revolution of Seasons and the Flux of Rivers The wonderful virtue of the smallest Seeds as an Oak to arise from an Acorn To say nothing of those things that seem to be most Irregular and Uncertain as Clouds Rain Thunder the Eruptions of Fire out of Mountains Earthquakes and those Tumultuary Motions in the Lower Region of the Air which have their Ordinate Causes And so have those things too which appear to us more Admirable because less Frequent As Scalding Fountains and New Islands started out of the Sea Or What shall we say of the Ebbing and Flowing of the Ocean the Constant Times and Measures of the Tides according to the Changes of the Moon that Influences moist Bodies But this needs not For it is not that we Doubt of Providence but Complain of it And it were a good Office to Reconcile Mankind to the Gods who are undoubtedly Best to the Best It is against Nature that Good should hurt Good A Good Man is not onely the Friend of God but the very Image the Disciple and the Imitator of him and the true Child of his Heavenly Father He is true to himself and Acts with Constancy and Resolution Scipio by a Cross Wind being forc'd into the Power of his Enemies cast himself upon the Point of his Sword and as the People were enquiring what was become of the General The General sayes Scipio is very well and so he expir'd What is it for a Man to Fall if we consider the End beyond which no Man Can Fall We must repair to Wisdom for Armes against Fortune for it were unreasonable for her to furnish Armes against her self A Gallant Man is Fortunes Match His Courage Provokes and Despises those terrible Appearances that would otherwise Enslave us A Wise Man is out of the Reach of Fortune but not Free from the Malice of it and all Attempts upon him are no more than Xerxes his Arrows they may darken the Day but they cannot Strike the Sun There is nothing so Holy as to be Priviledg'd from Sacrilege But to Strike and not to Wound is Anger Lost and he is Invulnerable that is Struck and not Hurt His Resolution is try'd the Waves may dash themselves upon a Rock but not Break it Temples may be Profan'd and
Demolish'd but the Deity still remaines untouch'd EPIST. XXVII Some Traditions of the Antients concerning Thunder and Lightning with the Authors Contemplations Thereupon THere is no question but that Providence has given to Mortals the Tokens or Fore-runners of things to Come and by those meanes laid open in some measure the Decrees of Fate Only we take Notice of some things without giving any heed to Others There is not any thing done according to the Course of Nature which is not either the Cause or the Sign of something that follows So that wheresoever there is Order there is place for Prediction But there is no judgement to be given upon Accidents Now though it is a very hard matter to arrive at the Fore-Knowledge of things to come and to predict particularly what shall hereafter fall out Upon a Certain Knowledge of the Power and Influences of the Stars It is yet unquestionable that they have a Power though we cannot expresly say what it is In the Subject of Thunder there are several Opinions as to the significations of it The Stoicks hold that because the Cloud is Broken therefore the Bolt is shot according to Common Speech Others Conjecture that the Cloud is broken to that very End that it may discharge the Thunder-Bolt referring all in such sort to God as if the signification did not arise from the thing done but as if the thing it self were done for the signification sake But whether the signification goes before or follows it comes all to the same Point There are Three sorts of Lightning the First is so pure and subtile that it pierces through whatsoever it Encounters The Second Shatters and Breaks every thing to pieces the Other Burns either by Blasting Consuming Inflaming or Discolouring and the like Some Lightnings are Monitory Some are Mâ—…nacing and others they Phansy to be Promising They Allot to Iupiter Three Sorts the First is only Monitory and Gentle which he casts of his own Accord The Second they make to be an Act of Counsel as being done by the Vote and Advice of Twelve Gods This they say does many times some Good but not without some Mischief too As the Destruction of One Man may prove the Caution of another The Third is the Result of a Council of the Superior Deities from whence proceed great Mischiefs both Publick and Private Now this is a great Folly to Imagine that Iupiter would wreak his Displeasure upon Pillars Trees nay upon Temples themselves and yet let the Sacrilegious go Free To strike Sheep and Consume Altars and all this upon a Consultation of the Gods as if he wanted either Skill or Justice to Govern his own Affairs by himself either in Sparing the Guilty oâ—… in Destroying the Innocent Now What should be the Mistery of all this The Wisdom of our Forefathers found it necessary to keep Wicked People in Awe by the Apprehension of a Superior Power And to Fright them into their good Behaviour by the Fear of an Armed and an Avenging Justice over their Heads But How comes it that the Lightning which comes from Iupiter himself should be said to be harmless and That which he casts upon Counsel and Advice to be so Dangerous and Mortal The Moral of it is This. That all Kings should after Iupiters Example do all Good by themselves And