springeth and groweth to be such semblably the matter void of forme and indeterminate having once bene shapen by the soule which was within received such a forme and disposition 4 What is the reason that whereas there be bodies and figures some consisting of right lines and others of circular he hath taken for the foundation and beginning of those which stand of right lines the triangle Isosceles with two equall sides and scalenum with three sides all unequall Of which the triangle with two even legs composed the cube or square bodie which is the element and principle of the earth and the triangle with three unequall legs made the pyramidall body as also octaedron with eight faces and cosaedron with twenty faces whereof the first is the element and seed of fire the second of aire and the third of water and yet he hath over passed quite all bodies and figures circular notwithstanding that he made mention of the sphaericall figure or round body when he said that every one of those figures above named is apt to divide a globe or sphaericall body into equall parts IS it as some doe imagine and suppose because he attributed the Dodecaedron that is to say the body with twelve faces unto the globe or round sphaere in saying that God made use of this forme and figure in the framing of the world for in regard of the multitude of elements and bluntnesse of angles it is farthest off from direct and right lines whereby it is flexible and by stretching foorth round in maner of a ball made of twelve pieces of leather it approcheth neerest unto roundnesse and in that regard is of greatest capacitie for it conteined twenty angles solid and every one of them is comprized and environed within three flatte obtuse or blunt angles considering that every of them is composed of one right and fift part moreover compact it is and composed of twelve pentagones that is to say bodies with five angles having their angles and sides equall of which every one of thirty principall triangles with three unequall legges by reason whereof it seemeth that he followed the degrees of the Zodiacke and the daies of the yeere together in that division of their parts so equal and just in number Or may not this be the reason that by nature the right goeth before the round or rather to speake more truely that a circular line seemeth to be some vicious passion or faulty qualitie of the right for we use ordinarily to say that the right line doth bow or bend and a circle is drawen and described by the center and the distance from it to the circumference which is the verie place of the right line by which it is measured out for the circumference is on every side equally distant from the center Moreover the Conus which is a round pyramys and the Cylindre which is as it were a round columne or pillar of equall compasse are both made of figures with direct lines the one to wit the Conus by a triangle whereof one side remaineth firme and the other with the base goeth round about it the Cylindre when the same befalleth to a parallell Moreover that which is lesse commeth neerest unto the beginning and resembleth it most but the least and simplest of all lines is the right for of the round line that part which is within doth crooke and curbe hollow the other without doth bumpe and bunch Over and besides numbers are before figures for unity is before a pricke seeing that a pricke is in position and situation an unity but an unity is triangular for that every number triangular eight times repeated or multiplied by addition of an unity becommeth quadrangular and the same also befalleth to unity and therefore a triangle is before a circle which being so the right line goeth before the circular Moreover an element is never divided into that which is composed of it but contrariwise every thing else is divided and resolved into the owne elements whereof it doth consist If then the triangle is not resolved into any thing circular but contrariwise two diametres crossing one another part a circle just into fower parts then we must needs inferre the figure consisting of right lines went before those which are circular now that the right line goeth first and the circular doth succeed and follow after Plato himselfe hath shewed by demonstration namely when hee saith that the earth is composed of many cubes or square solid bodies whereof every one is enclosed and conteined with right lined superfices in such maner disposed as yet the whole body and masse of the earth seemeth round like a globe so that we need not to make any proper element thereof round if it be so that bodies with right lines conjoined and set in some sort one to another bringeth forth this forme Over and besides the direct line be it little or be it great keepeth alwaies the same rectitude whereas contrariwise we see the circumferences of circles if they be small are more coping bending and contracted in their outward curvature conrrariwise if they be great they are more extent lax and spred insomuch as they that stand by the outward circumference of circles lying upon a flat superfices touch the same underneath partly by a pricke if they be smal and in part by a line if they be large so as a man may very well conjecture that many right lines joined one to another taile to taile by piece-meale produce the circumference of a circle But consider whether there be none of these our circular or sphaericall figures exquisitely and exactly perfect but in regard of the extentions and circumtentions of right lines or by reason of the exilitie and smalnesse of the parts there can be perceived no difference and thereupon there sheweth a circular and round figure And therefore it is that there is not a bodie heere that by by nature doth moove circularly but all according to the right line so that the round and sphericall figure is not the element of a sensible body but of the soule and understanding unto which he attributeth likewise the circular motion as belonging unto them naturally 5 In what sense and meaning delivered he this speech in his booke entituled Phaedrus that the nature of a wing where by that which is heavy and ponderous is caried up aloft of all other things that belong unto a body hath a certeine communion and participation with God IS it because he discourseth there of love and love is occupied about the beauty of the body and this beauty for the resemblance that it hath to divinity doth moove the minde and excite the reminiscence thereof Or rather are we to take it simply without curious searching farther into any mystery thereof namely that the soule being within the body hath many faculties powers whereof that which is the discourse of reason and understanding doth participate with the deitie which hee not unproperly and impertinently tearmeth a
opinion that the Winde is a fluxion of the aire when as the most subtile and liquid parts thereof be either stirred or melted and resolved by the Sunne The STOICKS affirme that every blast is a fluxion of the aire and that according to the mutation of regions they change their names as for example that which bloweth from the darknesse of the night and Sunne setting is named Zephyrus from the East and Sunne rising Apeliotes from the North Boreas and from the South Libs METRODORUS supposeth that a waterish vapour being inchafed by the heat of the Sun produceth and raiseth these winds and as for those that be anniversary named Etesia they blow when the aire about the North pole is thickened and congealed with cold and so accompanie the Sunne and flow as it were with him as he retireth from the Summer Tropicke after the 〈◊〉 Solstice CHAP. VIII Of Winter and Summer EMPEDOCLES and the STOICKS do hold that Winter commeth when the aire is predominant in thickenesse and is forced upward but Summer when the fire is in that wise predominant and is driven downward Thus having discoursed of the impressions aloft in the aire we will treat also by the way of those which are seene upon and about the earth CHAP. IX Of the Earth the substance and magnitude thereof THALES with his followers affirme there is but one Earth 〈◊〉 the Pythagorean mainteineth twaine one heere and another opposit against it which the Antipodes inhabit The STOICKS say there is one Earth and the same finite XENOPHANES holdeth that beneath it is founded upon an infinit depth and that compact it is of aire and fire METRODORUS is of opinion that Earth is the very sediment and ground of the water like as 〈◊〉 Sunne is the residence of the aire CHAP. X. The forme of the Earth THALES the STOICKS and their schoole affirme the Earth to be round in maner of a globe or ball ANAXIMANDER resembleth the Earth unto a columne or pillar of stone such as are seene upon the superficies thereof ANAXIMENES compareth it to a flat table LEUCIPPUS unto a drum or tabour DEMOCRITUS saith that it is in forme broad in maner of a platter hollow in the mids CHAP. XI The 〈◊〉 of the Earth THe disciples of THALES maintaine that the Earth is seated in midst of the world XENOPHANES affirmeth that it was first founded and rooted as it were to an infinite depth PHILOLAUS the Pythagorean saith that fire is the middle as being the hearth of the world in the second place he raungeth the Earth of the Antipodes and in the third this wherein wee inhabit which lieth opposite unto that counter earth and turneth about it which is the reason quoth he that those who dwell there are not seene by the inhabitants heere PARMENIDES was the 〈◊〉 Philosopher who set out and limited the habitable parts of the Earth to wit those which are under the two Zones unto the Tropicks or Solsticiall circles CHAP. XII Of the bending of the earth PYTHAGORAS is of opinion that the earth enclineth toward the Meridionall parts by reason of the 〈◊〉 which is in those South coasts for that the Septentrionall tracts are congealed and frozen with cold whereas the opposite regions be inflamed and burnt DEMOCRITUS yeeldeth this reason because of the ambient aire is weaker toward the South quoth hee the Earth as it groweth and encreaseth doth bend to that side for the North parts be 〈◊〉 whereas contrariwise the Southeren parts are temperate in which regard it weigheth more that way whereas indeed it is more plentifull in bearing fruits and those growing to greater augmentation CHAP. XIII The motion of the Earth SOme hold the Earth to be unmoveable and quite but PHILOLAUS the Pythagorean saith that it moveth round about the fire in the oblique circle according as the Sunne and Moone do HERACLIDES of Pontus and Ecphantus the Pythagorean would indeed have the Earth to move howbeit not from place to place but rather after a turning manner like unto a wheele upon the axell tree from West to East round about her owne center DEMOCRITUS saith that the Earth at first wandred to and fro by reason as well of smalnesse as lightnesse but waxing in time thicke and heavie it came to rest unmoveable CHAP. XIIII The division of the Earth and how many Zones it hath PYTHAGORAS saith that the earth is divided into five Zones proportionably to the sphaere of the universall heaven to wit the Artick circle the Tropick of Summer the Tropick of Winter the Aequinoctiall and the Antartick Of which the middlemost doth determine and set out the verie mids and heart of the earth and for that cause it is named Torrida Zona that is to say the burnt climat but that region is habitable as being temperate which lieth in the mids betweene the summer and the winter Tropick CHAP. XV. Of Earthquakes THALES and DEMOCRITUS attribute the cause of Earthquakes unto water The STOICKS thus define and say Earthquake is the moisture within the earth subtiliated and resolved into the aire and so breaking out perforce ANAXIMENES is of opinion that raritie and drinesse of the earth together be the causes of Earthquake wherof the one is engendred by excessive drougth the other by gluts of raine ANAXAGORAS holdeth that when the aire is gotten within the earth and meeteth with the superficies thereof which it findeth tough and thicke so as it cannot get forth it shaketh it in manner of trembling ARITSTOTLE alledgeth the Antiperistasis of the circumstant cold which environeth it about on everie side both above and beneath for heat endevoreth and maketh hast to mount aloft as being by nature light A drie exhalation therefore finding it selfe enclosed within and staied striveth to make way through the cliffs and thicks of the Earth in which busines it cannot chuse but by turning to and fro up and downe disquiet and shake the earth METRODORUS is of mind that no bodie being in the owne proper and naturall place can stirre or moove unlesse some one do actually thrust or pull it The earth therefore quoth he being situate in the owne place naturally mooveth not howsoever some placesthereof may remove into others PARMENIDES and DEMOCRITUS reason in this wise for that the earth on everie side is of equall distance and confineth still in one counterpoise as having no cause wherefore it should incline more to the one side than to the other therefore well it may shake onely but not stirre or remoove for all that ANAXIMENES saith that the Earth is caried up and downe in the aire for that it is broad and flat Others say that it floteth upon the water like as planks or boords and that for this cause it mooveth PLATO affirmeth that of all motions there be six sorts of circumstances above beneath on the right hand on the left before and behind Also that the earth cannot possibly moove according to any of these differences for that on everie
numbers answerable to the other is not simple and of one nature or affection but one part thereof is more spirituall intelligible and reasonable which ought of right and according to nature have the soveraigntie and command in man the other is brutish sensuall erronious and disorderly of it selfe requiring the direction and guidance of another Now this is subdivided againe into other two parts where of the one is alwaies called Corporall or Vegetative the other Thymocides as one would say Irascible and Concupiscible which one while doeth adhere and sticke close to the foresaid grosse and corporall portion and otherwhiles to the more pure and spirituall part which is the Discourse of reason unto which according as it doth frame and apply it selfe it giveth strength and vigor thereto Now the difference betweene the one and the other may be knowen principally by the fight and resistance that often times is betweene understanding and reason on the one side and the concupiscence and wrathfull part on the other which sheweth that these other faculties are often disobedient and repugnant to the best part And verily Aristotle used these principles and grounds especially above all others at the first as appeareth by his writings but afterwards he attributed the irascible part unto the concupiscible confounding them both together in one as if ire were a concupiscence or desire of revenge Howbeit this he alwaies held to the very end That the brutish and sensuall part which is subject unto passions was wholly and ever distinct from the intellectuall part which is the same that reason not that it is fully depriued of reason as is that corporall and grosse part of the soule to wit whereby we have sense onely common with beasts and whereby we are nourished as plants But whereas this being surd and deafe and altogether uncapable of reason doth after a sort proceed and spring from the flesh and alwaies cleave unto the bodie the other sensuall part which is so subject unto passions although it be in it selfe destitute of reason as a thing proper unto it yet neverthelesse apt and fit it is to heare and obey the understanding and discoursing part of the minde insomuch as it will turne vnto it suffer it selfe to be ranged and ordered according to the rules and precepts thereof unlesse it be utterly spoiled and corrupted either by blinde and foolish pleasure or els by a loose and intemperate course of life As for them that make a wonder at this and do not conceive how that part being in some sort brutish and unreasonable may yet be obedient unto reason they seeme unto me as if they did not well comprehend the might and power of reason namely how great it is and forcible or how farre forth it may pearce and passe in command guidance and direction not by way of rough churlish violent and irregular courses but by faire and formall meanes which are able to doe more by gentle inducements and persuasions than all the necessarie constraints and inforcements in the world That this is so it appeareth by the breath spirits sinewes bones and other parts of the body which be altogether void of reason howbeit so soone as there ariseth any motion of the will which shaketh as it were thereines of reason never so little all of them keepe their order they agree together and yeeld obedience As for example if the minde and will be disposed to run the feet are quickly stretched out and ready for a course the hands likewise settle to their businesse if there be a motion of the minde either to throw or take holde of any thing And verily the Poet Homer most excellently expresseth the sympathie and conformitie of this brutish part of the soule unto reason in these verses Thus wept the chaste Penelope and drench't her lovely face With dreary teares which from her eyes ran trickling downe apace For tender heart bewailing sore the losse of husband deere Vlysses hight who was in place set by her side full neere And he himselfe in soule no lesse didpitie for to see His best be loved thus to weepe but wise and craftie he Kept in his teares for why his eyes within the lids were set As stiffe as yron and sturdy horne one drop would they not shed In such obedience to the judgement of reason he had his breath spirits his blood and his teares An evident proofe hereof is to be seene in those whose flesh doth rise upon the first sight of faire and beautifull persons for no sooner doth reason or law forbid to come neere and touch them but presently the same falleth lieth downe and is quiet againe without any stirring or panting at all A thing verie ordinarie and most commonly perceived in those who be enamored upon faire women not knowing at first who they were For so soone as they perceive afterwards that they be their owne sisters or daughters their lust presently cooleth by meanes of reason that toucheth it and interposeth it selfe betweene so that the bodie keepeth all the members thereof decently in order and obedient to the judgement of the said reason Moreover it falleth out oftentimes that we eate with a good stomacke and great pleasure certaine meates and viands before we know what they are but after we understand and perceive once that wee have taken either that which was uncleane or unlawfull and forbidden not onely in our judgement and understanding we finde trouble and offence thereby but also our bodily faculties agreeing to our opinion are dismaied thereat so that anon thore ensue vomits sicke quawmes and overturnings of the stomake which disquiet all the whole frame And were it not that I greatly feared to be thought of purpose to gather and insert in my discourse such pleasant and youthfull inducements I could inferre in this place Psalteries Lutes Harpes Pipes Flutes and other like musicall instruments how they are devised by Art for to accord and frame with humane passions for notwithstanding they be altogether without life yet they cease not to apply themselves unto us and the judgement of our minds lamenting singing and wantonly disporting together with us resembling both the turbulent passions and also the milde affections and dispositions of those that play upon them And yet verily it is reported also of Zeno himselfe that he went one day to the Theatre for to heare the Musician Amoebeus who sung unto the Harpe saying unto his scholers Let us goe Sirs and learne what harmonie and musicke the entrailes of beasts their sinewes and bones Let us see I say what resonance and melodie bare wood may yeeld being disposed by numbers proportions and order But leaving these examples I would gladly demaund and aske of them if when they see dogs horses and birds which we nourish and keepe in our houses brought to that passe by use seeding and teaching that they learne to render sensible words to performe certaine motions gestures and divers seates both pleasant and profitable unto us
and likewise when they read in Homer how Achilles encouraged to battell both horse and man they doe marvell still and make doubt whether that part and facultie in us whereby we are angrie do lust joy or grieve be of that nature that it can well obey reason and be so affected and disposed thereby that it may give assent thereto considering especially that it is not seated or lodged without nor separated from us ne yet framed by any thing which is not in us no nor shapen by forcible meanes and constraint to wit by mold stroke of hammer or any such thing but as it is fitted and forged by nature so it keepeth to her is conversant with her and finally perfited and accomplished by custome and continuance Which is the reason that verie properly Manners be called in Greeke by the name 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to give us to understand that they are nothing else to speake plainely and after a grosse manner but a certaine qualitie imprinted by long continuance of time in that part of the soule which of it selfe is unreasonable and is named 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for that the said reasonlesse part framed by reason taketh this qualitie or difference call it whether you will by the meanes of long time and custom which they terme 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 For reason is not willing to roote out quite all passions which were neither possible nor expedient but onely it doth limit them within certaine bounds and setteth downe a kinde of order and thus aftera sort causeth Morall vertues not to be impassibilities but rather mediocrities and regularities or moderations of our affections and this it doth by the meanes of prudence and wisedome which reduceth the power of this sensuall and patheticall part unto a civill and honest habitude For these three things they say are in the soule of man to wit a naturall puissance or facultie a passion or motion and also an habitude Now the said facultie or power is the verie beginning and as a man would say the matter of passions to wit the power or aptnesse to be angrie to be ashamed or to be confident and bold The passion is the actuall mooving of the said power namely anger it selfe shame confidence or boldnes The habitude is a settled and confirmed strength established in the sensuall or unreasonable part by continuall use and custome which if the passions be ill governed by reason becommeth to be a vice and contrariwise a vertue in case the same be well ordered and directed thereby Moreover forasmuch as Philosophers do not hold and affirme that everie vertue is a mediocritie nor call it Morall to the end therefore that we may the better declare and shew the difference we had need to fetch the beginning of this discourse farther off Of all things then that be in the world some have their essence and being of themselves absolutely and simply others respectively and in relation to us Absolutely have their being the earth the heaven the stars and the sea Respectively and in regard of us Good evill profitable hurtfull pleasant and displeasant Now it being so that reason doth contemplate and behold the one sort aswell as the other the former ranke of those things which are sunply and absolutely so pertaine unto science and speculation as their proper objects the second kinde of those things which are understood by reference and regard unto us pertaine properly unto consultation and action And as the vertue of the former sort is called Sapience so the vertue of the other is named Prudence For a difference there is betweene Prudence and Sapience in this that Prudence consisteth in a certaine relation application of the contemplative facultie of the soule unto Action and unto the regiment of the sensuall part according to reason by which occasion Prudence had need of the assistance of Fortune whereas Sapience hath nothing to do with it no more than it hath need of consultation for to attaine and reach unto the ende it aymeth at For that indeed it concerneth such things as be ever one and alwaies of the same sort And like as the Geometrician never consulteth as touching a triangle to wit whether it hath three angles equall to twaine that be right or no Because he knoweth assuredly that it hath for all consultations are concerning things that varie and alter sometime after one sort and otherwhiles after another and never medleth with those that be firme stable and immutable even so the understanding and contemplative facultie of the minde exercising her functions in those first and principall things which be permanent and have evermore the same nature not capable of chaunge and mutation is sequestred and exempt altogether from consultation But Prudence which descendeth to things full of varietie error trouble and confusion must of necessitie eftsoones intermedle with casualties and use deliberation in things more doubtfull and uncertaine yea and after it hath consulted to proceed unto action calling and drawing unto it the reasonlesse part also to be assistant and present as drawen into the judgement of things to be executed For need those actions have of a certaine instinct and motion to set them forward which this Morall habitude doth make in each passion and the same instinct requireth likewise the assistance of reason to limit it that it may be moderate to the ende that it neither exceed the meane nor come short and be defective for that it cannot be chosen but this brutish and passible part hath motions in it some overvehement quicke and sudden others as slow againe and more slacke than is meet Which is the reason that our actions cannot be good but after one manner whereas they may be evill after divers sorts like as a man cannot hit the marke but one way marie he may misse sundrie waies either by overshooting or comming short The part and dutie then of that active facultie of reason according to nature is to cut off and take away all those excessive or defective passions and to reduce them unto a mediocritie For whereas the said instinct or motion either by infirmitie effeminate delicacie feare or slothfulnesse doth faile and come short of dutie and the end required there active reason is present ready to rouse excite and stirre up the same Againe on the other side when it runneth on end beyond all measure after a dissolute and disorderly manner there reason is prest to abridge that which is too much and to represse and stay the same thus ruling and restraining these patheticall motions it breedeth in man these Morall vertues whereof we speake imprinting them in that reasonlesse part of the mind and no other they are than a meane betweene excesse and defect Neither must we thinke That all vertues do consist in a mediocritie for Sapience or Wisedome which stand in no need at all of the brutish and unreasonable part and consist onely in the pure and sincere intelligence and discourse of understanding
and agreeable as to our selves who have these vertues and good qualities within us OF CVRIOSITIE The Summarie THE former Treatise hath shewed unto us how many mischiefes and inconveniences Anger causeth teaching us the meanes how to beware of it Now Plutarch dealeth with another vice no lesse dangerous than it which bendeth to the opposite extremity For where as ire doth so bereave aman of the use of reason during the accesse and fit thereof that the cholericke and furious persons aiffer not one from another but in the space of time This curiositie which now is in hand being masked under the name of wisedome and habilitie of spirit is to say a trueth a covert and hidden furie which carrieth the minde of the curious person past himselfe for to gather and heape from all parts the ordure and filthinesse of another and afterwards to bring the same into him selfe and to make thereof a verie store-house for to infect his owne selfe first and then others according as themalignitie and malice the follies backbiting and slanders of these curious folke do sufficiently declare To the ende therefore that everie man who loveth vertue should divert from such a maladie our author sheweth that the principall remedie for to preserve us from it is to turne this curiositie to our owne selves namely to examine our owne persons more diligently than others Which point he amplifieth by setting downe on the contrary side the blindnesse of those who are over-busie and curious Then commeth he to declare why a curious person goeth foorth alwaies out of his owne house for to enter into another mans to wit because of his owne filthinesse which by that meanes he cannot smell and perceive but whiles he will needs go to stirre and rake into the life of others he snareth and entangleth himselfe and so perisheth in his owne folly and indiscretion Afterwards proceeding to prescribe the remedies for the cure of curiositie when he had deciphered the villanies and indignities thereof together with the nature of curious persons and the enormous viees which accompanie them he requireth at our hands that we should not be desirous to know things which be vile base lewd or unprofitable that we should hold in our eies and not cast them at random and aventure within the house of another that we should not seeke after the bruite and rumours that are spread in meetings and companies that we otherwhiles should forbeare even such things whereof the use is lawfull and permitted also to take heed that we doe not enter nor sound too deepe into our owne affaires Finally not to be rash and heady in those things that we do be they never so small All these points premised he adorneth with inductions similitudes and choise examples and knitteth up all with one conclusion which prooveth that curious solk ought to be ranged among the most mischievous and dangerous persons in the world OF CVRIOSITIE THe best way haply it were altogether to avoid an house and not therein at all to dwell which is close without fresh aire darke standing bleake and colde or otherwise unhealthfull Howbeit if a man by reason that he hath beene long used to such an house delight in that seat and will there abide he may either by altering the prospects and remooving the lights or by changing the staires into another place or else by opening the dores of one side shutting them upon another make the house more lightsome better exposed to the wind for to receive fresh aire in one word more holsome than before And verily some have much amended whole cities by the like alterations as for example men say that one Chaeron in times past turned my native citie and place of nativitie Chaeronea to lie eastward which before looked toward the westerne winde Zephyrus and received the sunne setting from the mount Pernassus And Empedocles the naturall Philosopher by stopping up the mouth or deepe chinke of a certeine mountaine between two rocks which breathed out a noisome and pestilent southerne winde upon all the champian countrey and plaine underneath was thought to have put by the plague which by occasion of that wind reigned ordinarily before in that countrie Now forasmuch as there be certeine hurtfull and pestiferous passions which send up into our soule tempestuous troubles and darknesse it were to be wished that they were chased out quite and throwne downe to the very ground whereby we might give our selves a free prospect an open and cleere light a fresh and pure aire or if we be not so happie yet at leastwise endevour we ought by all meanes possible to change alter translate transpose and turne them so about as they may be found more fit and commodious to serve our turnes As for example and to go no farther for the matter Curiositie which I take to be a desire to know the faults and imperfections in other men is a vice or disease which seemeth not cleere of envie and maliciousnesse And unto him that is infected therewith may very well be said Most spightfull and envious man why doest thou ever finde With piercing eies thy neighbours faults and in thine owne art blinde avert thine eies a little from things without and turne thy much medling and curiosity to those that be within If thou take so great a pleasure and delight to deale in the Knowledge and Historie of evill matters thou hast worke enough iwis at home thou shalt finde plentie thereof within to occupie thy selfe For looke what water run's along an Isthus or Isle we see Or leaves lie spred about the Oke which numbred cannot be Such a multitude shalt thou finde of sinnes in thy life of passions in thy soule and of oversights in thy duties For like as Xenophon saith That good stewards of an houshold have one proper roome by it selfe for those utensiles or implements which serve for sacrifice another for vessell that cometh to the table in one place he laieth up the instruments tooles for tillage and husbandry and in another apart from the rest he bestoweth weapons armour and furniture for the wars even so shalt thou see within thy selfe a number of manifold vices how they are digested some proceeding from envie others from jealousie some from idlenesse others from nigardise take account of these I advise thee survey and peruse them over well shut all the dores and windowes that yeeld prospect unto thy neighbors stop up the avennes that give accesse and passage to Curiosity But set open all other doores that lead into thine owne bed-chamber and other lodgings for men into thy wives cabinet the nourcery into the roomes where thy servants keepe There shalt thou meet wherewith to amuse and busie thy selfe there may curiositie and desire to know every thing be emploied in exercises neither unprofitable nor malicious nay in such as be commodious holsome and tending to salvation namely whiles every one calleth himselfe to account saying thus Where have I beene what
well and make the best of it Now of these two points the former to wit a good throw is not in our power and choise but the other resteth in us namely whatsoever our lot is to take in good woorth and to dispose every thing in that place where it may profit most if it fortuned well and contraand contrariwise if it fell out crosse where it may doe least harme This I say is our part and duety to performe if we be as wise as we should be As for brain-sicke fooles and such as know not how to carrie themselves in this life like unto those that have crasie and diseased bodies who neither can abide burning heat nor chilling colde as in prosperity they spread and set up their sailes too high so in adversitie they strike them as low Troubled they are mightily with both extremities or to speake more truely with themselves as much in the one as the other and no lesse in that state which yeeldeth those things that we call and repute Goods Theodorus that infamous Philosopher who for his profane opinion was surnamed Atheos that is to say The Atheist was woont to say That he delivered his speeches with the right hand to his auditours and scholars but they tooke the same with their left even so ignorant and untaught persons many times when fortune presenteth herselfe unto them on the right hand receive her awkly turning to the left side undecently and by that meanes commit many untoward lewd parts But those that be wise doe farre better for as Thyme yeeldeth unto Bees the quickest and driest hony even so they out of the most unfortunate accidents that be can skill often-times to get somewhat which is agreeable and commodious unto themselves This is then the first and principall point wherein a man ought to be trained and exercised upon this must he study and meditate And like as that fellow when he flung a stone at a curst bitch missed her and chanced to hit his step-mother saying withall It makes no matter for it hath not light amisse even so we may turne all our fortune to our owne purpose and make the best use of it in case things fall out otherwise than we would or meant Diogenes his hap was to be banished and driven out of his owne countrey yet this exile of his prooved not ill to him for by that meanes and thereupon he beganne to studie and professe Philosophie Zeno the Cittiaean had but one frigat or flie-boat left him and hearing newes that both it and all therein was cast away drowned and perished in the mids of the sea ô Fortune quoth he thou hast done well to drive us againe to put on our poore and simple scholars habit and to send us to our gallerie and schoole of Philosophie What should hinder us then but that we may follow the examples of these men Art thou deprived and put out of some publike office or magistracie which thou didst exercise Go and live in the countrey there follow thine owne businesse and plie thy private affaires Hast thou made sute and great meanes to be entertained in the Court and to winde into speciallfavour with some Prince and Potentate and after all thy travell suffered repulse Well thou shalt live privately at home without danger without trouble Againe Art thou entred into action and doest thou manage State affaires wherein thou hast cares enough and no time to breathe thy selfe The holsome waters and hot baines Do not so much alay our paines And if our limmes be dull or sicke Refresh the same and make them quicke As when a man himselfe doth see Advanc't to honour and high degree His glory care and paine doth ease No travell then will him displease as Pindarus saith very well Art thou in some disgrace and cast out of favour with reproch by reason of some slanderous calumniation or envie Thou hast a gale of fore-wind at the poope which will soone bring thee directly to the Muses and to the Academie that is to say to follow thy booke and study Philosophie for this was Platoes helpe when he was in disfavour with Denys the tyrant And therefore one meanes this is of no small importance to worke contentment in a mans mind namely to looke backe unto the state of famous and renowmed persons and to see whether they haply have not suffered the like at any time as for example Art thou discontented with thy childlesse estate for that thy wife hath brought thee no children Doe but marke the Kings of Rome how there was not one of them that left the crown unto his sonne Is it povertie that pincheth thee so as thou art not able to endure it Tell mee which of all the Boeotians wouldest thou chuse to resemble sooner than Epaminondas or what Romane wouldest thou be like unto rather than Pabricius But say thy wife hath plaied false by thee and made thee weare hornes Didst thou never reade that Epigram of King Agis at Delphos 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Agis of sea and land a crowned king Gave me sometime a sacred offering And yet as mightie a Prince as he was you have heard I am sure that Alcibiades lay with his wife Tunaea and she would not bash to call the sonne that she had by him in adulterie Alcibiades especially amongst her women waiting-maidens whispering and speaking as much softly unto them But what of all that This crooked crosse was no bar unto K. Agis but that he prooved the greatest and most renowmed personage of all the Greeks in his time No more was it any hinderance to Stilpo but that he lived all the daies of his life most merrily and no Philosopher like to him in those daies notwithstanding he had a daughter that plaied the harlot and when Metrocles the Cynick reproched him therewith Is this quoth he my fault or hers To which when Metrocles answered againe The fault is indeed hers but the infortunity and mishap is yours What now replied Stilpo again how can that be Are not I pray you all faults rightly named Slips or falles Yes truely said the other And are not falles quoth Stilpo mischances or misfortunes Metrocles could not denie it Why then inferred Stilpo at last what are mischances or misfortunes other than infortunities and mishaps to them whose mischances they are By this milde kinde of Sorites and Philosophicall reasoning thus from point to point he shewed that the reprochfull language of this Cynicall Metrocles was nothing els but a vaine and foolish baying and barking of a cur-dogge But on the contrary side the most part of men are provoked and troubled not onely for the vices of their friends familiars and kinsfolke but also of their very enimies For reprochfull taunts anger envie malice and spightful jealousies are the mischiefes and plagues I must needs say of such especially that have them howbeit they molest and vexe those also that are witlesse and without discretion no
of one who had a cause to plead unto at the barre penned an oration for his purpose and gave it him The partie after he had read and read it over againe came unto Lysias heavie and ill-appaied saying The first time that I perused your oration me thought it was excellently well written and I wondred at it but when I tooke it a second and third time in hand it seemed very simply endited caried no forcible and effectuall stile with it Why quoth Lysias and smiled withall know you not that you are to pronounce it but once before the judges and yet see marke withall the perswasive eloquence and sweet grace that is in the writing of Lysias for I may be bold to say and affirme of him that The Muses with their broided violet haire Grac'd him with favour much and beauty faire And among those singular commendations that are given out of any Poët most true it is that Homer is he alone of all that ever were who overcame all satietie of the reader seeming evermore new and fresh flourishing alwaies in the prime of lovely grace and appeering yoong still and amiable to win favour howbeit in speaking and prosessing thus much of himselfe It greeves me much for to rechearse againe Atale that once delivered hath beene plaine He sheweth sufficiently that he avoideth what he can and feareth that tedious satietie which followeth hard at heeles laieth wait as it were unto all long traines of speech in which regard he leadeth the reader hearer of his Poemes from one discourse narration to another and evermore with novelties doth so refresh and recreate him that he thinketh he hath never enough whereas our long-tongued chatterers do after a sort wound and weary the eares of their hearers by their tautologies and vaine repetitions of the same thing as they that soile and flourry writing tables when they be faire scoured and clensed and therefore let us set this first and formost before their eies that like as they who force men to drinke wine out of measure and undelaied with water are the cause that the good blessing which was given us to rejoice our hearts and make us pleasant and merry driveth some into sadnesse and others into drunkennesse and violence even so they that beyond all reason and to no purpose use their speech which is a thing otherwise counted the most delightsome and amiable meanes of conference and societie that men have together cause it to bee inhumane and unsociable displeasing those whom they thought to please making them to be mocked at their hands of whom they looked to be well esteemed and to have their evill will and displeasure whose love and amitie they made reckoning of And even as hee by good right may be esteemed uncourteous and altogether uncivill who with the girdle and ussue of Venus wherein are allsorts of kind and amiable allurements should repell and drive from him as many as desire his companie so hee that with his speech maketh others heavie and himselfe hatefull may well be held and reputed for a gracelesse man and of no bringing up in the world As for other passions and maladies of the minde some are dangerous others odious and some againe ridiculous and exposed to mockerie but garrulity is subject unto all these inconveniences at once For such folke as are noted for their lavish tongue are a meere laughing stocke and in every common and ordinary report of theirs they minister occasion of laughter hated they be for their relation of ill newes and in danger they are because they cannot conceale and keepe close their owne secrets heereupon Anacharsis being invited one day feasted by Solon was reputed wise for that being asleepe he was found and seene holding his right hand to his mouth and his left upon his privities and natural parts for good reason he had to thinke that the tongue required and needed the stronger bridle and bit to restreine it and in very truth it were a hard matter to reckon so many persons undone and overthrowne by their intemperate and loose life as there have beene cities and mightie States ruinated and subverted utterly by the revealing and opening of some secrets It fortuned that whiles Sylla did inleaguer before the citie of Athens and had not leasure to stay there long and continue the siege by reason of other affaires and troubles pressed him sore for of one side king Mithridates invaded and harmed Asia and on the other side the faction of Marius gathered strength and having gotten head prevailed much within Rome certeine old fellowes being met in a barbars shop within the city of Athens who were blabs of their tongues clattered it out in their talk together that a certeine quarter of the citie named Heptacalchon was not sufficiently guarded and therefore the towne in danger to be surprised by that part which talke of theirs was over-heard by certeine espies who advertised Sylla so much whereupon immediately hee brought all his forces to that side and about midnight gave an hot assault made entrie and went within a very little of forcing the citie and being master of it all for he filled the whole streete called Ceramicum with slaughter and dead carcasses insomuch as the chanels ran downe with bloud Now was hee cruelly bent against the Athenians more for their hard language which they gave him than for any offence or injurie otherwise that they did unto him for they had flouted and mocked Sylla together with his wife Metella and for that purpose they would get upon the walles and say Sylla is a Sycamoore or Mulberie bestrewed all over with dusty-meale besides many other such foolish jibes and taunts and so for the lightest thing in the world as Plato saith to wit words which are but winde they brought upon their heads a most heavie and grievous penaltie The garrulitie and over-much talke of one man was the only hinderance that the citie of Rome was not set free and delivered from the tyrannie of Nero. For there was but one night betweene the time that Nero should have beene murthered on the morrow and all things were readie and prepared for the purpose but he who had undertaken the execution of that feat as he went toward the Theatre espied one of those persons who were condemned to die bound and pinnioned at the prison doore and readie to be led and brought before Nero who hearing him to make piteous moane and lamenting his miserable fortune steps to him and rounding him softly in the eare Pray to God poore man quoth he that this one day may passe over thy head and that thou die not to day for to morrow thou shalt con me thankes The poore prisoner taking hold presently of this aenigmaticall and darke speech and thinking as I suppose that one bird in hand is better than two in bush and according to the common saying that A foole is he who leaving that which readie is and sure Doth follow
beene miraculously and beyond all hope expectation saved from death and among the rest he gave instance of Cypselus the father of Periander whom being but a yoong babe and infant new borne certeine bloudie murderers were sent to kill and upon the sight of him for verie pittie turned away and forbare to commit so bloudy afact but afterwards bethinking themselves and repenting such foolish compassion they returned backe againe to seeke him out but could not finde him for that his mother had hidden him within a little corne flasket or twiggen hamper called in Greek Cypsels in remembrance whereof Cypselus afterwards when he was a man dedicated a chappell within the temple of Apollo in Delphos as beleeving how at that time hee had beene miraculously preserved and by the hand of God kept from crying which might have bewraied him to the murderers Then Pittacus addressing his speech to Pertander said thus Chersias hath done me a great pleasure to mention this chapell or cell for many a time desirous I was to know of you what should be the meaning of those frogs which are seene graven round about the foot of the palme tree therein and what they did concerne either the said God Apollo or the man himselfe who built and dedicated the said house And when Periander willed him to aske Chersias that question who wist well enough what it was for that he was with Cypselus at the dedication thereof Chersias smiled and said I will not expound the mysterie thereof unlesse I may know first of them that be heere what is meant by these olde said sawes Nothing too much Know thy selfe and that other mot which hath caused some to continue single and unmaried others to forbeare sureti-ship and many to be distrustfull to be mute and silent to wit Give thy word and pay Be surely and be sure of a shrewd turne And what need is there quoth Pittacus that we should interpret and declare these sentences considering you so greatly praise the fables that Aesope hath composed which shew the substance of every one Aesope answered So saith Chersias indeed when he is disposed to jest and be merry with me but when he speaketh in good earnest he affirmeth that Homer was the first author of these sentences saying that Homer knew himselfe well enough who advancing forward to set upon other captaines of the Greeks Refused well and wisely for to fight With Ajax sonne of Telamon that knight He saith moreover that Ulysses approoved and commended this sentence Nothing too much when he admonished Diomedes in these tearmes Sir Diomede praise not me overmuch Ne yet dispraise I love no doings such And as for sureti-ship others are of opinion that he condemneth it as a leawd naughty and dangerous thing in these words Who sureties are for men distrest and in calamity Taste oftentimes for their kind heart much infortunity But this Poet Chersias here saith That the fiend Ate which is as much to say as Plague or Infortunitie was by Jupiter flung downe from heaven to earth for that she was present at the caution or warrantise which he interposed as touching the nativitie of Hercules whereby Jupiter was circumvented and overtaken Then Solon Seeing it is so quoth he I am of this minde that we should give eare and credit to the most wise Poet Homer whose counsell this is Since that the night comes on apace and hath suprised us Full meet it is her to obey and end our speeches thus After we have therefore given thanks in powring out wine and offering it to the Muses Neptune and Amphitrite let us if you thinke so good end this our assembly and banquet Thus Nicarchus this our mery meeting brake up and was for that time dissolved INSTRVCTIONS FOR THEM THAT MANAGE AFFAIRES OF STATE The Summarie TYrannie in any publike government be it of prince seignourie or people as it is dangerous and detestable so we are no lesse to feare anarchie and the horrible confusion of those States where every one is a lord master The wise man said very wel That a people or citie destitute of government is neere to ruine and publike affaires prosper well when there be store of good counsellers And on the other side experience sheweth that humane societie can not stand without magistrates the mainteiners of lawes good order which be the nerves or sinewes the cords and props of our life and conversation one with another But if there be any way in the world slipperie it is that of the management of State affaires by reason of the leawdnesse of some whom I may call Sage fooles who runne by heaps after publike offices not suffering men of honour to enter into them as fearing to be afterwards ranged and ordered by reason Since then that ambition is a mortall plague in the mind and understanding of him who would advance himselfe by crooked and indirect meanes it behooveth on the contrary side that those who have a sincere affection to serve in publike place take heed that they be not discouraged although otherwhiles they be kept under and put downe by such persons as by good right ought to serve and not command To holde therefore some meane in this case betweene mounting up unto vain-glory and falling into cowardise Plutarch for to content and satisfie a friend of his giveth good instructions to every man that entreth into the managing of State affaires and in the first place he requireth at his hands a good will free from vanitie and lightnesse void of avarice and delivered from ambition and envie afterwards his advice is that he endevour to know those well whom he must governe for to acquit him well in his owne dutie in case he be inducted unto any high degree in reforming himselfe and being furnished with a good conscience knowledge eloquence proper instruments for to go thorow all difficulties This done he teacheth a States-man to manage well his owne words also what way he ought to take for the entrance into the conduct of his weightie affaires what friends he is to chuse and how he is to demeane himselfe as well with them as his enemies afterwards he discusseth and handleth this question to wit Whether such a person as he whom he hath represented ought to intermeddle and deale in all offices and resolveth that he ought to manage none but that which is of greatest importance From this he proceedeth to speake of that discretion which is requisit for the ranging and bringing into order of slanderers and enemies and withall with what maner of affaires a politician should busic and 〈◊〉 himselfe and whereto his spirit and minde is to tend wishing above all that he should enterteine the amitie of other lords and rulers who are able to further and advance the publike good and in the meane time to be well advised that he doe not goe about to save or ruinate rather his owne countrey by forren meanes Heereupon he discourseth of those maladies
effect but in the battell of Mantinea he admonished and advised the Lacedaemonians to take no regard at all of other Thebans but to bend their whole forces against Epaminondas onely saying That wise and prudent men alone and none but they were valiant and the sole cause of victorie and therefore if they could vanquish him they might easily subdue all the rest as being blockish fooles and men in deed of no valour and so in truth it proved for when as the victory now enclined wholy unto Epaminondas and the Lacedaemonians were at the verie point to be disbanded discomfited and put to flight as the said Epaminondas turned for to call his owne together to folow the rout a Lacedaemonian chanced to give him a mortall wound wherewith hee fell to the ground and the Lacedaemonians who were with Agesilaus called themselves made head againe and put the victorie into doubtfull ballance for now the Thebanes abated much their courage and the Lacedaemonians tooke the better hearts Moreover when the citie of Sparta was neere driven and at a low ebbe for money to wage warre as being constrained to entertaine mercenarie souldiers for pay who were meere strangers Agesilaus went into Aegypt being sent for by the King of Aegypt to serve as his pensioner but for that hee was meanely and simply apparelled the inhabitants of the countrey despised him for they looked to have seene the King of Sparta richly arraied and set out gallantly and all gorgeously to be seene in his person like unto the Persian King so foolish a conceit they had of kings but Agesilaus shewed them within a while that the magnificence and majestie of Kings was to be acquired by wit wisedome and valour for perceiving that those who were to fight with him and to make head against the enemie were frighted with the imminent perill by reason of the great number of enemies who were two hundred thousand fighting men and the small companie of their owne side he devised with himselfe before the battell began by some stratageme to encourage his owne men and to embolden their hearts which policie of his he would not communicate unto any person and this it was He caused upon the inside of his left hand to be written this word Victorie backward which done he tooke at the priests or sooth-saiers hand who was at sacrifice the liver of the beast which was killed and put it into the said left hand thus written within and so held it a good while making semblance as if he mused deeply of some doubt and seeming to stand in suspense to be in great perplexity untill the characters of the foresaid letters had a sufficient time to give a print and leave their marke in the superficies of the liver then shewed he it unto those who were to fight on his side and gave them to understand that by those characters the gods promised victory who supposing verily that there was in it a certaine signe presage of good fortune ventured boldly upon the hazard of a battell And when the enemies had invested and beleaguered his campe round about such a mightie number there were of them and besides had begun to cast a trench on everie side thereof King Nectanebas for whose aid he was thither come sollicited and intreated him to make a sally and charge upon them before the said trench was fully finished and both ends brought to gether he answered That he would never impeach the deseigne and purpose of the enemies who went no doubt to give him meanes to be equall unto them and to fight so many to so many so he staied until there wanted but a verie little of both ends meeting and then in that space betweene he raunged his battell by which device they encountred and fought with even fronts and on equall hand for number so he put the enemies to flight and with those few souldiers which he had he made a great carnage of them but of the spoile and booty which he wan he raised a good round masse of money and sent it all to Sparta Being now ready to embarke for to depart out of Aegypt upon the point of returne home he died and at his death expresly charged those who were about him that they should make no image or statue whatsoever representing the similitude of his personage For that quoth he if I have done any vertuous act in my life time that will be a monument sufficient to eternize my memorie if not all the images statues and pictures in the world will not serve the turne since they be the workes onely of mechanicall artificers which are of no woorth and estimation AGESIPOLIS the sonne of Cleombrotus when one related in his presence that Philip K. of Macedon had in few daies demolished and raced the citie Olinthus Par die quoth he Philip will not be able in many more daies to build the like to it Another said unto him by way of reproch that himselfe king as he was and other citizens men growen of middle age were delivered as hostages and neither their children nor wives Good reason quoth he and so it ought to be according to justice that we our selves and no others should beare the blame and paine of our faults And when he was minded to send for certaine dog-whelps from home one said unto him that there might not be suffered any of them to goe out of the countrey No more was it permitted heeretofore quoth hee for men to be lead foorth but now it is allowed well enough AGESIPOLIS the sonne of Pausanias when as the Athenians said to him That they were content to report themselves to the judgement of the Megarians as touching certaine variances and differences between them and complaints which they made one against another spake thus unto them Why my masters of Athens this were a great shame indeed that they who are the chiefe and the verie leaders of all other Greeks should lesse skill what is just than the Megarians AG is the sonne of Archidamus at what time as the Ephori spake thus unto him Take with you the yoong able men of this citie go into the countrey of such an one for he wil conduct you his owne selfe as farre as to the verie castle of his city And what reason is it quoth he my masters you that be Ephori to commit the lives of so many lustie gallants into his hands who is a traitour to his native countrey One demaunded of him what science was principally exercised in the citie of Sparta Marie quoth he the knowledge how to obey and how to rule He was woont to say that the Lacedaemonians never asked how many their enemies were but where they were Being forbidden to fight with his enemies at the battell of Mantinea because they were far more in number He must of necessity quoth he fight with many that would have the cōmand rule of many Unto another who asked what number there might be