when Severity is Necessary permit That to be done by Others Beside that as Crimes are Unequal so also should be the Punishments Neither did they believe That Iupiter to be the Thunderer whose Image was worship'd in the Capitol and in other Places but intended it of the Maker and Governor of the Universe by what Name soever we shall call him Now in truth Iupiter does not Immediately cast the Lightning himself but leaves Nature to her Ordinary Method of Operation so that what he does not Immediately by himself he does yet Cause to be done For whatsoever Nature does God does There may be something gather'd out of all things that are either said or done that a Man may be the better for And he does a greater thing that Masters the Fear of Thunder than he that discovers the Reason of it We are Surrounded and Beset with Ill Accidents and since we cannot avoid the stroke of them let us prepare our selves honestly to bear them But How must that be By the Contempt of Death we do also Contemn all things in the way to it as Wounds Shipwracks the Fury of Wild Beasts or any other violence whatsoeever which at the worst can but part the Soul and the Body And we have this for our Comfort though our Lives are at the Mercy of Fortune she has yet no power over the Dead How many are there that call for Death in the Distress of their Hearts even for the very Fear of it And this Unadvised Desire of Death does in Common affect both the best and the worst of Men only with this Difference the Former Despise Life and the other are Weary of it 'T is a Nauseous thing to serve the Body and to be so many years a doing so many Beastly things over and over It is well if in our Lives we can please Others but whatever we do in our Deaths let us be sure to please our selves Death is a thing which no Care can avoid no Felicity can Tame it no Power Overcome it Other things are Disposed of by Chance and Fortune but Death treats all Men alike The Prosperous must Dye as well as the Unfortunate and methinks the very Despair of overcoming our Fate should inspire us with Courage to Encounter it For there is no Resolution so Obstinate as that which arises from Necessity It makes a Coward as bold as Iulius Caesar though upon different Principles We are all of us reserv'd for Death and as Nature brings forth One Generation she Calls back Another The whole Dispute is about the Time but no body doubts about the Thing it self EPIST. XXVIII A Contemplation of Heaven and Heavenly Things Of God and of the Soul THere is a great Difference betwixt Philosophy and other Arts and a greater yet betwixt That Philosophy it self which is of Divine Contemplation and That which has a regard to things here Below It is much Higher and Braver It takes a Larger Scope and being unsatisfy'd with what it sees it aspires to the Knowledge of something that is Greater and Fairer and which Nature has placed out of our Ken. The One only teaches us what is to be done upon Earth the Other reveales to us That which Actually is done in Heaven The One discusses our Errors and holds the Light to us by which we distinguish in the Ambiguities of Life the Other Surmounts that Darkness which we are wrapt up in and carries us up to the Fountain of Light it self And then it is that we are in a special manner to acknowledge the Infinite Grace and Bounty of the Nature of things when we see it not only where it is Publick
Nature d d d Three degrees of Proficients in Wisdome e e e A Wise Man in some Cases may need Counsel a a a The dignity of Virtue b b b The Good Will is accepted for the Deed. c c c Virtue is divided into Contemplation and Action d d d A Virtuous Life must be all of a Piece e e e Virtue can never be suppressed a a a Philosophy is Moral Natural and Rational b One Wise Man teaches another b Philosophy teaches us to live well e e e Youth is apt to take good Impressions f f f The Liberal Sciences are matter rather of Curiosity than Virtue g g g 'T is not for the Dignity of a Philosopher to be curious about words a a a The best of us are yet the better for Admonition and Precept b b b The Power of Precepts and Sentences c c c Good Counsel is the best Service we can do to Mankind d d d Three Points to be amin'd in all our Undertakings e e e Propose nothing but what is Hopeful and Honest. a a a Every mans Conscience is his Iudge b Let every Man Examine himself a A Good Man makes himself profitable to Mankind b b b The Injuries of Fortune do not affect the Mind c A Generous Instance of a Constant Mind a a a How comes it that Good Men are Afflicted in this World and Wicked Men Prosper b b b Providence draws Good out of Evil. c Calamity is the Tryal of Virtue d d d Accidents are neither Good nor Evil. e e e Nothing that is properly Evil can befall a Good Man a a a Impediments of Happiness b b b Levity of Mind is a great Hindrance of our Repose b Change of Place does no good without Change of Mind c c c Constancy of Mind secures us in all Difficulties d d d The less we have to do with the World the Better a a a An Instance of the uncertainty of Humane Affairs in the Burning of Lyons b b b That which we call our Own is but lent us c c c Fortune spares neither Great nor Small a a a The Excesses of Luxury are Painful and Dangerous b b b If Sensuality were Happiness Beasts were Happier than Men. c c c We have as many Diseases