us unskilfull as we are and void of art a fantasticall knowledge grounded onely upon some light opinion and conjecture of our owne as if we were right cunning workemen and artisanes for it is not his part who is not studied in the arte of Physick to gesse at the reason and consideration that the physician or chirurgian had why he made incision no sooner in his patient but staied long ere he proceeded thereto or wherfore he bathed him not yesterday but to day semblably it is neither easie nor safe for a mortall man to speake otherwise of the gods than of those who knew well enough the due time and opportunitie to minister a meet and convenient medicine unto vice and sinne and exhibit punishment to every trespasse as an appropriate drouge or confection to cure and heale ech maladie notwithstanding that the same measure and quantitie be not common to all delinquents nor one onely time and the same is alwaies meet therefore Now that the physicke or medicine of the soule which is called Right and Justice is one of the greatest sciences that are Pindarus himselfe besides an infinit number of others beareth witnesse when he calleth the Lord and governour of the world to wit God a most excellent and perfect artificer as being the author and creatour of justice unto whom it appertaineth to define and determine when in what manner and how far foorth it is meet and reasonable to chastice and punish each offender Plato likewise saith That Minos the sonne of Jupiter was in this science the disciple of his father giving us heereby to understand that it is not possible for one to carie himselfe well in the execution of justice nor to judge a right of him that doth as he ought unlesse he have before learned that science and be throughly skilfull therein Furthermore the positive lawes which men have established seeme not alwaies to be grounded upon reason or to sound and accord in all respects with absolute equitie and justice but some of their ordinances be such as in outward appearance may be thought ridiculous and woorthy of mockerie as for example At Lacedaemon the high controllers called Ephori so soone as they be enstalled in their magistracie cause proclamation to be published by sound of trumpet that no man should weare mustaches or nourish the haire on their upper lips also that willingly every man should obey the lawes to the end that they might not be hard or grievous unto them The Romans also when they affranchise any slave and make him free cast upon their bodies a little small rodde or wande likewise when they draw their last wils or testaments institute some for their heires whom it pleaseth them but to others they leave their goods to sell a thing that carieth no sense nor reason with it But yet more absurd and unreasonable is that statute of Solons making wherein it was provided That what citizen soever in a civill sedition ranged not himselfe to a side nor tooke part with one or other faction should be noted with infamie and disabled for being capable of any honorable dignitie In one word a man may alledge an infinit number of absurdities besides contained in the civill lawes who neither knoweth the reason of the lawgiver that wrot them nor the cause why they were set downe If then it be so difficult to conceive and understand the reasons which have mooved men thus to doe is it any marvell that we are ignorant of the cause why God chastiseth one man sooner and another later howbeit this that I have said is not for any pretence of starting backe and running away but rather for to crave leave and pardon to the end that our speech having an eie thereto as unto an haven and place of refuge might be the more hardie with boldnesse to raunge foorth still in probabilities to the matter in doubt and question But I would have you to consider first that according to the saying of Plato God having set himselfe before the eies of the whole world as a perfect pattern and example of all goodnesse doth unto as many as can follow and imitate his divinitie infuse humane vertue which is in some sort conformable and like unto him for the generall nature of this universall world being at the first a confused and disordered Chaos obtained this principle and element for to change to the better and by some conformitie and participation of the Idea of divine vertue to become this beautifull frame of the world And even the verie same man saith moreover That nature hath raised our eie-sight on high and lightned the same that by the view and admiration of those celestiall bodies which moove in heaven our soule might learne to embrace and be accustomed to love that which is beautifull and in good order as also to be an enemie unto irregular and inordinate passions yea and to avoid doing of things rashly and at adventure which in truth is the very source of all vice and sinne for there is nothing in the world wherein a man may have a greater fruition of God than by the example and imitation of his good and decent qualities to become honest and vertuous wherefore if we perceive him to proceed slowly and in tract of time to lay his heavie hand upon the wicked and to punish them it is not for any doubt or feare that he should doe amisse or repent afterward if he chasticed them sooner but by waining us from all beastly violence hastinesse in our punishments to teach us not immediately to flie upon those who have offended us at what time as our bloud is most up and our choler set on a light fire When furious yre in hart so leapes and boiles That wit and reason beare no sway the whiles making haste as it were to satisfie some great hunger or quench exceeding thirst but by imitating his clemencie and his maner of prolonging and making delay to endevor for to execute justice in all order at good leisure and with most carefull regard taking to counsell Time which seldome or never is accompanied with repentance for as Socrates was wont to say Lesse harme and danger there is if a man meet with troubled and muddie water and intemperately take and drinke thereof than whiles his reason is confounded corrupt and full of choler and furious rage to be set altogether upon revenge and runne hastily vpon the punishment of another bodie even one who is of his owne kinde and nature before the same reason be setled againe clensed and fully purified For it is nothing so as Thucydides writeth That vengeance the neerer it is unto the offence the more it is in the owne kind but cleane contrary the farther off it is and longer delaied the better it apprehendeth and judgeth of that which is fit and decent For according as Melanthius saith When anger once dislodged hath the wit Foule worke it makes and outrage doth commit even so reason performeth
those pores conduits abovesaid by which they bring in their pleasures lie aswell open to admit grievous paines or to say more truely there be very few waies in the bodie of man by which pleasure entreth whereas there is no part or member thereof but receiveth dolor and paine For be it granted that all pleasures have their seat in the naturall parts about joints sinewes feet and hands why even in these very places are bedded and seated also the most cruell and grievous passions that be to wit of goutie fluxes and rhewmaticke ulcers of gangrenes tettars wolves cancerous sores which corrode eat mortifie and putrifie the parts that they possesse If you present unto the bodie the sweetest odours and the most pleasant savours that be you shall finde but few places therein and seeke thorowout affected therewith mildly and gently to their contentment whereas all the rest often times are grieved and offended thereby nay there is no part at all of the body but subject it is to feele and suffer the smart dolors inflicted by fire by sword by sting biting scourging and whipping the ardour of heat the rigor of colde entereth and pierceth into all parts like also as doth the fever but pleasures verily are much like unto pretie puffes and gentle gales of winde blowing after a smiling maner some upon one extremitie that beareth out of the bodie and some upon other as if it were upon the rocks lying forth in the sea they passe away blow over and vanish incontinently their time and continuance is so short much like unto those meteors or fire-lights in the night which represent the shooting of starrs as if they fell from heaven or traversed the skie from one side to the other soone are the pleasures on a light fire and as soone againe gone out and quenched at one instant in our flesh but contrariwise how long paines and dolors do endure we cannot alledge a better testimony than that of Philoctetes in Aeschylus who speaking of the paine of his ulcer saith thus That dragon fell doth never leave his holde By day or night since first my foot he caught The stinging smart goes to my heartfull colde By poisoned tooth which from his mouth it raught Neither doth the anguish of paine lightly runne over and gilde after a tickling maner upon other superficiall parts and externities of the bodie but contrariwise like as the graine or seed of the Sea-claver or Trefoile Medica is writhen and full of points and angles whereby it taketh hold of the earth and sticketh fast and there by reason of those points so rough and rugged continueth a long time even so dolor and paine having many crotchets and hooked spurnes of roots which it putteth foorth and spreadeth here and there inserteth and interlaceth it selfe within the flesh and there abideth not onely for a night and a day but also for certeine seasons of whose yeeres yea and some revolutions of Olympiades so that hardly and with much adoe at the last departeth being thrust out by other paines like as one naile is driven forth by another stronger than it For what man was ever knowen to have drunke or eaten so long a time as they endure thirst who are sicke of an ague or abide hunger who are besieged and where is that solace and pleasure in the companie and conversation of friends that lasteth so long as tyrants cause them to abide torture and punishment who fall into their hands and all this proceedeth from nought els but the inability and untowardnesse of the body to leade a voluptuous life for that in trueth made it is more apt to abide paine and travell than to joy in delights and pleasures to endure laborious dolors it hath strength and power sufficient whereas to enjoy pleasures and delights it sheweth presently how feeble and impotent it is in that so soone it hath enough and is wearie thereof by occasion whereof when they see that wee are minded to discourse much as touching a voluptuous life they interrupt and breake incontinently our purpose confessing themselves that bodily and fleshly pleasure is very small and feeble or to say a trueth transitorie and such as passeth away in a moment unlesse haply they are disposed to lie and speake otherwise than they thinke like as Metrodorus did when he said That often times we spit against the pleasures of the bodie and Epicurus when he writeth That a wise man being sicke and diseased laugheth and rejoiceth in the middes of the greatest and most excessive paines of his corporall malady How is it possible then that they who so lightly and easily beare the anguish of bodily paines should make any account of pleasures for admit that they give no place to paines either in greatnesse or continuance of time yet they have at leastwise some reference and correspondence unto them in that Epicurus hath given this generall limitation and common definition to them all to wit Indolence or a subtraction of all that which might cause and move paine as if nature extended joy to the easement onely of dolor and suffered it not to proceed further in augmentation of pleasure but when it came once to this point namely to feele no more paine it admitted onely certeine needlesse varieties But the way to come with an appetite and desire to this estate being indeed the full measure of joy and pleasure is exceeding briefe and short whereupon these Epicureans perceiving well that this place is verie leane and hard do translate and remove their sovereigne good which is the pleasure of the bodie as it were out of a barren soile into a more fruitfull and fertill ground and namely to the soule as if therein we should have alwaies orchards gardens and meddowes covered over with pleasures and delights whereas according to the saying of Telemachus in Homer In Ithaca there is no spacious place Affourding plaines at large to runne a race And even so in this poore fleshly body of ours there is no fruition of pleasure united plaine and smooth but altogether rugged and rough intermingled and delaied for the most part with many agitations that be feverous and contrary to nature Hereat Zeuxippus taking occasion to speake Thinke you not then quoth he that these men doe very wel in this that they begin with the body wherein it seemeth that pleasure engendreth first afterwards end in the soule as in that which is more constant firme reposing therein all absolute perfection Yes I wis quoth I and my thinks I assure you that they doe passing well and according to the direction of nature in case they still search after and find that which is more perfect and accomplished like as those persons do who give themselves to contemplation and politicke life but if afterwards you heare them protest and crie with open mouth that the soule joieth in no worldly thing nor findeth content and repose but onely in corporall pleasure either present and actuall or els
thus much of the reasons and allegations of my father for his plea. But Timon my brother on the contrary side answered That he was not wiser than sage Bias and considering that he refused alwaies to be arbitratour or umpire betweene two of his owne friends though they requested him why should himselfe become a judge at once among so many kinsefolke and friends yea and other persons besides especially where the question is not about money and goods but as touching preeminence and superiority as if he had sent for them all not to be merry and make good cheere but to disquiet them and set them out one with another who were good friends before For if quoth he Menelaus in olde time committed one great absurdity insomuch as there grew upon it a proverbe and by-word in that he intruded himselfe unsent for into the counsell of Agamemnon far greater reason there is that he should be thought more absurd who constituteth and maketh himselfe of a courteous host and civill master of a feast an austere judge and precise censurer of those that require no such matter nor willingly desire that one should determine and judge of them who is the better man or the worse seeing they are not cited peremptorily to a judiciall court for triall of a controversie but invited friendly to a good supper for to mak merry Over and besides no easie matter it is to make distinction aright for that some go before in age others in degree of kinred and linage and therefore he that should take such a taske or charge in hand ought evermore to be studying upon the degrees of comparison or els of the argument in logicke A comparatis that is to say drawen from comparison and to have alwaies in his hand either the Topiques of Aristotle or els the Precedences of Thrasymachus a booke which he entituleth Hyperbollontes wherein a man should doe no good at all but contrariwise much harme by transferring the vain-glorie about higher place from judiciall courts common halles and theaters to sitting at feasts and when he hath endevored to abate and represse other passions of the soule by good fellowship and company keeping now stirre up and set on foot pride and arrogance of which in mine advice we ought to studie more for to cleanse out soules than to wash and scoure away the dirt and silth from our feet to the end that wee may converse familiarly and fellowlike at the table with all mirth and singlenesse of heart But now when we goe about and do what we can with one hand to take away from our guests all rancor and enmitie bred either upon anger or some worldly affaires that they have had together in making them eat at one table and drinke one to another wee doe as much as lies in us with the other hand to fret an old sore and kindle a new fire of grudge and malice by ambition in debasing one and exalting another but if withall according to the preference which wee have made in the placing of them we take the cuppe also and drinke oftner or set better meat and daintier dishes to some than to others if I say we make more of this man than of that cheere one up and speake unto him after a more familiar manner than to another surely in stead of a feast of friends and familiars it will be a stately assembly altogether of lords and potentates But if in all things else we are carefull and precise in our feasts to observe and maintaine equalitie of persons why beginne we not at the first in the placing of our guests to accustome and acquaint them for to range themselves and take their seats simply and familiarly one with another considering at the first entrance into the hall or great chamber they see that they were nor summoned aristocratically to a senate house of lords and great States but invited democratically and after a popular manner to supper where the poorest may take his place with the richest like as in the state of a citie and common-wealth called Democratie After these opposite reasons were alledged and that all the company there present demaunded my sentence I said That taking my selfe chosen as an arbitrator and not as a judge I would deale indifferently and with an equall hand in the middle betweene both As for those quoth I who feast yoong men their equals all friends and of familiar acquaintance they ought to accustome them as Timon saith to carie themselves so void of pride and arrogance that they may take contentment in any place whatsoever that falleth out unto them and to think this facilitie singlenesse of heart to be a singular meanes and provision for the feeding and nourishing of amity but in case the question be of enterteining strangers or worshipfull personages of high calling great place in common-weale or of elder persons I feare me that as wee shut out at one dore in the forefront pride and arrogance so we let it in at another backe-gate behinde by our indifference and making no distinction Heerein therefore we ought to give somewhat unto use and custome or else we must altogether forbeare all manner of cheering up drinking to and saluting of our guests which fashions we use not without judgement and discretion hand over head to such as we meet with or see first but with as great regard and respect as we can honoring them according to their woorth and qualitie With highest place with viands of the best With most cups full and those not of the lest as said Agamemnon that great king of the Greeks putting as you see the seat in the first and cheefe place of honor We commend also king Alcinous for that he placed the stranger who came in next unto himselfe And caus'd his sonne Laodama a gallant for that guest To rise who close to father sat and whom he loved best For to displace a best beloved sonne and in his roome to set an humble suppliant was a singugular example of rare courtesie and humanitie And verily the gods themselves doe observe this distinction of place and of sitting for Neptune although he came last into the assemblie of the gods in counsell Yet tooke his owne place for all that And in the mids of them he sat as being the seat which of right apperteined unto him And Minerva seemeth alwaies to chalenge as proper and peculiar to her above all others the very next place to Jupiter which the poet Homer doth after a sort covertly insinuate unto us speaking of dame Thetis in this maner By Jupiter she sat of speciall grace And favour For Minerva gave her place But Pindarus signifieth as much in expresse tearmes when he saith To lightning next that flasheth fire Sat Pallas close unto her sire Howbeit Timon said That we ought not to take from others for to gratifie and pleasure one and take he doth away who maketh that vulgar and common which by right is proper proper
house onely but I beleeve well the whole citie with outcries utas clapping of hands and alarmes and therefore we are to stand in great feare and dread of such pleasures as these for exceeding forcible they be and most powerfull as those who stay not there as those doe which affect either taste feeling or smelling to wit in the unreasonable part of the soule without passing any farther but they reach unto the very judgement and discourse of reason moreover in other delights and pleasures although reason should faile and not be able to withstand them but give over in plaine field yet there be other passions a good many which will resist and impeach them for say there be some daintie and delicate fish to be bought and sold in the market nigardise oftentimes holdeth backe a gluttons fingers from drawing out his purse-strings who otherwise would bee busie and readie enough to helpe his deintie tooth covetousnesse likewise otherwhiles turneth away a wanton leacher and whoremaster from medling with a deare costly courtisane who holdes her-selfe at an exceeding high price like as Menander in one of his comedies bringeth in a pretie pageant of this matter for when as certeine baud had brought unto a banquet where divers youthes were drinking and making merrie together a passing faire wench yoong withall and trimly set out in every point for to entice and allure them they Cast downe their heads and like good merry mates Fell to their junkets hard and deinty cates For when it stands upon this point that a man must take up money at interest or els goe without his pleasure certes it is a shrewd punishment to bridle his lust and incontinence for wee are not alwaies so willing and ready to lay our hand to our purses now the eies and eares of such as love musicians and ministrels and other such gentleman-like sports and recreations as we call them satisfie their furious appetites affections in sounding musick plaies shewes for nothing and without any cost for why such pleasures as these they may be sped with and enjoy in many places at the publicke and sacred games of prize in theaters and at feasts and all at other mens charges and therefore an easie matter it is to meet with matter enough for to spoile and undoe them quite who have not reason to governe and direct them Heereat hee made a pause and so there was some silence for a while And what would you have quoth Callistratus this reason either to doe or say for to succour and save us for she will not fasten round about our eares those little cases or bolsters to cover our eares with which Xenocrates speaketh of neither wil she cause us to rise from the table so soone as we heare a musician to tune his lute or prepare his pipe No in truth quoth Lamprias but looke how often soever as wee fall into the danger of these pleasures we ought to call upon the muses for to succour us we must flie into that mountaine Helicon of our auncients for such an one as is enamoured upon a sumptuous and costly strumpet we cannot tell how to match by and by with a Penelope nor marrie unto Panthea but if one take pleasure in bawdy ballades lascivious songs and wanton daunces we may soone divert him from thence by setting him to reade Euripides Pindarus or Menander and so wash a filthie eare and furred all over with salt as Plato saith with a sweet and potable lotion of good sayings and wise sentences for like as magicians commaund those who are possessed or haunted with evill spirits to rehearse and pronounce apart by themselves Ephesian letters or words for a counter-charme even so when we are among these vanities where minstrels play their parts and moriske dauncers their may-games fetching their frisks and gambols Shaking themselves in furious wise With strange allarmes and hideous cries Wagging and flinging every way Their necks and heads all while they play Let us then call to remembrance the grave holy and venerable writings of those ancient Sages and conferring them with these sottish sonets ribaud rimes paltrie poemes and ridiculous reasons we shall not be endangered by them nor turne side as they say and suffer our selves to be carried away with them downe the streame THE SIXTH QUESTION Of such guests as be named shadowes and whether he that is called by one may go unto another to supper if he may when and to whom HOmer in the second booke of his Ilias writeth of Menelaus how he came of his owne accord unbidden to a feast that his brother Agamemnon made unto the princes and chiefe commanders of the armie For why he well conceived in his minde That troubled much his brother he should finde And as he would not neglect and oversee thus much that either the ignorance or forgetfulnesse in his brother should be otherwise seene so he was lesse willing to discover it himselfe in failing for to come as some froward and peevish persons are woont to take holde of such oversights and negligences of their friends being better content in their hearts thus to be neglected than honoured because they would have advantage and somewhat to complaine of But as touching such as are not invited at all to a feast nor have no formall bidding whom now adaies we call shadowes and yet are brought in by those who were invited there arose one day a question how this custome first came up and tooke beginning Some were of opinion that Socrates began it who perswaded Aristodemus upon a time being not bidden to goe with him to a feast at Agathons house where there fell out a pretie jest and a ridiculous for Aristodenius tooke no heed when he thither came that he had left Socrates by the way behinde him and so himselfe entred before into the roome which is as much as the shadow before the bodie and the light comming after but afterwards at the feasting and enterteinment of friends that are travellers and passe by as strangers especially if they were princes or great governours because men knew not who were in their traine and whom they deigned this honour for to sit at their owne table and to eat and drinke with them the custome was to request themselves for to bring with them whom they would but withall to set downe a determinate number for feare lest they should be so served as one was who invited to a supper Philip king of Macedonie into the countrey for he came unto his hoasts house with a great retinew after him who had not provided a supper for many guests Philip perceiving that his friend was hereupon in great perplexitie and knew not what to doe sent unto every one of his friends that he brought with him a servitour of purpose to round them secretly in the eare that they should so eat of the viands before them as that they reserved a piece of their stomacke for a daintie tart or cate that was
indeed the most auncient of all others called even Bacchus himselfe Eubulus as if they had no need at all of Mercurie and in regard also of him they attributed unto night the name of Euphrone THE TENTH QUESTION Whether they did well who sat in consultation at the table WHen Glaucias had spoken these words we all thought that these turbulent and litigious debates had beene well appeased and laid asleepe but to the end that they might so much the rather die and be buried in oblivion Nicostratus provided another question and said At the first quoth he I made no great matter of this custome nor regarded it much taking it to be a meere Persian fashion but now seeing it is discovered to be an order also among the Greeks requisite and necessarie it is to render some reason thereof for to defend it against an evident absurditie which at the first sight presenteth it selfe for that the discourse of reason in manner of the eie is hardly to be governed by us and untoward for to be brought to performe her worke in a great quantitie of moisture and the same as yet stirring and waving and besides all odious griefes which on every side appeere and come foorth to wine like as snakes lizards and such like serpents are brought to light and shew themselves to the sunne cause the minde to be wavering inconstant and irresolute as therefore a bed or pallet is better than a chaire for them that are disposed to drinke and make merry for that it conteineth the body at full and exempteth it from all maner of motion even so the best way is to keepe the soule quiet and in repose altogether and if that may not be to do by it as men doe by children that can rest and stand on no ground but be evermore stirring namely to give unto it not a sword or a javelin but a rattle or a ball like as Bacchus putteth into the hands of drunken folke the ferula stalke a most light weapon and instrument either to offend or defend withall to the end that as they be readiest to strike so they might be least able for to hurt for the faults that bee committed in drunkennesse ought to passe lightly in mirth and go away with a laughter and not to bee lamentable tragicall and bringing with them great calamities Moreover that which is the chiefe and principall thing in consultation of great affaires to wit that hee who for want of wit and knowledge in the world should follow the opinion of those who are of great conceit deepe judgement and long experience this meanes wine bereaveth us of insomuch as it seemeth heereupon to have taken the name 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in Greeke because as Plato saith it causeth them drinke it freely 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is to say to have a good conceit and weening of themselves as if they were very witty and wise for how ever they take themselves to be eloquent faire or rich as ordinarily they doe all of them yet they esteeme better of their owne wit and wisedome than of any thing else and this is the reason that wine is talkative and full of words it filleth us with lavish speech and the same unseasonable yea it maketh us to have a marvellous good opinion of our selves in ech respect as if we were woorthy to commaund and prescribe unto others more meet to be heard than to heare and fitter to leade and goe before than to follow come after But quoth Glantias then an easie matter it is for any man to collect and alledge much tending unto this point considering how evident and plaine the thing is it were good therefore to heare a discourse to the contrary if haply any person yoong or old will stand up in defence of wine Then our brother full cunningly and sliely like a crafty sophister Why quoth he thinke you that any man is able so presently and upon a sudden to devise and speake unto the question in hand all that may be said probably thereto And why quoth Nicostratus should not I so thinke considering so many learned men in place and those who love wine well enough at which word the other smiled and said Are you in deed sufficient even in your owne conceit to discourse upon this point before us and yet indisposed and altogether unable to consider upon State matters and affaires of government because you have taken your wine well and is not this all one as to thinke that he who hath drunke freely seeth well enough with his eies and howsoever he heareth not perfectly with his eares those whom hee speaketh and talketh with yet for all that he hath the perfect hearing of those who either sing or play upon the flute for as it is likely and standeth to great reason that good and profitable things should affect and draw the outward sences more unto them than those which are gaudie onely and fine even so no doubt such matters make the minde also more intentive and if a man for that he hath plied his drinking overmuch cannot haply comprehend well the difficult subtilties of some high points in philosophie I nothing marvell thereat but if the question be of matters and affaires of State great likelihood there is that if he be called away thereto he should gather his wits more close together and be more vigorous like as Philip king of Macedonia who having plaied the foole and made himselfe ridiculous at Chaeronea after the battell there both in word and deed upon his liberall drinking presently assoone as hee fell to treatie of peace and articles of agreement hee composed his countenance to gravitie knit his browes and cast behinde him all vaine fooleries wanton gestures and unseemly behaviour and so gave unto the Athenians a sober discreet and well advised answere And verily one thing it is to drinke well and another thing to be starke drunke such as be so farre gone and overseene with drinke that they know not what they do or say ought as we thinke to take their beds and sleepe as for those who have taken their wine in deed too much and be scarse sober howbeit otherwise men of wit and understanding we shall never need to feare that they will faile in judgement yea and forget their experience considering that wee daily see these dancers singers and minstrels performe their parts no worse at feasts for all their liberall drinking than in the publicke theaters for the skill and knowledge whereof they have gotten the habit is evermore so present and readie with them that it maketh their bodies active and nimble able to performe those parts and functions directly yea and to answere the motions of the minde accordingly with confidence Many there be also in whose heads and hearts wine so worketh that it putteth into them an assured boldnesse and resolution which helpeth them much to the performance of any great actions and the same is nothing insolent
and upon which he is caried is eight and twentie times bigger than the whole earth ANAXAGORAS said it was by many degrees greater than all Peloponnesus HERACLITUS held that it was a mans foot broad EPICURUS againe affirmed that all abovesaid might be or that it was as bigge as it appeared to be at leastwise a little under or over CHAP. XXII Of the Sunnes forme ANAXIMENES imagined that the Sunne was flat and broad like unto a thinne plate of mettall HERACLITUS supposed it to be made like unto a boat somewhat curbed downeward and turning up The STOICKS suppose it to be round like unto the whole world and other starres EPICURUS saith that all this may be well enough CHAP. XXIII Of the Solsticies or Tropiques of the Sunne ANAXIMENES thinketh that the Starres are beaten backe by the thicke aire and the same making resistance ANAXAGORAS saith that they are occasioned by the repulse of the aire about the Beares or Poles which the Sunne himselfe by thrusting and making thicke causeth to be more powerfull EMPEDOCLES ascribeth the reason thereof to the sphaere that conteineth and impeacheth him from passing farther as also to the two Tropique circles DIOGENES imagineth that the Sun is extinct by the cold falling opposit upon the heat The STOICKS affirme that the Sunne passeth thorow the tract and space of his food and pasture lying under him which is the Ocean sea or the earth upon the vapours and exhalation whereof he feedeth PLATO PYTHAGORAS and ARISTOTLE holde that this is occasioned by the obliquitie of the Zodiacke circle thorow which the Sunne passeth biase as also by reason of the Tropicke circles which environ and guard him about and all this the very sphaere it selfe doth evidently shew CHAP. XXIIII Of the Sunnes eclipse THALES was the first who observed the Sunnes eclipse and said that it was occasioned by the Moone which is of a terrestriall nature when as in her race she commeth to be just and plumbe under him which may be plainly seene as in a mirrour by setting a bason of water underneath ANAXIMANDER said that the Sun became eclipsed when the mouth or tunnill at which the heat of his fire commeth forth is closed up HERACLITUS is of opinion that this hapneth when the bodie of the Sun which is made like a boat is turned upside downe so as the hollow part thereof is upward and the keele downward to our sight XENOPHANES affirmeth that this commeth by extinction of one Sun the rising of another againe in the East he addeth moreover and reporteth that there is an eclipse of the Sun during one whole moneth as also one entire and universall eclipse in such maner as the day scemeth to be night Others ascribe the cause thereof to the thickenesse of clouds which suddenly and after an hidden maner overcast the rundle and plate of the Sunne ARISTARCHUS reckoneth the Sunne among the fixed Starres saying that it is the earth which rolleth and turneth round about the Sunnes circle and according to the inclinations thereof the Sunnes lightsome bodie commeth to be darkened by her shade XENOPHANES holdeth that there be many Sunnes and Moones according to the divers Climats Tracts Sections and Zones of the earth and at a certeine revolution of time the rundle of the Sunne falleth upon some Climate or Section of the earth which is not of us inhabited and so marching as it were in some void place he suffereth eclipse he also affirmeth that the Sun goeth indeed infinitly forward stil but by reason of his huge distance and retract from us seemeth to turne round about CHAP. XXV Of the Moones substance ANNAXIMANDER saith that the Moone is a circle xix times bigger than the earth and like as that of the Sunne full of fire that she suffereth eclipse when her wheele turneth for that he saith that circle resembleth the wheele of a chariot the movature or felly whereof is hollow and full of fire howbeit there is an hole or tunnell out of which the fire doth exhale XENOPHANES saith that the Moone is a thicke compact and felted cloud The STOICKS hold that she is mixed of fire and aire PLATO affirmeth that she standeth more of a fierie substance ANAXAGORAS and DEMOCRITUS do hold that the Moone is a solid and firme bodie all fiery containing in it champian grounds mountaines and vallies HERACLITUS is of opinion that it is earth overspred with mists PYTHAGORAS also thinketh that the bodie of the Moone is of the nature of fire CHAP. XXVI Of the Moones 〈◊〉 THe STOICKS pronounce flatly that the Moone is bigger than the Earth like as the Sunne also PARMENIDES affirmeth it to be equall in brightnesse to the Sunne and that of him she hath her light CHAP. XXVII Of the Moones forme THe STOICKS say the Moone is round as a globe like as the Sunne EMPEDOCLES would have it to resemble abason or platter HERACLITUS compareth it to a boat and others to a round cylinder that she is shaped seven manner of waies at her first birth as it were she appeereth horned or tipped then divided or quartered afterwards growing somewhat together and soone after full from which time by little and little she waneth by degrees first bending somewhat close then quartered and after that tipped and horned untill at the change she appeereth not at all and they say this varietie of her configurations is occasioned by the earth shadowing her light more or lesle according as the convexitie of the earth commeth betweene CHAP. XXVIII Of the Moones illuminations ANAXIMANDER saith that she hath a light of her owne but the same very rare and thinne ANTIPHON affirmeth that she shineth with her owne light and whereas she is otherwhiles hidden it proceedeth from the opposition of the sunne namely when a greater fire commeth to darken a lesse a thing incident to other starres THALES and his followers hold that the Moone is lightned by the sunne HERACLITUS supposeth that the case of the sunne and Moone is all one for that both of them being formed like a boat and receiving moist exhalations they seeme in our sight illuminate the sunne brighter of the twaine for that he 〈◊〉 in a more cleere and pure aire and the Moone in that which is more troubled which is the reason that she seemeth more darke and muddy CHAP. XXIX Of the Moones Ecclipse ANAXIMENES saith that the Moone is Ecclipsed when the mouth or venting hole whereout issueth her fire is stopped BEROSUS is of opinion that it is when that face and side of hers which is not lightned turneth toward us HERACLITUS would have it to be when the convexitie or swelling part of the boat 〈◊〉 she doth represent regardeth us directly Some of the PYTHAGOREANS doe holde the ecclipse of the Moone to be partly a reverberation of light and in part an obstruction the one in regard of the earth the other of the Antipodes who tread opposite unto us But the moderne writers are of opinion that it is
paramouts in their armes CHAP. III. What is the substance of Naturall seed ARISTOTLE defineth Seed to be that which hath power to moove in it selfe for the effecting of some such thing as it was from whence it came PYTHAGORAS taketh it to be the foame of the best and purest bloud the superfluitie and excrement of nouriture like as bloud and marrow ALCMAEON saith it is a portion of the braine PLATO supposeth it to be a decision or deflux of the marrow in the backe bone EPICURUS imagineth it to be an abstract of soule and body DEMOCRITUS holdeth that it is the geneture of the fleshy nerves proceeding from the whole body and the principall parts thereof CHAP. IIII. Whether genetall Seed be a body LEUCIPPUS and ZENO take it to be a body for that it is an abstract parcell of the soule PYTHAGORAS PLATO and ARISTOTLE acknowledge indeed and confesse that the power and force of Seed is bodilesse like as the understanding which is the author of motion but the matter thereof say they which is shed and sent foorth is corporall STRATO and DEMOCRITUS affirme the very puissance thereof to be a body howbeit spirituall CHAP. V. Whether femals send foorth Seed as well as males PYTHAGORAS EPICURUS and DEMOCRITUS hold that the Female likewise dischargeth Seed for that it hath seminarie vessels turned backward which is the reason that she hath lust unto the act of generation ARISTOTLE and ZENO be of opinion that the Female delivereth from it a moist matter resembling the sweat which commeth from their bodies who wrestle or exercise together but they will not have it to be Seed HIPPON avoucheth that Femals doe ejaculate Seed no lesse than males howbeit the same is not effectuall for generation for that it falleth without the matrix whereupon it commeth to passe that some women though very few and widdowes especially doe cast from them Seed without the company of men and he affirmeth that of the male Seed are made the bones of the female the flesh CHAP. VI. The maner of Conception ARISTOTLE thinketh that Conceptions come in this maner when as the matrix drawn before from the naturall purgation and there withall the monthly tearmes fetch some part of pure bloud from the whole masse of the body so that the males genetall may come to it and so concurre to engender Contrariwise that which hindereth conception is this namely when the matrix is impure or full of ventosities as it maybe by occasion of feare of sorrow or weaknesse of women yea and by the impuissance and defect in men CHAP. VII How it commeth that Males are engendred and how Females EMPEDOCLES supposeth that Males and Females are begotten by the meanes of heat and cold accordingly and heereupon recorded it is in Histories that the first Males in the world were procreated and borne out of the earth rather in the East and Southern parts but Females toward the North. PARMENIDES mainteineth the contrary and saith that Males were bred toward the Northern quarters for that the aire there is more grosse and thicker than else where on the other side Females toward the South by reason of the raritie and subtilitie of the aire HIPPONAX attributeth the cause heereof unto the seed as it is either more thick or powerfull or thinner and weaker ANAXAGORAS and PARMENIDES hold that the seed which commeth from the right side of a man ordinarily is cast into the right side of the matrix and from the left side likewise into the same side of the matrix but if this ejection of seed fall out otherwise cleane crosse then Females be engendred LEOPHANES of whom ARISTOTLE maketh mention affirmeth that the Males be engendred by the right genetory and females by the left LEUCIPPUS ascribeth it to the permutation of the naturall parts of generation for that according to it the man hath his yerd of one sort and the woman her matrix of another more than this he saith nothing DEMOCRITUS saith that the common parts are engendred indifferently by the one and the other as it falleth out but the 〈◊〉 parts that make distinction of sex of the party which is more prevalent HIPPONAX resolveth thus that if the seed be predominant it will be a Male but if the food and nourishment a Female CHAP. VIII How Monsters are engendred EMPEDOCLES affirmeth that Monsters be engendred either through the abundance of seed or default thereof either through the turbulent perturbation of the mooving or the distraction and division of the seed into sundry parts or else through the declination thereof out of the right way and thus he seemeth to have preoccupated in maner all the answers to this question STRATO alledgeth for this part addition or substraction transposition or inflation and ventosities And some physicians there be who say that at such a time as monsters be engendred the matrix suffereth distortion for that it is distended with winde CHAP. IX What is the reason that a woman though oftentime she companieth with a man doeth not conceive DIOCLES the Physician rendreth this reason for that some doe send soorth no seed at all or lesse in quantity than is sufficient or such in quality which hath no vivificant or quickning power or else it is for defect of heat of cold of moisture or drinesse or last of all by occasion of the paralysie or resolution of the privy parts and members of generation The STOICKS lay the cause hereof upon the obliquitie or crookednesse of the mans member by occasion whereof he cannot shoot foorth his 〈◊〉 directly or else it is by reason of the disproportion of the parts as namely when the matrix lieth to farre within that the yerd cannot reach unto it ERASISTRATUS findeth fault in this case with the matrix when it hath either hard callosities or too much carnositie or when it is more rare and spungeous or else smaller than it ought to be CHAP. X. How it commeth that two Twinnes and three Twinnes are borne EMPEDOCLES saith that two Twinnes or three are engendred by occasioneither of the abundance or the divulsion of the seed ASCLEPIADES assigneth it unto the difference of bodies or the excellence of seed after which manner we see how some barly from one root beareth two or three stalkes with their eares upon them according as the seed was most fruitfull and generative ERASISTRATUS 〈◊〉 it unto divers conceptions and superfaetations like as in brute beasts for when as the matrix is clensed then it commeth soone to conception and superfaetation The 〈◊〉 alledge to this purpose the cels or conceptacles within the matrix for as the seed falleth into the first and second there follow conceptions and superfaetations and after the same sort may three Twinnes be engendred CHAP. XI How commeth it to passe that children resemble their parents or progenitours before them EMPEDOCLES affirmeth that as similitudes are caused by the exceeding force of the genetall seed so the dissimilitudes arise from
passe the time away he thought with himselfe to challenge the god whose servant he was to play at dice with him upon these conditions That if himselfe woon the game Hercules should be a meanes for him of some good lucke and happy fortune but in case he lost the game he should provide for Hercules a good supper and withall a pretie wench and a faire to be his bed fellow these conditions being agreed upon and set downe he cast the dice one chance for himselfe and another for the god but his hap was to be the loser whereupon minding to stand unto his challenge and to accomplish that which he had promised he prepared a rich supper for Hercules his god and withall sent for this Acca Larentia a professed courtisan and common harlot whom he feasted also with him and after supper bestowed her in a bed within the very temple shut the doores fast upon and so went his way Now the tale goes forsooth that in the night Hercules companied with her not after the maner of men but charged her that the next morning betimes she should go into the market place and looke what man she first met withall him she should enterteine in all kindnesse and make her friend especially Then Larentia gat up betimes in the morning accordingly and chanced to encounter a certeine rich man and a stale bacheler who was now past his middle age and his name was Taruntius with him she became so familiarly acquainted that so long as he lived she had the command of his whole house and at his death was by his last will and testament instituted inheritresse of all that he had This Larentia likewise afterward departed this life and left all her riches unto the citie of Rome whereupon this honour abovesaid was done unto her 36 What is the cause that they name one gate of the citie Fenestra which is as much to say as window neere unto which adjoineth the bed-chamber of Fortune IS it for that king 〈◊〉 a most fortunate prince was thought named to lie with Fortune who was woont to come unto him by the window or is this but a devised tale But in trueth after that king Tarquinius Priscus was deceased his wife Tanaquillis being a wise ladie and endued with a roiall mind putting forth her head and bending forward her bodie out of her chamber window made a speech unto the people perswading them to elect Servius for their king And this is the reason that afterwards the place reteined this name Fenestra 37 What is the reason that of all those things which be dedicated and 〈◊〉 to the gods the custome is at Rome that onely the spoiles of enemies conquered in the warres are neglected and suffered to run to decay in processe of time neither is there any reverence done unto them nor repaired be they at any time when they wax olde WHether is it because they supposing their glory to fade and passe away together with these first spoiles seeke evermore new meanes to winne some fresh marks and monuments of their vertue and to leave them same behinde them Or rather for that seeing time doth waste and consume these signes and tokens of the enmity which they had with their enemies it were an odious thing for them and very invidious if they should refresh and renew the remembrance thereof for even those among the Greeks who first erected their trophes or pillars of brasse and stone were not commended for so doing 38 What is the reason that Quintus Metellus the high priest and reputed be sides a wise man and a politike for bad to observe 〈◊〉 or to take presages by flight of birds after the moneth Sextilis now called August IS it for that as we are woont to attend upon such observations about noone or in the beginning of the day at the entrance also and toward the middle of the moneth but we take heed and beware of the daies declination as inauspicate and unmeet for such purposes even so Metellus supposed that the time after eight moneths was as it were the evening of the yeere and the latter end of it declining now and wearing toward an end Or haply because we are to make use of these birds and to observe their flight for presage whiles they are entire perfect and nothing defective such as they are before Summer time But about Autumne some of them moult grow to be sickly and weake others are over young and too small and some againe appeare not at all but like passengers are gone at such a time into another countrey 39 What is the cause that it was not lawfull for them who were not prest soldiors by oth and enrolled although upon some other occasions they conversed in the campe to strike or wound an enemie And verely Cato himselfe the elder of that name signified thus much in a letter missive which he wrote unto his sonne wherein he straitly charged him that if he had accomplished the full time of his service and that his captain had given him his conge and discharge he should immediatly returne or in case he had leifer stay still in the campe that he should obtaine of his captaine permission and licence to hurt and kill his enemie IS it because there is nothing else but necessitie alone doeth warrantize the killing of a man and he who unlawfully and without expresse commaundement of a superiour unconstrained doth it is a 〈◊〉 homicide and manslaier And therefore Cyrus commended Chrysantas for that being upon the verie point of killing his enemie as having lifted up his cemiter for to give him a deadly wound presently upon the sound of the retreat by the trumpet let the man go and would not smite him as if he had beene forbidden so to do Or may it not be for that he who presenteth himselfe to fight with his enemie in case he shrink and make not good his ground ought not to go away cleere withal but to be held faulty and to suffer punishment for he doth nothing so good service that hath either killed our wounan enemie as harme and domage who reculeth backe or flieth away now he who is discharged from warfare and hath leave to depart is no more obliged and bound to militarie lawes but he that hath demaunded permission to do that service which sworne and enrolled souldiers performe putteth himselfe againe under the subjection of the law and his owne captaine 40 How is it that the priest of Jupiter is not permitted to annoint himselfe abroad in the open aire IS it for that in old time it was not held honest and lawfull for children to do off their clothes before their fathers nor the sonne in law in the presence of his wives father neither used they the stouph or 〈◊〉 together now is Jupiter reputed the priests or Flamines father and that which is done in the open aire seemeth especially to be in the verie eie and sight of Jupiter Or rather 〈◊〉 as it
was thought a great sinne and exceeding irreverence for a man to turne himselfe out of his apparrell naked in any church chappell or religious and sacred place 〈◊〉 so they carried a great respect unto the aire and open skie as being full of gods demi-gods and saints And this is the verie cause why we do many of our necessarie businesses within 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and covered with the 〈◊〉 of our houses and so remooved from the eies as it were of the deitie 〈◊〉 somethings there be that by law are commaunded and enjoined unto the priest onely and others againe unto all men by the priest as for example heere with us in 〈◊〉 to be crowned with chaplets of flowers upon the head to let the haire grow long to weare a sword and not to set foot within the limits of Phocis pertaine all to the office and dutie of the captaine generall and chiefe ruler but to tast of no new fruits before the Autumnall Aequinox be past nor to cut and prune a vine but before the Acquinox of the Spring be intimated and declared unto all by the said ruler or captaine generall for those be the verie seasons to do both the one the other In like case it should seeme in my judgement that among the Romans it properly belonged to the priest not to mount on horseback not to be above three nights out of the citie not to put off his cap wherupon he was called in the Roman language Flamen But there be many other offices and duties notified and declared unto all men by the priest among which this is one not to be enhuiled or anointed abroad in the open aire For this maner of anointing drie without the bath the Romans mightily suspected and were afraid of and even at this day they are of opinion that there was no such cause in the world that brought the Greeks under the yoke of servitude and bondage and made them so tender and effeminate as their halles and publike places where their yong men wrestled exercised their bodies naked as being the meanes that brought into their cities much losse of time engendred idlenesse bred lazie slouth and ministred occasion opportunity of lewdnesse and vilany as namely to make love unto faire boies and to spoile and marre the bodies of young men with sleeping with walking at a certaine measure with stirring according to motions keeping artificiall compasse and with observing rules of exquisit diet Through which fashions they see not how ere they be aware they befallen from exercises of armes and have cleane forgotten all militarie discipline loving rather to be held and esteemed good wrestlers fine dauncers conceited pleasants and faire minions than hardic footmen or valiant men of armes And verely it is an hard matter to avoid and decline these inconveniences for them that use to discover their bodies naked before all the world in the broad aire but those who annoint themselves closely within doores and looke to their bodies at home are neither faultie nor offensive 41 What is the reason that the auncient coine and mony in old time caried the stampe of one side of Ianus with two faces and on the other side the prow or the poope of a boat engraved 〈◊〉 WAs it not as many men do say for to honour the memorie of Saturne who passed into Italy by water in such a vessell But a man may say thus much as well of many 〈◊〉 for Janus Evander and Aeneas came thither likewise by sea and therefore a man may peradventure gesse with better reason that whereas some things serve as goodly ornaments for cities others as necessarie implements among those which are decent and seemely ornaments the principall is good government and discipline and among such as be necessary is reckoned plentie and abundance of victuals now for that Janus instituted good government in 〈◊〉 holsome lawes and reducing their manner of life to civilitie which before was rude and brutish and for that the river being navigable furnished them with store of all neceslary commodities whereby some were brought thither by sea others from the land the coine caried for the marke of a law-giver the head with two faces like as we have already said because of that change of life which he brought in and of the river a ferrie boate or barge and yet there was another kinde of money currant among them which had the figure portraied upon it of a beefe of a sheepe and of a swine for that their riches they raised especially from such cattle and all their wealth and substance consisted in them And heereupon it commeth that many of their auncient names were Ovilij Bubulci and 〈◊〉 that is to say Sheepe-reeves and Neat-herds and Swineherds according as Fenestella doth report 42 What is the cause that they make the temple of Saturne the chamber of the 〈◊〉 for to keepe therein the publicke treasure of gold and silver as also their arches for the custodic of all their writings rolles contracts and evidences whatsoever IS it by occasion of that opinion so commonly received and the speech so universally currant in every mans mouth that during the raigne of Saturne there was no avarice nor injustice in the world but loialtie truth faith and righteousnesse caried the whole sway among men Or for that he was the god who found out fruits brought in agriculture and taught husbandry first for the hooke or sickle in his hand signifieth so much and not as Antimachus wrote following therein and beleeving Hesiodus Rough Saturne with his hairy skinne against all law and right Of Aemons sonne sir Ouranus or Coelus sometime hight Those privy members which him gat with hooke a-slant off-cut And then anon in fathers place of reigne himselfe did put Now the abundance of the fruits which the earth yeeldeth and the vent or disposition of them is the very mother that bringeth foorth plentie of monie and therefore it is that this same god they make the author and mainteiner of their felicitie in testimonie whereof those assemblies which are holden every ninth day in the comon place of the city called Nundinae that is to say Faires or markets they esteeme consecrated to Saturne for the store foison of fruits is that which openeth the trade comerce of buying and selling Or because these reasons seeme to be very antique what and if we say that the first man who made of Saturns temple at Rome the treasurie or chamber of the citie was Valerius Poplicola after that the kings were driven out of Rome and it seemeth to stand to good reason that he made choise thereof because he thought it a safe and secure place eminent and conspicuous in all mens eies and by consequence hard to be surprised and forced 43 What is the cause that those who come as embassadours to Rome from any parts whatsoever go first into the temple of Saturne and there before the Questors or Treasurers of the citie enter their names in