as Dishes d d d Drunkenness is a Voluntary Madness c c c The Folly and Vanity of Luxury f f f A Voluptuous Person cannot be a Good Man a a a Avarice punishes it self b b b Money does â—…ll c c c Avarice makes us Ill-natur'd as well as Miserable d d d The Cares and Crimes that attend Ambition c c c Miserable are those People that the World Accompts Great and Happy a a a Our Miseries are Endless if we fear all Possibilities b b b Prepare for the worst c c c The things most to be Fear'd are Want Sickness and the Violences of Men in Power a a a Let every Man make the best of his Lot b b b Our very Prayers many times are Curses c c c We are vain and wicked and will not Believe it a a a The moderation of past Ages b b b The State of Innocence c c c A Temperate Life is a Happy Life c Let Philosophers Live as they Teach d d d T is good to Practice Frugality in Plenty e e e The Moderation and Bravery of Fabricius a a a A Wise Man is above Injuries b b b A Great Mind neither Asks any thing nor wants any thing c c c Cato's Constancy d d d The greatest Evil in Adversity is the Submitting to it e e e Let no Man be Surpriz'd with what he is Born to f f f The Works of Fortune are neither Good nor Evil. g Virtue is most Glorious in Extremities h h h Virtue is Invincible a a a Avoid even Dissolute places as well as loose Companions b b b Practical Philosophers are the best Company c The more Company the more Danger a a a Every Man is not a Friend that makes us a Visit. b b b The Choice of a Friend c c c There must be no Reserves in Friendship d d d A Generous Friendship e The Loss of a Friend is hardly to be Repair'd f f f No Man can be Happy to whom Life is Irksome or Death Terrible g g g We take more care of our Fortunes than of our Lives h Time Present Past and to come i i i We can call nothing our Own but our Time k k k Company and Business are great Devourers of Time a a a Philosophy is a quiet Study b b b Liberty is to be Purchasâ—…d at any Rate c Several People withdraw for several Ends. d d d Some Men retire to be talk'd of e Philosophy requires Privacy and Freedome a a a 'T is a Folly to Fear Death b b b The Fear of Death is Easily overcome c c c He that Despises Death Fears nothing d d d All Men must Dye c c c To what end should we Covet Life f To Dye is to Obey Nature g g g 'T is Childish to Dye Lamenting a What God has made Necessary Man should comply with Chearfully a a a Sorrow within Bounds is allowable b b b Sorrow is in some Cases Allowable and Inevitable in others c c c We Grieve more for Our Own Sakes than for Our Friends d d d A Friend may be taken away but not the Comfort of the Friendship e There 's no Dealing with the First Transports of Sorrow a a a Banishment is but Change of Place in which sence All People and Nations have been Banish'd b b b Pain only affects the Body but not the Mind a a a Poverty is only Troublesome in Opinion b b b Mediocrity is the Best State of Fortune a a a Anger Desrib'd What it is b b b It is against Nature c c c Several sorts of Anger d d d The first Motion of Anger a a a Pisistratus Master'd his Anger b b b The Gentleness of Augustus c c c The Moderation of Antigonus d d d A Predominant Fear Masters Anger e e e An Instance of Anger supprest in Harpagus f f f The Moderation of Philip of Macedon g g g All Creatures are made more Terrible by Anger a a a Anger is Insociable b b b It is Unprofitable b And in no Case Allowable c c c It is more mischievous in War than in Peace d d d He that 's Angry at Publick Wickedness shall never be at Peace e e e Iustice is Calm and Temperate f f f Correction is necessary but within Bounds a Anger blows up all in a Moment b b b Anger is Loss of Time as well as of Peace c Anger may be better kept out than Govern'd d Anger the most Detestable of all Vices e The Miserable Effects of Anger f f f The Cruelty of Marius g g g A Barbarous Severity of Piso a a a The Subject of our Aâ—…ger is not worth the while b b b We are Angry for Trifles c The Blasphemous Extravagance of Caius Caesar. d A Ridiculous Extravagance of Cyrus a a a Pardon all where there 's either sign of Repentance or Hope of Amendment b b b The same conceipt makes us Merry in Private and angry in Publick c Some Ieasts will never be forgiven a a a Patience softens Wrath. b b b Several wayes of diverting Anger c c c Those Injuries go nearest us that we have neither Deserv'd nor Expected a a a Make the best of every thing b b b Whoever does an Injury is liable to suffer one c c c Let no Man condemn another without making it his own Case d d d Some things cannot hurt us and others will not c c c A Stoical Error a a a The Cruelty of the Roman Spectacles c c c Barbarous Cruelties d He that Threatens All Feares all c A Tyrannical Government is a Perpetual State of War a Clemency Defin'd a Clemency is Profitable for all b b b Clemency does well in Private Persons but 't is more Beneficial in Princes c c c Mercy is the Interest both of Prince and People d d d The blessed Reflections of a Merciful Prince e e e Upon the well-being of the Prince depends the Safety of the People The Prince that is Gracious is Belov'd f f f Where Punishment is Necessary let it be Moderate g g g The Ends of Punishment h h h A famous Instance of Augustus's Clemency i i i Augustus's Moderation to his Enemies k k k A Merciful Iudgment of Augustus