together with silence and there is not a servant or slave there present to wait at the boord but afterwards for to make an end of their feasting they celebrate one solemne sacrifice unto Venus And thus you may see why they be called Monophagi that is to say Eating alone or by themselves 45 What is the cause that in the countrey of Caria the image of Jupiter Labradeus is made holding aloft in his hand an axe and neither a scepter nor a thunder bolt or lightning FOr that Hercules having slaine Hippolite the Amazon and among other armes of hers won her battell axe and gave it as a present unto Omphale this axe all the kings that raigned in Lydia after Omphale caried as an holy and sacred monument which they received successively from hand to hand of their next progenitors untill such time as Candaules disdaining to beare it himselfe gave it unto one of his friends to carie Afterwards it chanced that Gyges put himselfe in armes against Candaules and with the helpe of Arcelis who brought a power of men to aide him out of Mylei both defeated him and also killed that friend of his from whom he tooke away the said axe and put the same into the image of Jupiters hand which he had made In which respect he surnamed Jupiter Labradeus for that the Lydians in their language call an axe Labra 46 Wherefore do the Trallians call the pulse Ervil Catharter that is to say the purger and use it more than any other in their expiatorie sacrifices of Purification IS it for that the Minyans and Lelegians having in old time disseized the said Trallians of their cities and territories inhabited and occupied the same themsalves but the Trallians made head afterwards and prevailed against them insomuch as those Lelegians who were neither slaine in battell nor escaped by flight but either for feeblenesse or want of meanes otherwise to live remained still they made no reckoning of whether they died or lived enacting a law that what Trallian soever killed either a Lelegian or Minyan he should be absolved and held quit in case he paied unto the next kinsfolke of the dead partie a measure called Medimnis of the said Ervill 47 What is the reason that it goeth for an ordinarie by-word among the Elians to say thus To suffer more miseries and calamities than Sambicus THere was one Sambicus of the citie Elis who by report having under him many mates and complices at command brake and defaced sundrie images and statues of brasse within the citie Olympia and when he had so done sold the brasse and made money of it in the end he proceeded so farre as to rob the temple of Diana surnamed Episcopos that is to say a vigilant patronesse and superintendant This temple standeth within the citie Elis and is named Aristarchium After this notorious sacriledge he was immediatly apprehended and put to torture a whole yeere together to make him for to bewray and reveale all his companions and confederats so as in the end he died in these torments and thereupon arose the said common proverbe 48 What is the reason that at Lacedaemon the monument of Ulysses standeth close to the temple of the Leucippidae HErgiaeus one of the race descen ded from Diomedes by the motionam linstigation of Temenus induced robbed out of Argos the renowmed image of Minerva called Palladium and that with the privitie and assistance of Leager in this sacriledge now this Leager was one of the familiars and inward companions of Temenus who being fallen out afterwards with Temenus in a fit of anger departed to Lacedaemon with the said Palladium which the kings there received at his hands right joifully and placed it neere unto the temple of the Leucippides but afterwards they sent to the oracle at Delphos to know by what meanes they might keepe and preserve the said image in safety the oracle made this answere that they should commit the keeping of it unto one of them who had stollen it away whereupon they built in that verie place a monument in memoriall of Ulysses where they shrined Palladium and besides they had the more reason so to do because in some sort Ulysses was allied to their citie by this wives side ladie Penelope 49 What is the the reason that the Chalcedonian dames have a custome among them that whensoever they meet with any men that be strangers unto them but especially if they be rulers or magistrates to cover and hide one of their cheeks THe men of Chalcedon warred somtime against their neighbours the Bithynians provoked thereto by all light injuries and wrought that might minister matter and occasion therof insomuch as in the daies of king Zeipoetus who raigned over the Bithynians they assembled all their forces and with a puissant power beside of the Thracians who joyned to aid them they invaded their countrey with fire and sword spoiling all before them untill in the end king Zeipoetus gave them battell neere unto a place named Phalium where they lost the day as well in regard of their presumptuous boldnesse as of the discorder among them insomuch as there died of them in fight 8000. men Howbeit utterly they were not deteated for that Zeipoetus in favour of the Bizantines was contenred to grow unto some agreement composition Now for that their citie was by this meanes verie much dispeopled and naked of men many women there were among them who were constrained to be remarried unto their enfranchised servants others to aliens and straungers comming from other cities but some againe chusing rather to continue widowes still and never to have husbands than to yeeld to such mariages followed their owne causes themselves what matter soever they had to be tried or dispatched in open court before the judges or publike magistrates onely they withdrew one part of their veile and opened their face on one side the other wives also who were maried againe for modestie and womanhood following them as better women than themselves used the same fashion also and brought it to be an ordinarie custome 50 Wherefore do the Argives drive their 〈◊〉 unto the sacred grove of Agenor when they would have the rammes to leape them IS it not for that Agenor whiles he lived was verie expert and skilfull about sheepe and of all the kings that ever were among them had the most and fairest flockes of them 51 Why do the Argives children at a certaine festivall time that they keepe call one another in plaie and sport Ballachrades IS it because the first of that nation who were by Inachus brought out of the mountaines into the plaine and champian countrey made their chiefe food by report of wilde hedge-peares Now these chok-peares some say were found in Peloponesus before they were seen in any other part of Greece even whiles that region was called Apta And hereupon also it came that these wild peares commonly called Achrades changed their name into Apiot 52 What is
in the hall abovesaid when all the waies and passages were shut up she brought a great deale of wood which was provided for the sacrifice and plled the same against the doores and so set it on fire But when their husbands came running for to helpe from all parts Democrita killed her two daughters and herselfe upon them The Lacedaemonians not knowing upon whom to discharge their anger caused the dead bodies of Democrita and her two daughters to be throwen without the confines and liberties of their territorie for which act of theirs God being highly displeased sent as the Chronicles do record a great earthquake among the Lacedaemonians WHETHER CREATVRES BE MORE WISE THEY OF THE LAND OR THOSE OF THE WATER The Summarie IN this treatise and discourse affoording among other things much pleasure in the reading Plutarch bringeth in two yoong gentlemen Aristotimus and Phoedimus who in the presence of a frequent companie plead the cause of living creatures Aristotimus in the first place for them of the land and Phoedimus in the second for those of the water the drift and conclusion of whose pleas commeth to this point that without resolving unto whom the prize ought to be adjudged one of the companie inferreth that the examples alledged both of the one side and of the other do prove that those creatures have some use of reason Moreover we may distinctly divide this booke into three principall parts the first conteineth a conference betweene Soclarus and Autobulus who gave eare afterwards unto the others for Soclarus taking occasion to speake of a written discourse recited in the praise of hunting commendeth this exercise and preferreth it before combats of sword plaiers and fencers which Autobulus will in no wise approove but holdeth that this warre against beasts schooleth as it were and traineth men to learne for to kill one another afterwards And for that some entrance and accesse there was to be given unto the principall disputation of the intelligence and knowledge which is in brute beasts they doe examine the opinion of the Stoicks who bereave them of all understanding passion and pleasure which opinion of theirs being at large debated is afterward refuted with this resolution that man out-goeth beasts in all subtiltie and quicknesse of wit injustice and equitie meet for civill societie and yet beasts although they be more dull and heavie than men are not therefore void of all discourse and naturall reason Then Autobulus confirmeth this by the consideration of horses and dogges enraged a sufficient testimonie that such creatures before-time had reason and understanding Soclarus opposeth himselfe against such a confirmation in the behalfe of the Stoicks and Peripateticks whereupon Autobulus distinguisheth of the arguments and inclining partly to the side of the Pythagoreans sheweth what maner of justice or injustice we ought to consider in the carriage of men toward beasts And then come the two yoong gentlemen abovenamed in place where Aristotimus taking in hand the cause of land-beasts discourseth at large thereupon which is the second part of this present treatise True it is that all the beginning of his plea is defective and wanting howbeit that which remaineth and is extant sheweth sufficiently the carefull industry of our author in searching into the history of nature and examples drawen out thereof as also out of an infinit number of books to passing good purpose Well then Aristotimus sheweth in the first place that the hunting of land-beasts is a far nobler and more commendable exercise than that of the water and comming then to the point namely to the use of reason which consisteth in the election and preference of one thing before another in provisions forecasts and prerogatives in affections aswell those which be milde and gentle as the other which are violent in diligence and industry in arts and sciences in hardinesse equitie temperance courage and magnanimitie he prooveth all this to be without comparison farre more in land-creatures than in other for the proofe and verifying whereof he produceth bulles elephants lions mice swallowes spiders ravens dogs bees geese cranes herons pismires wolves foxes mules partridges hares beares urchins and divers sorts besides of foure footed beasts of fowles likewise insects wormes and serpents all which are specified in particular afterwards In the last part Phoedimus making some excuse that be was not well prepared taketh in hand neverthelesse the cause of fishes and in the very entrance declareth that notwithstanding it be an hard matter to shew the sufficiencie of such creatures which are so divided and severed from us yet notwithstanding produce he will his proofs and arguments drawen from certeine and notable things recommending fishes in this respect that they are so wise and considerate as he sheweth by examples being not taught nor monished unto any waies framed and trained by man like as most part of land beasts be and yet by the way he prooveth by eeles lampreis and crocodiles that fishes may be made tame with men and how our auncients esteemed highly the institution of such mute creatures after this he describeth their naturall prudence both in defending themselves and also in offending and assailing others alledging infinit examples to this purpose as the skill and knowledge they have in the Mathematicks their amity their fellowship their love their kinde affection to their yoong ones alledging in the end divers histories of dolphins love unto men whereupon Soclarus taking occasion to speake inferreth that these two pleaders agree in one point and if a man would joine and lay together their arguments proofes and reasons they would make head passing well and strongly against those who would take from beasts both of land and water all discourse of reason WHETHER CREATURES BE more wise they of the land or they of the water AUTOBULUS LEonidas a king of Lacedaemon being demaunded upon a time what he thought of Tyrtaeus I take him to bee quoth he a good poet to whet and polish the courages of yoong men for that by his verses he doth imprint in the hearts of yoong gentlemen an ardent affection with a magnanimous desire to winne honour and glorie in regard whereof they will not spare themselves in battels and fights but expose their lives to all perils whatsoever Semblably am I greatly affraid my very good friends left the discourse as touching the praise of hunting which was read yesterday in this company hath so stirred up and excited beyond all measure our yoong men who love that game so well that from hencefoorth they will thinke all other things but accessaries and by-matters or rather make no account at all of other exercises but will runne altogether unto this sport and minde none other besides considering that I finde my selfe now a fresh more hotly given and youthfully affectionate thereunto than mine age would require insomuch as according to the words of dame Phaedra in Euripides All my desire is now to call And cry unto my hounds in chase The dapple stagge
play in the open sield they take pleasure to teare them in pieces they licke and lap their blood full willingly but if the hare being out of heart and in despaire of her selfe as many times it falleth out employ all the force and strength that shee hath in one course for all and run her selfe out of breath so as her winde is now cleane gone and shee dead withall the hounds finding her so will not once touch her but they keepe a wagging of their tailes round about her body as if they would say it is not for greedinesse of hares flesh but an earnest desire to winne the prise in running that we hunt thus as we do As touching the craft and subtiltie which is in beasts forasmuch as there be infinit examples thereof overpasse I will the wily pranks of foxes woolves cranes and jaies for common they be and every man seeth them onely produce I will the testimonie of wise Thales the most ancient of the seven sages who by report was not least admired for his skill and cunning in that hee discovered right well the craftines in a beast and went beyond it There was a companie of mules that had salt a load and were carrying it from one place to another and as they passed through the foord of a river one of them chanced to fall under his burden into the water the salt in his sacke by this meanes taking wet melted and resolved into water for the most part of it in such sort as the mule having recovered himselfe upon all foure found that he was well lightned of his load and presently conceived what was the reason which gave so deepe an impression in his memorie that ever after as often as he was to go thorow a river hee would be sure to stoup and couch his bodie low first leaning of one side and then of another purposedly and for the nonce to wet and drench the bags on his backe which had salt in them Thales hearing of this unhappy and shrewd wit of the mule commaunded the muliter to fill the sacks with the same weight of wooll and spundges in stead of salt to lay them upon his backe and so to drive him with the rest The mule left not his old woont but when he perceived that he was overcharged now with water besides his ordinary load of wooll and spunges he tooke himselfe in the maner and found that his craft now stood him in small stead but did him hurt whereupon ever after he would go upright whensoever he waded and was very carefull that none of his packs or carriages should once though full against his will touch the water Partridges have another kinde of subtiltie and craft by themselves and the same proceedeth from a certaine naturall love and motherly affection to their yoong birds whom when they are yet so feeble that they cannot flie make shift for themselves being pursued they teach to cast themselves on their backs with their heeles and bellies upward and to hold either a clot of earth or some locke of straw or such like stuffe to cover and shadow their bodies withal meane while the olde rowens turne those that follow in chace another way drawing them toward themselves in flying to and fro just before them even at their feet seeming as it were by little and little to retire and making as though they were scarse able to arise from the earth and as if they were ready to be taken untill such time as they have trained the fowlers farre from their little ones The hares when they have kinled and be afraied of the hunters returne to their formes and carrie their leverets some one way and some another so as many times there is an arpent or good acre of ground distance betweene them to the end that if either hound or hunter should come upon them they might not be all in danger at once to be taken and they themselves runne up and downe backward and forward in divers places crossing this way and that way leaving their tracts very confused and in the end take one great leape as farre as ever they can from their foresaid footing and spring unto their forme where they rest and take their repose The beare being surprised with a certeine drowsie disease called Pholia before she be altogether so heavily benummed and stupisied therewith that she can not well stirre maketh cleane the cave into which she meaneth to retire herselfe when she is to go downe into it all the way besides which is toward it she treadeth very lightly bearing herselfe as it were upon her tiptoes and being come neere unto it she turnes upon her backe and so eicheth forward her bodie aswell as she can into her den Ofred deere the hynds commonly calve neere unto highway sides where ravenous beasts such as live by prey doe not ordinarily haunt The stags when they perceive themselves to be fat well fleshed and good venison seeke blinde corners to hide themselves in for the better securitie of their lives as not trusting then to their heeles and swift running The land-urchins are so wise and wary in defending and saving themselves that they have thereby given occasion of this proverbe A thousand wiles and me of craftie fox there are The urchin one doth know and that is singular for when the urchin perceiveth Renard comming toward him All of a lumpe as round as bur or ball His bodie lies with pricks beset withall No meanes she hath for thornie bristles thicke To bite to pinch or touch him to the quicke and yet more ingenious is their forecast and providence for the feeding of their little ones for in Autumne a little before vintage time you shall have an urchin or hedge-hogge get under a vine and with his feet shake the stocke untill the grapes from their branches be fallen upon the ground then he rouleth himselfe round like a foot-ball among them and catcheth them up with his sharpe pricks insomuch as when we stood all of us sometime to behold the manner of it it seemed as if a cluster of grapes had beene quicke and so crept upon the ground so beset went he and covered all over with grapes then so soone as he is gotten into his hole or neast he offereth them unto his yoong ones to eat to take from him and lay up for store This hole hath two faces or prospects the one regardeth the south the other looketh into the north When they foresee change alteration of weather like as skilful ship-masters turne their sailes according to the time even so they shut up that hole or entrie which standeth in the wind and set open the other which when one of the citie Cyzicum had once observed and learned he got a great name and reputation of a weather-wise-man as if he foreknew of himselfe by some singular gift and could foretell from which cost the wind would blow As touching social love and fidelitie accompanied with wit
Afterwards the said Caeranus himselfe died and when his kinsfolke friends burned his corps nere to the sea side in a funerall fire many dolphins were discovered along the coast hard by the shore shewing as it were themselves how they were come to honour his obsequies for depart they would not before the whole solemnitie of this last dutie was performed That the scutchion or shield of Ulysses had for the badge or ensigne a dolphin Stesichorus hath testified but the occasion and cause thereof the Zacynthians report in this manner as Criteus the historian beareth witnesse Telemachus his sonne being yet an infant chanced to slip with his feet as men say to fall into a place of the sea where it was very deep but by the means of certaine dolphins who tooke him as he fell saved he was and carried out of the water whereupon his father in a thankfull regard and honour to this creature engraved within the collet of his signet wherewith hee sealed the portrait of a dolphin likewise carried it as his armes upon his shield But forasmuch as I protested in the beginning that I would relate to you no fables and yet I wot not how in speaking of dolphins I am carried farther than I was aware and fallen upon Ulysses and Caeranus somewhat beyond the bounds of likelihood and probabilitie I will set a fine upon mine owne head and even here for amends lay a straw and make an end You therefore my masters who are judges may when it pleaseth you proceed to your verdict SOCLARUS As for us we were of mind a good while since to say according to the sentence of Sophocles Your talke ere while which seem'd to disagre Will soone accord and joint-wise framed be for if you will both of you conferre your arguments proofes and reasons which you have alledged of the one side and the other and lay them all together in common betweene you it will be seene how mightily you shall confute and put downe those who would deprive bruit beasts of all understanding and discourse of reason WHETHER THE ATHENIANS WERE MORE RENOWMED FOR MARTIALL ARMES OR GOOD LETTERS The Summarie WE have here the fragments of a pleasant discourse written in the favour of Athenian warriours and great captaines which at this day hath neither beginning nor end and in the middle is altogether maimed and unperfect but that which the infortunitie of the times hath left unto us is such yet as thereout we may gather some good and the intention of Plutarch is therein sufficiently discovered unto us for he sheweth that the Atheutans were more famous and excellent in feats of armes than in the profession of learning Which position may seeme to be a strange paradox considering that Athens was reputed the habitation of the muses and if there were ever any brave historians singular poets and notable oratours in the world we are to looke for them in this citie Yet for all this he taketh upon him to proove that the prowesse of Athenian captaines was without all comparison more commendable and praisewoorthie than all the dexteritie of others who at their leasure have written in the shade and within house the occurrents and accidents of the times or exhibited pleasures and pastimes to the people upon the stage or scaffold And to effect this intended purpose of his be considereth in the first place historiographers and adjoineth thereto a briefe treatise of the art of painting and by comparison of two persons bringing newes of a field fought where of the one was onely a beholder and looker on the other an actor himselfe and a souldier fighting in the battell he sheweth that noble captaines ought to be preferred before historians who pen and set downe their desseignes and executions From history he passeth on to poesie both comicall and tragicall which he reproveth and debaseth notwithstanding the Athenians made exceeding account thereof giving to understand that their valor consisted rather in martiall exploits-In the last place he speaketh of oratours and by conference of their or ations and other reasons proveth that these great speakers deserve not that place as to have their words weighed in ballance against the deeds of many politike and valiant warriours WHETHER THE ATHENIANS were more renowmed for martiall armes or good letters WEll said this was in trueth of him unto those great captaines and commanders who succeeded him unto whom hee made way and gave entrance to the executions of those exploits which they performed afterwards when himselfe had to their hands chased out of Greece the barbarous king Xerxes and delivered the Greeks out of servitude but aswell may the same be said also to those who are proud of their learning and stand highly upon their erudition For if you take away men of action you shall be sure to have no writers of them take away the politike government of Pericles at home the navall victories and trophaes atchieved by Phormio neere the promontorie of Rhium the noble prowesses of Nicias about the isle Cythera as also before the cities of Corinth and Megara take away the sea-sight of Demosthenes before Pylos the foure hundred captives and prisoners of Cleon the worthy deeds of Tolmias who scowred all the coasts of Peloponnesus the brave acts of Myronides and the battell which he woon against the Boeotians in the place called Oenophyta and withall you blot out the whole historie of Thucydides take away the valiant service of Alcibtades shewed in Hellespont the rare manhood of Thrasylus neere unto the isle Lesbos the happie suppression and abolition of the tyrannicall oligarchie of the thirty usurpers by Theramenes take away the valourous endevours of Thrasybulus and Archippus to gether with the rare desseignes and enterprises executed by those seven hundred who from Phyla rose up in armes and were so hardie and resolute as to levie a power and wage warre against the lordly potentates of Sparta and last of all Conon who caused the Athenians to go to sea againe and maintaine the warres and therewithall take away Cratippus and all his Chronicles For as touching Xenophon he was the writer of his owne historie keeping a booke and commentarie of those occurrents and proceedings which passed under his happie conduct and direction and by report he gave it out in writing that Themistogenes the Syracusian composed the said narration of his acts to the end that Xenophon might win more credit and be the better beleeved writing as he did of himselfe as of a stranger and withall gratifying another man by that meanes with the honour of eloquence in digesting and penning the same All other historians besides as these Clinodemi and Diylli Philochorus and Philarchus may be counted as it were the actors of other mens plaies who setting downe the acts of kings princes and great captaines shrowded close under their memorials to the end that themselves might have some part with them of their light and splendor For surely there is a certaine
reckoning which they made of this life yet when himselfe was very old upon occasion that one asked him how he did answered I doe even as an aged man having above 90. yeeres upon my backe may do and who thinketh death to be the greatest misery in the world and how waxed he thus old certes not by filing and sharpening the edge of his sword not by grinding and whetting the point of his speares head not with scouring forbishing his head-piece or morion not with bearing armes in the field not by rowing in the gallies but forsooth with couching knitting and gluing as it were together rhetoricall tropes and figures to wit his antitheta consisting of contraries his Parisa standing upon equall weight and measure of syllables his homooptata precisely observing the like termination and falling even of his clauses polishing smoothing and perusing his periods and sentences not with the rough hammer and pickax but with the file and plainer most exactly No marvell then if the man could not abide the rustling of harneis and clattering of armour no marvell I say if hee feared the shocke and encounter of two armies who was afraid that one vowell should runne upon another and led he should pronounce a clause or number of a sentence which wanted one poore syllable for the very morrow after that Miltiades had wonne that field upon the plaines of Marathon he returned with his victorious armie into the citie of Athens and Pericles having vanquished and subdued the Samians within the space of nine moneths gloried more than Agamemnon did who had much adoe to winne Troie at the tenth yeeres end whereas Isocrates spent the time well neere of three Olympiades in penning one oration which hee called Panegiricus notwithstanding all that long time he never served in the warres nor went in any embassage he built no city nor was sent out as a captaine of a galley and warre-ship and yet that verie time brought foorth infinit warres But during the space that Timotheus delivered the islle Eubaea out of bondage all the while that Chabrias warred at sea about the island Naxos and Iphicrates defeited and hewed in pieces one whole regiment of the Lacedaemonians neere the port of Lechaeum and in which time the people of Athens having enfranchised all cities endued Greece throughout with the same libertie of giving voices in the generall assemblie of the States as they had themselves hee sat at home in his house poring at his booke seeking out proper phrases and choise words for the said oration of his in which space Pericles raised great porches and the goodly temple Hecatompedes and yet the comicall poet Cratinus scoffing even at this Pericles for that he went but slowly about his works speaketh thus as touching his wal halfe done and halfe vndone In words long since our Pericles hath rear'd us up a wall But in effect and very deed he doth nothing at all Consider now I pray you a little the base minde of this great professour of rhetoricke who spent the ninth part of his life in composing of one onely oration but were it meet and reasonable to compare the orations of Demosthenes as he was an oratour with the martiall exploits of Demosthenes being a captaine namely that which he made against the considerate folly of Conon with the trophees which himselfe erected before Pylos or that which hee wrote against Amathusius as concerning slaves with his woorthy service whereby hee brought the Lacedaemonians to be slaves neither in this respect for that he composed one oration for the graunting of free bourgesie to those who were newly come to inhabit Athens therefore he deserved as much honour as Alcibiades did who combined the Mantineans and Elians in one league to be associates with the Athenians against the Lacedaemonians and yet this must needs be confessed that his publicke orations deserved this praise that in his Philippiques he inciteth the Athenians to take armes and commendeth the enterprise of Leptiues WHETHER OF THE TWAINE IS MORE PROFITABLE FIRE OR WATER The Summarie IN this Academicke declamation Plutarch in the first places alledgeth the reasons which attribute more profit unto water Secondly he proposeth those that are in favor of the fire Whereunto bee seemeth the rather to encline although hee resolveth not wherein he followeth his owne maner of philosophizing upon naturall causes namely not to dispute either for or against one thing leaving unto the reader his owne libertie to settle unto that which he shall see to be more probable WHETHER OF THE TWAINE is more profitable Fire or Water THe water is of all things best And golde like fire is in request Thus said the poet Pindarus whereby it appeareth evidently that he gives the second place unto fire And with him accordeth Hesiodus when he saith Chaos was the formost thing In all the world that had being For this is certeine that the most part of ancient philosophers called water by the name of Chaos 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is to say for that it followeth so easily But if we should stand onely upon testimonies about this question the proofe would be caried equally on both sides for that there be in maner as many who thinke fire to be the primitive element and principle of all things and the very seed which as of it selfe it produceth all things so it receiveth likewise all into it selfe in that universall conflagration of the world But leaving the testimonies of men let us consider apart the reasons of the one and the other and see to whether side they will rather draw us First therefore to begin withall may not this be laied for a ground that a thing is to be judged more profitable whereof we have at all times and continually need and that in more quantitie than another as being a toole or necessarie instrument and as it were a friend at all seasons and every houre and such as a man would say presenteth it selfe evermore to doe us service As for fire certeinly it is not alwaies commodious unto us nay contrariwise it otherwhiles doth molest and trouble us and in that regard we withdraw our selves farre from it whereas water serveth our turnes both in Winter and Summer when wee are sicke and when wee are whole by night and by day neither is there any time or season wherein a man standeth in no need of it And this is the reason that they call the dead 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as one would say 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is to say without juice or wanting moisture and so by consequence deprived of life Moreover without fire a man hath oft continued a long time but without water never And withall that which hath bene from the first beginning and creation of man is more profitable than that which was invented afterwards And there is no question but that nature hath given us the one to wit water for our necessarie use but the other I meane fire either fortune or
certaine power which causeth it to swell as it were and have an appetite to engender For other cause there can 〈◊〉 none rendred why rocks clifts and mountaines be barren and drie but this that they have either no fire at all or else participate 〈◊〉 little the nature thereof in summe so farre off is water from being of it selfe sufficient for the owne preservation or generation of other things that without the aide of fire it is the cause of the owne ruine and destruction For heat it is that keepeth water in good estate and preserveth it in her nature and proper substance like as it doth all things besides and looke where fire is away or wanteth there water doth corrupt and putrifie in such sort as the ruine and destruction of water is the default of heat as we may evidently see in pools marishes and standing waters or wheresoever water is kept within pits and holes without issue for such waters in the end become putrified and stinke againe because they have no motion which having this propertie to 〈◊〉 up the naturall heat which is in everie thing keepeth those waters better which have a current and runne apace in that this motion preserveth that kind heat which they have And hereupon it is that To live in Greeke is expressed by 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 sigfieth to boile How then can it otherwise be that of two things it should not be more profitable which giveth being and essence to the other like as fire doth unto water Furthermore that thing the utter departure whereof is the cause that a creature dieth is the more profitable for this is certaine and manifest that the same without which a thing cannot bee hath given the cause of being unto the same when it was with it For we do see that in dead things there is a moisture neither are they dried up altogether for otherwise moist bodies would not putrifie considering that putrefaction is the turning of that which is drie to be moist or rather the corruption of humours in the flesh and death is nothing else but an utter defect and extinction of heat and therefore dead things be extreme cold insomuch as if a man should set unto them the very edge of rasours they are enough to dull the same through excessive cold And we may see plainely that in the verie bodies of living creatures those parts which participate least of the nature of fire are more senselesse than any other as bones and haire and such as be farthest remooved from the heart and in manner all the difference that is betweene great and small creatures proceedeth from the presence of fire more or lesse for humiditie simply it is not that bringeth forth plants and fruits but warme humiditie is it that doth the deed whereas cold waters be either barren altogether or not verie fruitful and fertill and yet if water were of the owne nature fructuous it must needs follow that it selfe alone and at all times should be able to produce fruit whereas we see it is cleane contrarie namely that it is rather hurtfull to fruits And now to reason from another head and go another way to worke to make use of fire as it is fire need wee have not of water nay it 〈◊〉 rather for it quencheth and 〈◊〉 it out cleane on the other side many 〈◊〉 be who cannot tell what to doe with water without fire for being made hot it is more profitable and otherwise in the owne kinde hurtfull Of two things therefore that which can do good of it selfe without need of the others helpe is better and more profitable Moreover water yeeldeth commodity but after one sort onely to wit by touching as when we feele it or wash and bathe with it whereas fire serveth all the five senses doth them good for it is felt both neere at hand and also seene afarre of so that among other meanes that it hath of profiting no man may account the multiplicity of the uses that it affoordeth for that a man should be at any time without fire it is impossible nay he cannot have his first generation without it and yet there is a difference in this kinde as in all other things The very sea it selfe is made more 〈◊〉 by heat so as it doth heat more by the agitation and current that it hath than any other waters for of it selfe otherwise it differeth not Also for such as have no need of outward fire we may not say that they stand in need of none at all but the reason is because they have plenty and store of naturall heat within them so that in this very point the commodity of fire ought to be esteemed the more And as for water it is never in that good state but some need it hath of helpe without whereas the exellencie of fire is such as it is content with it selfe and requireth not the aid of the other Like as therefore that captaine is to be reputed more excellent who knowes to order and furnish a citie so as it hath no need of forren allies so we are to thinke that among elements that is the woorthier which may often times consist without the succour and aide of another And even as much may be said of living creatures which have least need of others helpe And yet haply it may be replied contrariwise that the thing is more profitable which we use alone by it selfe namely when by discourse of reason we are able to chuse the better For what is more commodious and profitable to men than reason and yet there is none at all in brute beasts And what followeth heereupon Shall we inferre therefore that it is lesse profitable as invented by the providence of a better nature which is god But since we are fallen into this argument What is more profitable to mans life than arts but there is no art which fire devised not or at least wise doth not maintaine And heereupon it is that we make 〈◊〉 the prince and master of all arts Furthermore whereas the time and space of life is very short that is given unto man as short as it is yet sleepe as Ariston saith like unto a false baily or publicane taketh the halfe thereof for it selfe True it is that a man may lie awake and not sleepe all night long but I may aswell say that his waking would serve him in small stead were it not that fire presented unto him the commodities of the day and put a difference betweene the darkenesse of the night and the light of the day If then there be nothing more profitable unto man than life why should we not judge fire to be the best thing in the world since it doth augment and multiply our life Over and besides that of which the five senses participate most is more profitable but evident it is that there is not one of the said senses maketh use of the nature of water
because the aire is not able to pierce and enter so low but as much as it can take holde of with the colde either in touching or approching neere unto it so much it frizeth and congealeth And this is the reason that Barbarians when they are to passe great rivers frozen over with ice send out foxes before the for if the ice be not thicke but superficiall the foxes hearing the noise of the water running underneath returne backe againe Some also that are disposed to fish do thaw and open the ice with casting hot water upon it and so let downe their lines at the hole for then will the fishes come to the bait and bite Thus it appeareth that the bottome of the river is not frozen although the upper face thereof stand all over with an ice and that so strong that the water thereby drawen and driven in so hard is able to crush and breake the boats and vessels within it according as they make credible relation unto us who now doe winter upon the river Donow with the emperour And yet without all these farre-fet examples the very experiments that we finde in our owne bodies doe testifie no lesse for after much bathing or sweating alwaies we are more colde and chill for that our bodies being then open and resolved we receive at the pores cold together with aire in more abundance The same befalleth unto water it selfe which both sooner cooleth and groweth also colder after it hath beene once made hot for then more subject it is to the injurie of the aire considering also that even they who fling and cast up scalding water into the aire do it for no other purpose but to mingle it with much aire The opinion then of him ô Phavorinus who assigneth the first cause of cold unto aire is founded upon such reasons and probabilities as these As for him who ascribeth it unto water he laieth his ground likewise upon such principles for in this maner writeth Empedocles Beholde the Sunne how bright alwaies and hot he is beside But 〈◊〉 is ever blacke and darke and colde on every side For in opposing cold to heat as blacknesse unto brightnesse he giveth us occasion to collect and inferre that as heat and brightnesse belong to one and the same substance even so cold and blacknesse to another Now that the blacke hew proceedeth not from aire but from water the very experience of our outward senses is able to proove for nothing waxeth blacke in the aire but every thing in the water Do but cast into the water and drench therein a locke of wooll or peece of cloth be it never so white you shal when you take it foorth againe see it looke blackish and so will it continue untill by heat the moisture be fully sucked up and dried or that by the presse or some waights it be squeized out Marke the earth when there falleth a showre of raine how every place whereupon the drops fall seemes blacke and all the rest beside retaineth the same colour that it had before And even water it selfe the deeper that it is the blacker hew it hath because there is morequantity of it but contrariwise what part soever thereof is neere unto aire the same by and by is lightsome and cheerefull to the eie Consider among other liquid substances how oile is most transparent as wherein there is most aire for proofe wherof see how light it is and this is it which causeth it to swim above all other liquors as being carried aloft by the meanes of aire And that which more is it maketh a calme in the sea when it is flung and sprinkled upon the waves not in regard of the slipery smoothnesse whereby the windes do glide over it and will take no hold according as Aristotle saith but for that the waves being beaten with any humor whatsoever will spred themselves and ly even and principally by the meanes of oile which hath this speciall and peculiar property above all other liquors that it maketh clere and giveth meanes to see in the bottome of the waters for that humidity openeth and cleaveth when aire comes in place and not onely yeeldeth a cleere light within the sea to Divers who fish-ebb in the night for spunges and plucke them from the rocks whereto they cleave but also in the deepest holes thereof when they spurt it out of their mouths the aire then is no blacker than the water but lesse colde for triall heerof looke but upon oile which of all liquors having most aire in it is nothing cold at all and if it frize at all it is but gently by reason that the aire incorporate within it will not suffer it to gather and congeale hard marke worke-men also and artisanes how they doe not dippe and keepe their needles buckles and claspes or other such things made of iron in water but in oile for feare left the excessive colde of the water would marre and spoile them quite I stand the more heereupon because I thinke it more meet to debate this disputation by such proofes rather than by the colours considering that snowe haile and ice are exceeding white and cleere and withall most colde contrariwise pitch is hotter than hony and yet you see it is more darke and duskish And heere I cannot chuse but woonder at those who would needs have the aire to be colde because forsooth it is darke as also that they consider not how others take and judge it hot because it is light for tenebrositie and darknesse be not so familiar and neere cousens unto colde as ponderositie and unweldinesse be proper thereto for many things there be altogether void of heat which notwithstanding are bright and cleere but there is no colde thing light and nimble or mounting upward for clouds the more they stand upon the nature of the aire the higher they are caried and flie aloft but no sooner resolve they into a liquid nature and substance but incontinently they fall and loose their lightnesse and agilitie no lesse than their heat when colde is engendred in them contrariwise when heat commeth in place they change their motion againe to the contrary and their substance mounteth upward so soone as it is converted into aire Neither is that supposition true as touching corruption for every thing that perisheth is not transmuted into the contrary but the trueth is all things are killed and die by their contrary for so fire being quenched by fire turneth into aire And to this purpose Aeschylus the poet said truely although tragically when hee called water the punishment of fire for these be his words 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The water stay which fire doth stay And Homer in a certaine battell opposed Vulcane to the river and with Neptune matched Apollo not so much by way of fabulous fiction as by physicall and naturall reason and as for 〈◊〉 a wicked woman who meant cleane contrary to that which she said and shewed wrote elegantly in this wise The
what it will be is not some accident or passion of any motion but it is the cause the puissance and the principle of that proportion and order that conteineth and holdeth together all things according to which the nature of the world and this whole universality which also is animate doth move or rather the very same proportion it selfe and order which doth moove is the thing that we call time For walke it doth with silent pace In way where as no noise is made Conducting justly to their place All mortall things that passe and fade And verily according to the minde of auncient philosophers the substance of the soule was defined to be a number mooving it selfe which is the reason why Plato said That time and heaven were made together but motion was before heaven at what time as there was no heaven at all for why there was no order nor measure whatsoever no nor any distinction but an undeterminate motion like as the matter was rude without forme figure but after that nature once had cast this matter into a colour and had shaped it with forme and figure and then determined motion with periodicall revolutions she made withall both the world and time both at once which two are the very images of God to wit the world of his substance and time of his eternitie for God in that he mooveth is time and in that he hath being is the world This is the reason why he saith That both of them comming together shall likewise both be dissolved together in case that ever there will be any dissolution of them For that which had a beginning and generation cannot be without time no more than that which is intelligible without eternity in case the one is to continue for ever and the other being once made shall never perish and be dissolved Time then being so necessarily linked and interlaced with the heaven is not simply a motion but as we have said already a motion ordeined by order which hath a just measure set limits and bonds yea and certeine revolutions of all which the sunne being superintendent governour and directour for to dispose limit and digest all for to discover set out and shew the alterations and seasons the which bring foorth all things as 〈◊〉 saith confessed it must be that he is a workeman cooperant with that chiefe and sovetaigne God the prince of all not in petie base and frivolous things but in the greatest and most principall works that be 8 PLato in his books of common-wealth having excellently well compared the symphony of the three faculties powers of the soule to wit the reasonable the irascible concupiscible unto the musicall harmony of the notes Mese Hypate and Nete hath given occasion for a man to doubt whether hee set the irascible or reasonable part correspondent to the meane seeing that he shewed not his meaning in this present place for according to the situation of the parts of the body wherein these faculties are seated surely the couragious and irascible is placed in the middes and answered to the region of Mese the meane but the reasonable is ranged into the place of Hypate for that which is aloft first and principall our auncestours used to call Hypaton according to which sense Xenocrates calleth Jupiter or the aire that I meane which converseth above where all things continue the same and after one sort Hypatos like as that which is under the moone Neatos And before him Homer speaking of the soveraigne God and prince of princes saith thus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is to say our soveraigne and supreme of all rulers And in trueth nature hath by very good right given unto the best part of the soule the highest place in lodging the discourse of reason as the governour of the rest within the head but hath remooved farre from thence to the base and inferior members the concupiscible for the low situation is called Neate according as appeereth by the denomination of the dead who are tearmed 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is to say inferior or infernall and for this cause some therebe who say that the winde which bloweth from beneath and out of places unseene that is to say from the pole Antarticke is called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is to say the south Since then it is so that there is the same proportion of contrariety betweene concupiscible and reasonable parts of the soule as there is betweene lowest and highest last and first it is not possible that reason should be the highest and principall and not withall correspondent to Hypate but to some other note in musicke for they who attribute unto her as unto the principall faculty and power Mese that is to say the meane see not ignorant as they be how they take from her that which is more principall to wit Hypate which cannot fit well either with ire or lust for both these the one and the other are made for to follow and be commanded by reason and not to command or goe before reason Moreover it should seeme by nature that anger ought to have the meane and middle place considering that naturally reason is to command and anger both to command and be commanded as being on the one side subject to the discourse of reason and on the other side commanding lust yea and punishing it when she is disobedient to reason And like as in grammar those letters which wee call semi-vowels be of a middle nature betweene mute consonants and vowels for that as they sound more than the one so they sound lesse than the other even so in the soule of man wrath is not simply a meere passion but hath many times an apparence of duty and honesty mixed with desire of revenge And Plato himselfe comparing the substance of the soule unto a couple of horses drawing a chariot and guided by a chariot man who driveth them and understandeth by the driver guide as every man well knowes the discourse of reason now of the two steeds that of lusts and pleasures is frampold skittish flinging winsing unruly altogether and unbroken stiffenecked deafe hardly caring either for whip or spurre where as the other of 〈◊〉 is for the most part tractable and obeisant to the bridle of reason yea and ready to joine with it in execution of good things And like as in a chariot with two horses the driver or chariot-man is not in vertue and puissance the middle but rather one of the horses which is woorse than the chariot man and better than his 〈◊〉 that draweth with him even so likewise hath not he given the middle place unto that part which doth rule and governe in the soule but unto that wherein there is lesse passion than in the first and more reason than in the third for this order and disposition observeth the proportion of the irascible to the reasonable part as is of 〈◊〉 to Hypate and to the
none And if we will bring evill into the world without a precedent cause principle to beget it we shall run and fall into the difficult perplexities of the Stoicks for of those two principles which are it cannot be that either the good or that which is altogether without forme and quality whatsoever should give being or beginning to that which is naught Neither hath Plato done as some that came after him who for want of seeing and understanding a third principle and cause betweene God and matter have runne on end and tumbled into the most absurd and falsest reasons that is devising forsooth I wot not how that the nature of evill should come without forth casually and by accident or rather of the owne accord forasmuch as they will not graunt unto Epicurus that the least atome that is should turne never so little or decline a side saying that he bringeth in a rash and inconsiderate motion without any cause precedent whereas they themselves the meane-while affirme that sin vice wickednesse and ten thousand other deformities and imperfections of the body come by consequence without any cause efficient in the principles But Plato saith not so for he ridding matter from al different quality and remooving farre from God all cause of evill thus hath hee written as touching the world in his Politiques The world quoth he received al good things from the first author who created it but what evill thing soever there is what wickednesse what injustice in heaven the same it selfe hath from the exterior habitude which was before and the same it doth transmit give to the creatures beneath And a little after he proceedeth thus In tract of time quoth he as oblivion tooke holde and set sure footing the passion and imperfection of the old disorder came in place and got the upper hand more and more and great danger there is least growing to dissolution it be plunged againe into the vast gulfe and bottomlesse pit of confused dissimilitude But dissimilitude there can be none in matter by reason that it is without qualitie and void of all difference whereof Eudemus among others being ignorant mocked Plato for not putting that to be the cause source and first originall of evill things which in many places he calleth mother and nurse for Plato indeed tearmeth matter mother and nurse but he saith likewise That the cause of evill is the motive puissance resiant in the said matter which is in bodies become divisible to wit a reasonlesse and disorderly motion howbeit for all that not without soule which plainly and expresly in his books of lawes he tearmeth a soule contrary and repugnant to that which is the cause of all good for that the soule may well be the cause and principle of motion but understanding is the cause of order and harmony in motion for God made not the matter idle but hath kept it from being any any more 〈◊〉 troubled with a foolish and rash cause neither hath he given unto nature the beginnings and principles of mutations and passions but being as it was enwrapped and enfolded with all sorts of passions and inordinate mutations hee cleered it of all enormities disorders and errors whatsoever using as proper instruments to bring about all this numbers measures and proportions the effect whereof is not to give unto things by mooving and mutation the passions and differences of the other and of diversitie but rather to make them infallible firme and stable yea and like unto those things which are alwaies of one sort and evermore resemble themselves This is in my judgement the minde and sentence of Plato whereof my principall proofe and argument is this that by this interpretation is salved that contrariety which men say and seemeth indeed to be in his writings for a man would not attribute unto a drunken sophister much lesse than unto Plato so great unconstance and repugnance of words as to affirme one and the same nature to be created and uncreated and namely in his booke entituled Phaedrus that the soule is eternall and uncreated but in Timaeus that it was created and engendied Now as touching those words of his in the treatise Phaedrus they are well neere in every mans mouth verie rife whereby he prooveth that the soule can not perish because it was never engendred and semblably he prooveth that generation it had none because it mooveth it selfe Againe in the booke entituled Timaeus God quoth he hath not made the soule to be yoonger than the body according as now in this place we purpose to say that it commeth after it for never would he have permitted that the elder being coupled and linked with the yoonger should be commaunded by it But we standing much I wot not how upon inconsiderate rashnesse and vanity use to speake in some sort accordingly for certaine it is that God hath with the bodie joined the soule as precedent both in creation and also in power and vertue like as the dame or mistresse with her subject for to rule and commaund Againe when he had said that the soule being turned upon her selfe began to live a wise and eternall life The body of the heaven quoth he was made visible but the soule invisible participating the discourse of reason and of harmony engendred by the best of things intellectuall and eternall being likewise it selfe the best of things engendred and temporall Where it is to be noted that in this place expresly calling God the best of all eternall things and the soule the best of things created and temporall by this most evident antithesis and contrariety he taketh from the soule that eternity which is without beginning and procreation And what other solution or reconciliation is there of these contradictions but that which himself giveth to those who are willing to receive it for he pronounceth that soule to be ingenerable and not procreated which mooved all things rashly and disorderly before the constitution of the world but contrariwise he calleth that procreated and engendred which Godframed and composed of the first and of a parmanent eternall and perfect good substance namely by creating it wise and well ordered and by putting and conferring even from himselfe unto sense understanding and order unto motion which when he had thus made he ordained and appointed it to be the governor and regent of the whole world And even after the same maner he pronounceth that the body of the world is in one sort eternall to wit not created nor engendred and after another sort both created and engendred For when he saith that whatsoever is visible was never at rest but mooved rashly and without all order and that God tooke the same disposed and ranged it in good order as also when he saith that the fowre generall elements fire water earth and aire before the whole world was of them framed and ordered decently made a woonderfull trouble trembling as it were in the matter and were mightily shaken by
alwaies are by lot created or otherwise to such places captaines and commanders who are elected by the suffrages and voices of citizens and as if those were to be held good lawes which Clisthenes Lycurgus Solon made and yet the same men they avow and maintaine to have bene witlesse fooles and leawd persons Thus you see how albeit they administer the common weale yet they be repugnant to their owne doctrine In like maner Antipater in his booke of the dissention betweene Cleanthes and Chrysippus reporteth that Zeno and Cleanthes would never be made citizens of Athens for feare forsooth lest they might be thought to offer injurie to their owne country Now if they herein did well let Chrysippus goe and say wee nothing of him that he did amisse in causing himselfe to be enrolled and immatriculated in the number of Athenian citizens for I will not stand much upon this point onely this I holde that there is a strange and woonderfull repugnance in their deeds and actions who reserve still the bare names of their native countries and yet bereave the same of their very persons and their lives conversing so farre off in forraine lands much like as if a man who hath cast off and put a way his lawfull wedded wife should dwell live and lie ordinary with another as his concubin yea and beget children of her body and yet will in no wise espouse her and contract marriage with her lest forsooth he might seeme to doe wrong and injurie to the former Furthermore Chrysippus in his treatise that he made of Rhetoricke writing thus that a wise man will in such sort plead make orations to the people and deale in state matters as if riches reputation and health were simply good things testifieth hereby and confesseth that his precepts and resolutions induce men not to goe forth of doores nor to intermedle in politicke and civill affaires and so by consequence that their doctrines and precepts cannot sort well with practise nor be agreeable unto the actions of this life Moreover this is one of Zenoes quodlibets or positions that we ought not to build temples to the honour of the gods for that a temple is no such holy thing nor so highly to be esteemed considering it is the workemanship of masons carpenters and other artificers neither can any worke of such artisans be prised at any woorth And yet even they who avow and approve this as a wise speech of his are themselves professed in the religious mysteries of those churches they mount up to the castle and frequent there the sacred temple of Minerva they adore the shrines and images of the gods they adorne the temples with chaplets and guarlands notwithstanding they be the workes of masons carpenters and such like mechanicall persons And will these men seeme indeed to reproove the Epicureans as contrary to themselves who denying that the gods be occupied or imploied in the government of the world yet offer sacrifice unto them when as they checke and refute themselves much more in sacrificing unto the gods within their temples and upon their altars which they maintaine that they ought not to stand at all nor once to have bene built Zeno putteth downe admitteth many vertues according to their several differences like as Plato doth to wit prudence fortitude temperance justice saying that they be all in very deed and in nature inseparable nor distinct a sunder howbeit in reason divers and different one from another And againe when he would seeme to define them severally one after another he saith That fortitude is prudence in the execution of matters justice is prudence in the distribution of things c. as if there were no more but one sole vertue which according to divers relations unto affaires and actions seemeth to differ and admit distinction So you see that not Zeno alone seemeth to be repugnant unto himselfe in these matters but Chrysippus also who reprooveth Ariston for saying that all vertues are nothing else but the divers habitudes and relations of one and the same and yet defendeth Zeno when he defineth ech vertue in this wise by it selfe As for Clearches in his commentaries of nature having set this downe that the vigour and firmitude of things is the illision and smiting of fire which if it be in the soule so sufficient that it is able to performe the duties presented unto it is called strength and power he annexeth afterward these words And this very power and strength quoth he when as it is emploied in such objects where in a man is to persist and which he ought to conteine is called Continency if in things to be endured and supported then it is named Fortitude if in estimation of worthinesse and desert beareth the denomination of Justice if in choises or refusals it carieth the name of Temperance Against him who was the authour of this sentence For beare thy sentence for to passe and judgement see thou stay Untill such time as thou hast heard what parties both can say Zeno alledged such a reason as this on the contrary side Whether the plaintife who spake in the first place hath plainly proved his cause or no there is no need at all to heare the second for the matter is at an end already and the question determined or whether he hath not proved it all is one for it is even the same case whether he that is cited be so stubburne as not to appeare for to be heard or if he appeare doe nothing els but cavill and wrangle so that proove he or proove he not his cause needlesse it is to heare the second plead And yet even he who made this Dilemma and wrote against the books of Policie and common wealth that Plato composed taught his scholars how to affoile and avoid such Sophisticall arguments yea and exhorted them to learne Logicke with all diligence as being the art which sheweth them how to performe the same Howbeit a man might come upon him by way of objection in this maner Certes Plato hath either proved or els not proved those points which he handled in his Politicks but whether he did or no there was no necessitie at all to write against him as you did for it was altogether vaine needlesse and superfluous And even the same may be said of Sophisticall arguments and cavillations Chrysippus is of opinion that yong scholars and students should first learne those arts which concerne speech as Grammar Logicke and Rhetoricke in the second place morall sciences in the third naturall philosophie and after all these in the last place to heare the doctrine as touching religion and the gods which being delivered by him in many passages of his writings it shall be sufficient to alledge that onely which he hath written thus word for word in the third booke of his Lives First and formost quoth he it seemeth unto mee according to the doctrine of our ancients that of Philosophicall speculations there be three kinds
ready to drop into her grave then it makes no matter but it is all one to praise an honest man 〈◊〉 for one thing as another Moreover in his second booke of Friendship whenas he giveth a precept that we ought not to dissolve amities for every fault or defect he userh these very tearmes For there be faults quoth he which we must overpasse quite and make no stay at them others there be againe whereat we should a little stand and take offence and others besides which require more chastisement but some there are which we must thinke 〈◊〉 to breake friendship for ever And more than all this in the same booke he saith that we ought to converse and be acquainted with some more and with others lesse according as they be our friends more or lesse which difference and diversitie extendeth very far insomuch as some are worthy of such an amitie others of a greater some deserve thus much trust and confidence others more than it and so it is in other matters semblable And what other is his drift in all these places but to put a great difference betweene those things for which friendships are engendred And yet in his booke of Honestie to shew that there is nothing good but that which is honest he delivereth these words A good thing is eligible and to be desired that which is eligible and desirable is also acceptable that which is acceptable is likewise commendable and that which is commendable is honest withall Againe a good thing is joious and acceptable joious is venerable and venerable is honest But these speeches are repugnant to himselfe for be it that all that is good were laudable and then chastly to forbeare for to touch an olde riveled woman were a commendable thing or say that every good thing were neither venerable nor joious and acceptable yet his reason falleth to the ground for how can it be that others should be thought frivolous and absurd in praising any for such things and himselfe not worthy to be mocked and laughed at for taking joy and pleasing himselfe in such ridiculous toies as these Thus you see how he sheweth himselfe in most part of his writings and yet in his disputations which he holdeth against others he is much more carelesse to be contrary and repugnant to himselfe for in his treatise which he made as touching exhortation reproving Plato for saying that it was not expedient for him to live at all who is not taught nor knoweth not how to live he writeth in these very tearmes This speech of his quoth he is both contradictory repugnant to it selfe and besides hath no force nor efficacy at all to exhort for first and formost in shewing us that it were expedient for us not to live at all and giving us at it were counsell to die he exhorteth us to any thing rather than to the practise of studie of philolosophie because it is not possible for a man to philosophize unlesse he live nether can he become wise survive he never so long if he lead an evill and ignorant life And a little after hee saith farther That it is as meet and convenient also even for leawd and wicked persons to remaine alive But I care not much to set downe his very words First of all like as vertue barely in it selfe considered hath nothing in it for which we should desire to live even so vice hath as little for which we ought to leave this life What need we now turne over other books of Chrysippus and drip leafe by leafe to proove how contrary and repugnant he is to himselfe for even in these which now we cite and alledge he commeth out otherwhiles with this saying of Antisthenes for which he commendeth him namely that a man is to be provided either of wit to understand or else of a with to under-hang himselfe as also this other verse of Tyrtaus The bounds of vertue first come nie Or else make choise before to die And what other meaning is there of these words but this that it is more expedient for foolish and lewd persons to be out of the world than to live and in one passage seeming to correct Theognis He should not quoth he have said 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. A man from poverty to flie O Cyrnus ought himselfe to cast Headlong from rocks most steepe and hie Or into sea as deepe and vast But rather thus 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. Aman from sinne and vice to flie c. What other things else seemeth he to doe than to condemne and scrape out of other mens writings the same things propositions and sentences which himselfe hath inserted in his own books For he reprooveth Plato when he prooveth and sheweth that it is better not to live at all than to lead a life in wickednesse or ignorance and in one breath hee giveth counsell to Theognis to set downe in his poesie That a man ought to fling himselfe downe headlong into the deepe sea or to breake his necke from some high rocke for to avoid sinne and wickednesse And praising as hee did Antisthenes for sending fooles and witlesse folke to an halter wherewith to hang themselves he blamed him neverthelesse who said that vice was not a sufficient cause wherefore we should shorten our lives Moreover in those books against Plato himselfe concerning justice he leapeth directly at the very first into a discourse as touching the gods and saith That Cephalus did not divert men well from evill dooing by the feare of the gods affirming moreover that the discourse which he made as touching divine vengeance might easily be infringed and refuted for that of it selfe it ministreth many arguments and probable reasons on the contrary side as if the same resembled for all the world the fabulous tales of Acco and Alphito wherewith women are woont to scarre their little children and to keepe them from doing shrewd turnes Thus deriding traducing and backbiting Plato hee praiseth elsewhere and in many places else alledgeth these verses out of Euripides Well well though some this doctrine doe deride Be sure in heaven with other gods beside Sits Jupiter the deeds of men who see And will in time revenged surely bee Semblably in the first booke of Justice when he had alledged these verses heere out of Hesiodus Then Saturnes sonne god Jupiter great plagues from heaven did send Even dearth and death both which of all the people made an end he saith that the gods proceed in this wise to the end that when the wicked be thus punished others also advertised and taught by their example might beware how they commit the like or at leastwise sinne lesse What should I say moreover how in this treatise of Justice having affirmed that those who hold pleasure to be good but not the soveraigne end of good may in some sort withall preserve mainteine justice for so much he hath put downe in these very termes For haply admitting pleasure
the world whereby all things are governed How is it possible then that these two positions should subsist together namely that God is in no wise the cause of any dishonest thing and that there is nothing in the world be it never so little that is done but by common nature and according to the reason thereof For surely among all those things that are done necessarily there must be things dishonest and yet Epicurus turneth and windeth himselfe on every side imagining and devising all the subtill shifts that he can to unloose set free and deliver our voluntary free will from this motion eternall because he would not leave vice excuseable without just reprehension whereas in the meane while he openeth a wide window unto it and giveth it libertie to plead That committed it is not onely by the necessitie of destiny but also by the reason of God and according to the best nature that is And thus much also moreover is to be seene written word forword For considering that common nature reacheth unto al causes it cannot otherwise be but all that is done howsoever and in what part soever of the world must be according to this common nature and the reason thereof by a certeine stint of consequence without impeachment for that there is nothing without that can impeach the administration thereof neither mooveth any part or is disposed in habitude otherwise than according to that common nature But what habitudes and motions of the parts are these Certeine it is that the habitudes be the vices and maladies of the minds as covetousnesse lecherie ambition cowardise and injustice as for the motions they be the acts proceeding from thence as adulteries thefts treasons manslaughters murders and parricides Chrysippus now is of opinion That none of all these be they little or great is done without the reason of Jupiter or against law justice and providence insomuch as to breake law is not against law to wrong another is not against justice nor to commit sinne against providence And yet he affirmeth that God punisheth vice and doth many things for the punishment of the wicked As for example in the second booke of the gods Otherwhiles there happen quoth he unto good men grievous calamities not by way of punishment as to the wicked but by another kinde of oeconomy and disposition like as it falleth out usually unto cities Againe in these words First we are to understand evill things and calamities as we have said heeretofore then to thinke that distributed they are according to the reason and dispose of Jupiter either by way of punishment or else by some other oeconomie of the whole world Now surely this is a doctrine hard to bee digested namely that vice being wrought by the disposition and reason of God is also punished thereby howbeit this contradiction he doeth still aggravate and extend in the second booke of Nature writing thus But vice in regard of grievous accidents hath a certeine peculiar reason by it selfe for after a sort it is committed by the common reason of nature and as I may so say not unprofitably in respect of the universall world for otherwise than so there were no good things at all and then proceeding to reproove those who dispute pro contra and discourse indifferently on both parts he I meane who upon an ardent desire tobroch alwaies and in every matter some novelties exquisite singularities above all other saith It is not unprofitable to cut purses to play the sycophants or commit loose dissolute and mad parts no more than it is incommodious that there should be unprofitable members hurtfull and wretched persons which if it be so what maner of god is Jupiter I meane him of whom Chrysippus speaketh in case I say he punish a thing which neither commeth of it selfe nor unprofitably for vice according to the reason of Chrysippus were altogether irreprehensible and Jupiter to be blamed if either he caused vice as a thing unprofitable or punished it when he had made it not unprofitably Moreover in the first booke of Justice speaking of the gods that they oppose themselves against the iniquities of some But wholly quoth he to cut off all vice is neither possible nor expedient is it if it were possible to take away all injustice all transgression of lawes and all folly But how true this is it perteineth not to this present treatise for to enquire and discourse But himselfe taking away and rooting up all vice as much as lay in him by the meanes of philosophy which to extirpe was neither good nor expedient doeth heerein that which is repugnant both to reason and also to God Furthermore in saying that there be certeine sinnes and iniquities against which the gods doe oppose themselves he giveth covertly to understand that there is some oddes and inequality in sinnes Over and besides having written in many places that there is nothing in the world to be blamed nor that can be complained of for that all things are made and finished by a most singular and excellent nature there be contrariwise sundry places wherein hee leaveth and alloweth unto us certeine negligences reprooveable and those not in small and trifling matters That this is true it may appeere in his third book of Substance where having made mention that such like negligences might befal unto good honest men Commeth this to passe quoth he because there be some things where of there is no reckoning made like as in great houses there must needs be scattered and lost by the way some bran yea and some few graines of wheat although in generality the whole besides is well enough ruled and governed or is it because there be some evill and malignant spirits as superintendents over such things wherein certeinly such negligences are committted the same reprehensible and he saith moreover that there is much necessitie intermingled among But I meane not hereupon to stand nor to discourse at large but to let passe what vanity there was in him to compare the accidents which befell to some good and vertuous persons as for example the condemnation of Socrates the burning of Pythagoras quicke by the Cylonians the dolorous torments that Zeno endured under the tyrant Demylus or those which Antiphon suffred at the hands of Dionysius when they were by them put to death unto the brans that be spilt and lost in great mens houses But that there should bee such wicked spirits deputed by the divine providence to have the charge of such things must needs redound to the great reproach of God as if he were some unwise king who committed the government of his provinces unto evill captaines and rash headed lieutenants suffering them to abuse and wrong his best affected subjects and winking at their rechlesse negligence having no care or regard at all of them Againe if it be so that there is much necessity and constraint mingled among the affaires of this world then is not God the
soveraigne lord and omnipotent master of all neither be all things absolutely governed and ruled by his reason and counsell Moreover he mightily opposeth himselfe against Epicurus and those who take from the administration of the world divine providence confuting them principally by the common notions and conceptions inbred in us as touching the gods by which perswaded we are that they be gracious benefactours unto men And for that this is so vulgar and common a thing with them needlesse it is to cite any expresse places to proove the same And yet by his leave all nations doe not beleeve that the gods be bountifull and good unto us For doe but consider what opinion the Jewes and Syrians have of the gods looke into the writings of Poets with how many superstitions they be stuffed There is no man in maner to speake of who imagineth or conceiveth in his minde that god is either mortall and corruptable or hath bene begotten And Antipater of Tarsis to passe others over in silence in his booke of Gods hath written thus much word forword But to the end quoth he that this discourse may be more perspicuous and cleare we will reduce into few words the opinion which we have of God We understand therefore by God a living nature or substance happie incorruptible and a benefactor unto men and afterwards in expounding each of these tearmes and attributes thus he saith And verily all men doe acknowledge the gods to be immortall It must needs be then that by Antipaters saying Chrysippus of all those is none For he doth not thinke any of all the gods to be incorruptiblesave Jupiter onely but supposeth that they were all engendred a like and that one day they shall all likewise perish This generally throughout all his bookes doth he deliver howbeit one expresse passage will I alledge out of his third booke of the gods After a divers sort quoth he for some of them are engendred and mortall others not engendred at all But the proofe and demonstration here of if it should be fetched from the head indeed apperteineth more properly unto the science of Naturall Philosophy For the Sunne and Moone and other gods of like nature were begotten but Jupiter is sempiternall And againe somewhat after The like shall be said of Jupiter and other gods as touching their corruption and generation for some of them do perish but as for his parts they be incorruptible With this I would have you to compare a little of that which Antipater hath written Those quoth he who deprive the gods of beneficence and well doing touch but in some part the prenotion and anticipation in the knowledge of them and by the same reason they also who thinke they participate of generation and corruption If then he be as much deceived and as absurd who thinketh that the gods be mortall and corruptible as he who is of opinion that they beare no bountifull and loving affection toward men Chrysippus is as farre from the trueth as Epicurus for that as the one bereaveth God of immortallity and incorruption so the other taketh from him bounty and liberality Moreover Chrysippus in his third booke of the gods speaking of this point and namely how other gods are nourished saith thus Other gods quoth he use a certaine nourishment whereby they are maintained equally but Jupiter and the world after a nother sort than those who are engendred and be consumed by the fire In which place he holdeth that all other gods be nourished except Jupiter and the world And in the first booke of Providence he saith that Jupiter groweth continually untill such a time as all things be consumed in him For death being the separation of the body and soule seeing that the soule of the world never departeth at all but augmenteth continually untill it have consumed all the matter within it we cannot say that the world dieth Who could speake more contrary to himselfe than he who saith that one and the same god is nourished and not nourished And this we need not to inferre and conclude by necessary consequence considering that himselfe in the same place hath written it plainly The world onely quoth he is said to be of it selfe sufficient because it alone hath all in it selfe whereof it standeth in no need of it selfe it is nourished and augmented whereas other parts are transmuted and converted one into another Not onely then is he contradictorie and rupugnant to himselfe in that he saith other gods be nourished all except the world and Jupiter but also here in much more when he saith that the world groweth by nourishing it selfe whereas contrariwise there had bene more reason to say the world onely is not augmented having for foode the distruction thereof but on the contrary side other gods doe grow and increase in as much as they have their nourishment from without and rather should the world be consumed into them if it be true that the world taketh alwaies from it selfe and other gods from it The second point conteined in that common notion and opinion imprinted in us as touching the gods is that they be blessed happie and perfect And therefore men highly praise Euripides for saying thus If God 〈◊〉 God indeed and really He needs none of this poets vertly His 〈◊〉 in hymnes and verses for to write Such 〈◊〉 wretched are which they endite Howbeit our Chrysippus here in those places by me alledged saith that the world alone is of it selfe sufficient as comprehending within it all that it hath need of What then ariseth upon this proposition that the world is sole-sufficient in it selfe but this that neither the Sun nor the Moone nor any other of the gods whatsoever is sufficient of it selfe and being thus insufficient they cannot be blessed and happie Chrysippus is of opinion that the infant in the mothers wombe is nourished naturally no otherwise than a plant within the earth but when it is borne and by the aire cooled and hardned as it were like 〈◊〉 it mooveth the spirit and becommeth an animall or living creature and therefore it is not without good reason that the soule was called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in regard of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is to say refrigeration But not forgetetting to be contrary unto himselfe he supposeth that the soule is the more subtile rare and fine spirit of nature For how is it possible that a subtile thing should be made of that which is grosse and that a spirit should be rarefied by refrigeration and astriction or condensation Nay that which more is how commeth it about that 〈◊〉 as he doth the soule of an infant to be engendred by the means of refrigeration he should thinke the sun to become animat being as it is of a firy nature engendred of an exhalation transmuted into fire For thus he faith in his third booke of Nature The mutation quoth he of fire is in this maner by the aire it is turned into water and
so say namely the occupation or taking up of the middle place wherein it standeth because it is in the mids for if it were thought otherwise to be founded it were altogether necessarie that some corruption should take holde of it And againe a little after for even so in some sort hath that essence bene ordeined from all eternity to occupie the middle region being presently at the very first such as if not by another maner yet by attaining this place it is eternall and subject to no corruption These words conteine one manifest repugnance and visible contrariety considering that in them he admitteth and alloweth in that which is infinit a middle place But there is a second also which as it is more darke and obscure so it implieth also a more monstrous absurditie than the other for supposing that the world can not continue incorruptible if it were seated and founded in any other place of the infinitie than in the mids it appeareth manifestly that he feared if the parts of the substance did not moove and tend toward the mids there would ensue a dissolution corruption of the world But this would he never have feared if he had not thought that bodies naturally from all sides tend to the middes not of the substance but of the place that conteineth the substance where of he had spoken in many places that it was a thing impossible and against nature for that within voidnesse there is no difference by which bodies can be said to move more one way than another and that the construction of the world is cause of the motion to the center as also that all things from every side do bend to the mids But to see this more plainly it may suffice to alledge the very text in his second booke of Motion for when he had delivered thus much That the world is a perfect body and the parts of the world not perfect because they are respective to the whole and not of themselves Having also discoursed as touching the motion thereof for that it was apt and fitted by nature to moove it selfe in all parts for to conteine and preserve and not to breake dissolve and burne it selfe he saith afterwards But the universall world tending and mooving to the same point and the parts thereof having the same motion from the nature of the body like it is that this first motion is naturally proper to all bodies namely to encline toward the mids of the world considering that the world mooveth so in regard of it selfe and the parts likewise in that they be the parts of the whole How now my goodfriend may some one say what accident is befallen unto you that you should forget to pronounce these words withall That the world in case it had not fortuned for to settle in the mids must needs have bene subject to corruption and dissolution For if it be proper and naturall to the world to tend alwaies to the same middle as also to addresse the parts thereof from all sides thereto into what place soever of the voidnesse it be carried and transported certes thus 〈◊〉 and embracing as it were it selfe as it doth it must needs continue incorruptible immortall and past all danger of fracture or dissolution for to such things as be broken bruised dissipated and dissolved this is incident by the division and dissolution of their parts when ech one runneth and retireth into their proper and naturall place out of that which is against their owne nature But you sir supposing that if the world were seated in any other place of voidnesse but in the mids there would follow a totall ruine and corruption thereof giving out also as much and therefore imagining a middle in that where naturally there can be none to wit in that which is infinit have verily quit cleane and fled from these tensions cohaerences and inclinations as having in them no assured meanes for to mainteine and holde the world together and attributed all the cause of the eternall maintenance and preservation thereof unto the occupation of a place And yet as if you tooke pleasure to argue and convince yourselfe you adjoine to the premisses thus much In what sort every severall part moveth as it is cohaerent to the rest of the body it stands with good reason that after the same maner it should moove by it selfe alone yea if for disputation sake we imagine and suppose it to be in some void part of this world and like as being kept in and enclosed on every side it would move toward the mids so it would continue in this same motion although by way of disputation we should admit that all on a sudden there should appeare some vacuity and void place round about it And is it so indeed that every part what ever it be compassed about with voidnesse forgoeth not her naturall inclination to move tend to the mids and should the world it selfe unlesse some fortune blind chance had not prepared for it a place in the mids have lost that vigor power which conteineth and holdeth all together so some parts of the substance of it moove one way and some another Now surely heerein there be many other maine contrarieties repugnant even to natural reason but this particularly among the rest encountreth the doctrine of God divine providence to wit that in attributing unto them the least and smallest causes that be he taketh from them the most principall and greatest of all other For what greater power can there be than the maintenance and preservation of this universall world or to cause the substance united together in all parts to cohaere unto it selfe But this according to the opinion of Chrysippus hapneth by meere hazzard and chance for if the occupation of a place is the cause of worlds incorruption and eternity and the same chanced by fortune we must inferre there upon that the safety of all things dependeth upon hazzard and adventure and not upon fatall destiny and divine providence As for his doctrine disputation 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is to say of things possible which Chrysippus hath delivered directly agaisnt that of fatall destiny how can it chuse but be repugnant to it selfe for if that be not possible according to the opiniō of Diodorus which either is or shall be true but whatsoever is susceptible naturally of a power to be although the same never come into act or esse is to be counted possible there will be a number of things possible which never shal have being by destiny invincible inexpugnable surmoūting al things And therefore either this doctrine overthroweth al the force and puissance of destiny or if it be admitted as Chrysippus would have it that which potentially may be wil fal out oftentimes to be impossible whatsoever is true shall be also necessary as being comprised contained by the greatest and most powerfull necessity of all others and whatsoever is false impossible as
commeth to passe that even with you All commeth to be but One unlesse you will use vaine words and void of sense speaking of voidnesse and fighting in vaine as with a shadow against those auncient Philosophers But these Atomes you will say are according to the opinion of Epicurus in number infinite and every thing that appereth unto us ariseth from them Beholde now what principles you put downe for generation to wit infinity and voidnesse whereof the one is without action impassible and bodilesse the other namely infinity disorderly void of reason incomprehensible dissolving and confounding it selfe for that by reason of multitude it cannot be circumscribed nor contained within limits But Permenides hath not abolished either fire or water or any rocke no nor the cites as Colotes saith inhabited as well in Europe as in Asia considering that he hath both instituted an orderly dispose digestion and also tempering the elements together to wit light and darke of them and by them absolutely finisheth all things visible in the world for written he hath at large of Earth of Heaven of Sunne Moone and starres as also spoken much of mans generation and being as he was a very ancient Philosopher he hath left nothing in Physiologie unsaid and whereof he hath not delivered both by word and writing his owne doctrine not borrowed else where passing over the repugnancie of other received principall opinions Moreover he of all others first and even before Socrates himselfe observed and understood that in nature there is one part subject to opinion and another subject to intelligence And as for that which is opinable inconstant it is and uncertaine wandring also and carried away with sundry passions and mutations apt to diminish and paire to increase also and growe yea and to be diversly affected and not ever after one sort disposed to the same in sense alike As for the intelligible part it is of another kinde For sound it is whole and not variable Constant and sure and ingenerable as he himselfe saith alwaies like to it selfe perdurable in the owne nature essence But Colotes like a 〈◊〉 cavilling at him catching at his words without regard of the matter not arguing against his reasons indeed but in words onely affirmeth flatly that Parmenides overthroweth all things in one word by supposing that All is One But he verily on the contrary side abolisheth neither the one nature nor the other but rendreth to ech of them that which is meet and apperteineth thereto For the intelligible part he rangeth in the Idea of One and of That which is saying that it is and hath being in regard of eternity and incorruption that it is one because it alwaies resembleth it selfe and receiveth no diversity As for that part which is Sensible he placeth it in the ranke of that which is uncerteine disorderly and ever mooving Of which two we may see the distinct judgement in the soule by these verses The one reteins to truth which is syncere Perswasive breeding science pure and cleere For it concerneth that which is intelligible and evermore alike and in the same sort The other rests on mens opinions vaine Which breed no true beleefe but uncertaine For that it is conversant in such things as receive al maner of changes passions mutabilities And verily how possibly he should admit and leave unto us sense and opinion and not withall allow that which is sensible and opinable a man is not able to shew But forasmuch as to that which is existent indeed it appertaineth to remaine in being and for that things sensible one while are and another while are not but passe continually from one being to another and alter their estate insomuch as they deserve rather some other name than this of being This speech as touching All that it should be one is not to take away the plurality of things sensible but to shew the difference betweene them and those that be intelligible which Plato in his treatise of Ideae minding to declare more plainly gave Colotes some advantage for to take holde of him And therefore me thinks it good reason to take before me all in one traine that also which he hath spoken against him But first let us consider the diligence together with the deepe and profound knowledge of this Philosopher Plato considering that Aristotle Xenocrates Theophrastus and all the Peripateticks have followed his doctrine For in what blinde corner of the world unhabitable wrot he his booke that you Colotes in heaping up together these criminations upon such personages should never light upon their works nor take in hand the books of Aristotle as touching the heaven and the soule nor those compositions of Theophrastus against the Naturalists nor that Zoroastres of Heraclitus one booke of Hell and infernall spirits another of Doubts and questions Naturall that also of Dicaearchus concerning the soule In all which books they are contradictory and repugnant in the maine and principall points of Naturall philosophy unto Plato And verily the prince of all other Peripateticks Strato accordeth not in many things with Aristotle and mainteineth opinions cleane contrary unto those of Plato as touching Motion Understanding the Soule and Generation And in conclusion he holdeth that the very world is not animall and whatsoever is naturall is consequent unto that which is casuall and according to fortune As for the Ideae for which Aristotle every where seemeth to course Plato and mooveth all maner of doubts concerning them in his Ethicks or morall discourses in his Physicks in his Exotericall dialogues he is thought of some to dispute and discourse with a more contentions and opinative spirit than became a Philosopher as if he propounded to himselfe for to convell and debase the Philosophy of Plato so farre was hee from following him What impudent and licentious rashnesse therefore is this that one having never knowen nor seene what these learned clerks had written and what their opinions were should coine and devise out of his owne fingers ends and falsly charge upon them those things which never came into their heads and in perswading himselfe that he reprooveth and refuteth others to bring in a proofe and evidence written with his owne hand for to argue and convince himselfe of ignorance or rash and audacious impudence saying that those who contradict Plato agree with him and they that repugne against him doe follow him But Plato quoth he hath written That horses are in vaine counted by us horses and men likewise And in what odde corner of Platoes works hath Colotes found this hidden As for us wee reade in all his books that horses be horses and men be men and that fire even by him is esteemed fire for hee holdeth every one of these things to be sensible and opinable and so he nameth them But this our trim man Colotes as though hee wanted never a jot of the highest pitch of sapience and knowledge presumeth forsooth and taketh it to be
angle which is impossible Why good sir quoth Lucius I dare assure you this 〈◊〉 not beene overpassed but explaned already and with that casting his eie as he spake upon Menelaus the Mathematician I am abashed quoth he friend Menelaus to overthrow a Mathematicall position that is supposed and laid as a ground and fundamentall principle for oblique matters of mirrours And yet I must quoth he of necessitie for that it neither appeareth in this example nor is generally confessed as true that all reflexions tend to equall angles for checked and confuted it is by round embowed or embossed mirrors when as they represent images appearing at one point of the sight greater than themselves This also is disprooved by double or two-folde mirrors for that when they be inclined and turned one unto the other so as the angle be made within ech of the glasses or plaine superficies yeeld the resemblance of a double image and so represent foure in all from one face two apparent answerable to that without on the left side and other twaine obscure not so evident on the right side all in the bottome of the mirrors where they yeeld images in appearance greater than the thing it selfe at one point onely of the sight The same likewise is overthrowen by those mirrors which are hollow wherein the aspect is variable whereof Plato rendereth a reason and efficient cause for he saith that a mirror rising of the one side and the other the sight doeth change the reflexion falling from the one side to the other and therefore as the viewes and visions some immediately returne upon us others gliding upon the opposite parts of the mirror have recourse againe from thence unto us it is not possible that all reflexions should be in equall angles so that when they come to coping and close sight they thinke by these oppositions to take from the fluxions of light caried from the Moone to the earth the equalitie of angles supposing this to cary more probability with it than the other Howbeit if we must needs yeeld thus much and grant this unto our best beloved Geomitrian first and formost by all likelihood this should befall unto those mirrors that are very smooth and exquisitly polished whereas the Moone hath many inequalities and asperities in such sort as the raies comming from the vast body of the Sunne and caried to mightie altitudes which receive one from another and intercommunicate the lights as they be sent to and fro and distributed reciprocally are refracted broken and interlaced all maner of waies so as the counterlights doe meet and encounter one another as if they came from many mirrours unto us Moreover if we should grant and suppose these reflexions of beames upon the superfices of the Moone to be made by way of equall angles there is no impossibility in the matter but that the same raies being caried so great a way shuld have their fractions flexions and delapsions that thereby the light should be confused and shine the more Some also there be who prove by lineary demonstration that she casteth much of her light to the earth plumbe downe by direct line drawen under her as she doth encline But for a man to make such a discription and deliniation reading as he doth and discoursing in a publicke auditorie especially being so frequent it was not easie neither could it well be In briefe I marvell quoth he how they came thus to alledge against us the halfe Moone more than halfe tipped or croisant For if the Sunne do illuminate the masse as a man would say of the Moone being of a celestiall or firy matter surely he would not leave halfe the sphaere or globe thereof darke alwaies shadowed without light to our sense but how little soever he touched her turning as he doth about reason would give and convenient it were that she should be wholly replenished and totally changed and turned by that brightnesse of his which spredeth so quickely and passeth through all so easily For considering that wine touching water in one point onely or a drop of blood falling into some liquor dieth and coloureth the same all red or purple like unto blood and seeing they say that the very aire is altered with light not by any 〈◊〉 or beames intermingled but by sudden conversion and 〈◊〉 even in a point or 〈◊〉 onely how can they thinke that one starre comming to touchanother starre and one light another should not be mingled immediatly nor make a confusion and mutation throughout but to 〈◊〉 that onely in the outward superficies which it toucheth For that 〈◊〉 which the Sun maketh in fetching a compasse and turning toward the Moone one while 〈◊〉 upon the very line which parteth that which is visible in her 〈◊〉 the invisible another while rising up directly in such sort as that it both cutteth her in twaine is cutte also by her 〈◊〉 according to divers regards and habitudes of that which is light to the darke causing those sundry 〈◊〉 in her whereby she appeareth but halfe more than halfe horned and 〈◊〉 this I say 〈◊〉 more than any thing els that this illumination of the Moone whereof we speake all this whiles is not a mixture of two lights but a touching onely not a collustration or gathering 〈◊〉 of sundry lights but an illustration thereof round about But for as much as she is not onely illuminate her selfe but he also sendeth backe hither unto us the image of that brightnesse this 〈◊〉 us more and more in that which we say as touching her terreine substance For never are there any reflections and reverberations upon a thing that is rare and of subtile parts neither may a man easily so much as imagine how light from light or one fire should result and rebound from another but needs it must be that the subject which maketh the reverberation or reflection is firme solid and thicke to the end there may be a blow given against it and a rebounding also from it To prove this doe but marke the aire which giveth passage unto the Sunne for to perce quite through it neither admitteth it any repulse or driving backe Contrariwise we may see that from wood from slones and from clothes or garments hung forth against the same he maketh many reflections of his light and illuminations on every side And even so we see that the earth by him is illuminate for he sendeth not his beames to the very bottome thereof as in water nor throughout the whole as in the aire but looke what circle the Sunne maketh turning about the Moone and how much he cutteth from her such another there is that compasseth the earth and just so much he doth illuminate alwaies as he leaveth without light for that which is illumined in the one and the other is a little more than a hemisphaere Give me leave therefore now to conclude after the maner of Geometricians by proportion If when three things there be unto which the
apparitions and all such foolish toies and vanties which paradventure is not unbeseeming nor unprofitable for polititians and statists who are forced to frame themselves to a stubberne disordinate multitude for to reclaime and to pull backe the common vulgar sort by superstition as it were by the bit of a bridle unto that which is expedient for them But this maske seemeth not onely undecent and unseemely for Philosophy but also contrary to the profession thereof which promiseth to teach us all that which is good and profitable with reason and afterwards referreth the begining of our actions unto the gods as if it contemned reason and disgraced the proofe of demonstration wherein it seemeth to be most excellent turning aside to I wot not what oracles and visions in dreames wherein oftentimes the wickedest man in the word findeth as much as the very best And therefore in mine opinion our Socrates ô Simmias used that maner of teaching which is most worthy and befitting a Philosopher to wit simple plaine without all fiction chusing it as most free and frendly unto the trueth rejecting and turning upon the Sophisters all such vanity as the very fume and smoake of Philosophy Then Theocritus taking his turne to speake How now quoth he Galaxidorus hath Melitus perswaded you as well as he made the judges beleeve that Socrates dispised the gods and all divine powers For this is that which he chargeth him with before the Athenians In no wise quoth he as touching those heavenly powers but having received from the hands of Pythagoras and Empedocles Philosophy full of ridiculus fables fantasticall illusions and vaine superstition he acquainted us playing thus the foole in good earnest and being drunke with furie to take up betimes and wisely to cleacve unto things of substance yea and to acknowledge that in sober reason consisteth the trueth Be it so quoth Theocritus but as touching the familiar spirit of Socrates what shall we thinke or say of it was it a cogging lie and mere fable or what should we call it For in mine owne conceit like as Homer faigneth that Minerva was evermore assistant in all the travels and perils of Ulysses even so from the very first beginning this divine spirit allotted unto Socrates a certaine vision which guided him in all the actions of his life this onely went and walked before him it was a light unto him in all those affaires wherein nothing could be seene and which possibly might not be gathered nor comprehended by reason and wisedome of man insomuch as many times this spirit spake with him inspiring directing and governing after a heavenly maner his intentions Now hee that would know a greater number of proofes and those more woonderfull let them heare Simmias speake others who lived familiarly with him as for my selfe I wil relate one example which I saw with mine owne eies and where I was in person present One day when I went to consult with the divinor or soothsaier Euthyphron Socrates went up as you may remember well ô Simmias for present you were there also toward a place called Symbolon and the house of Andocides asking all the way as we went troubling Euthyphron with many questions merily and by way of sport but all on a sudden he staied and rested very studious and musing with himselfe a good while then he turned backe and went along the street where ioyners dwelt that made coffers and chests and called not those of his familiar friends who were gone before the other way for to have them returne for why his familiar spirit forbad him to go forward as he began thus the greater part of them retired and went with him among them I my selfe was one following evermore Euthyphron hard at heeles but some other of the yonger sort would needs goe streight on still of a very deliberate purpose to crosse and convince the familiar spirit of Socrates and drew along with them Charillus the plaier upon the slute who was then come with me to Athens for to visit Cebes Now when they went by the shops of the imagers neere the common halles and courts of justice they might see before them a mightie heard of hogges as thicke as one might stand by another full of dirt and mire and bearing downe all before them by reason of their great number and for that there was no meanes to turne aside from them they overthrew some of the yoong men abovesaid and laid them along on the ground yea and all to be raied the rest of their fellowes Thus returned Charillus home to his lodging with his legges his thighes and all his clothes fouly bedaubed with filthy dirt in such sort as he maketh us remember many times and that with good laughing the familiar of Socrates and causeth us to marvell how that divine power never forsooke this man but had evermore a care and charge of him in all places and occasions whatsoever Then quoth Galaxidorus Thinke you that this familiar spirit of Socrates was some proper and peculiar power and not a parcell of that universall and common necessitie which confirmed this man by long experience to give the counterpoise and over-weight for to make him encline to or fro in things obscure and hard to be conjectured and guessed at by discourse of reason For like as one pound weight by it selfe alone draweth not the balance but when as the poise hangeth equally if a man put it then either to the one side or the other it draweth the whole and maketh all to incline that way even so a voice or some small and light signe is not sufficient to stirre a grave cogitation to proceed unto the execution of a thing but being put into one of the two contrary discourses it solveth all the doubt and difficultie taking away the inequall in such sort as then it maketh a motion and inclination Then my father taking his course to speake But I have heard quoth he ô Galaxidorus a certeine Megarian say who likewise heard as much of Terpsion that this spirit was nothing else but the sneesing either of himselfe or of others about him for if any one of his company sneesed on his right hand whether he were before or behinde it mattered not then he enclined to doe that which he intended and was presented into his minde but if it were on the left hand he gave over and if it were himselfe that sneesed when he was in doubt or suspense to doe or not to doe a thing he then was confirmed and resolved to doe it but if he hapned then to sneese when a thing was already begun it staied him and checked his inclination and purpose to effect and finish the same But this is very strange if it be true that he used this observation of sneesing how he could say unto his friends that it was his familiar spirit which either mooved him forward to doe a thing or drew him backe from it for this my good
Thebans the vision which appeared unto him For he saw as he thought all the greatest and most principall cities of Greece in a sea troubled and disquieted with rough windes and violent tempests wherein they floted and were tossed to and fro But the city of Thebes surpassed all the rest for mounted it was on high up to heaven afterwards suddenly the sight therof was lost that it would no more be seene And verily these things as a type resembled that which long time after befell unto that city But Herodotus in writing of this conflict burieth in silence the bravest act of Leonidas himselfe saying thus much barely They all lost their lives in the straights about the top of a certaine hill But it was far othewise For when they were advertised in the night that the enimies had invested them round about they arose and marched directy to their very campe yea and advanced so far forth as they came within a little of the kings roiall pavilion with a full resolution there to kill him and to leave their lives all about him And verily downe they went withall before them killing slaying and puting to flight as many as they met even as farre as to his tent But when they could not meet with Xerxes seeking as they did for him in so vast and spacious a campe as they wandred up and downe searching for him with much adoe at the last hewed in peeces they were by the Barbarians who on ever side in great number came about them And albeit we will write in the life of Leonidas many other noble acts and worthy sayings of his which Herodotus hath not once touched yet it shall not be amisse to quote heere also by the way some of them Before that he and his noble troupe departed out of Sparta in this journey there were exhibited solemne funerall games for his and their sakes which their fathers and mothers stood to behold Leonidas himselfe when one said unto him That he led forth very few with him to fight a battell Yea but they are many enough quoth he to die there His wife asked him when he tooke his leave ofher what he had else to say No more quoth he turning unto her but this that thou marry againe with some good man and beare him good children When he was within the vale or passe of Thermopylae and there invironed two there were in his company of his owne race and family whom he desired to save So he gave unto one of them al letter to carry whether he directed it because he would send him away but the party would not take it at his hands saying in great cholarand indignation I am come hither to fight like a warrior and not to conveigh letters as a carrier The other he commanded for to goe with credence and a message from him unto the magistrates of Sparta but he made answere not by word of mouth but by his deed for he tooke up his shield in hand and went directly to his place where he was appointed to fight Would not any man have blamed another for leaving out these things But this writer having taken the paines to collect and put in writing the bason and close stoole of Amasis and how he brake winde over it the comming in of certaine asses which a theese did drive the congiary or giving of certaine bottles of wine and many other matters of such good stuffe can never be thought to have omitted through negligence nor by oversight and forgetfullnesse so many worthy exploits and notable sayings but even of peevishnesse malice and injustice to some And thus he saith that the Thebans at first being with the Greeks fought indeed but it was by compulsion because they were held there by force For it should seeme forsooth that not only Xerxes but Leonidas also had about him a company that folowed the campe with whips to scourge those I trow who lagged behinde and these good fellowes held the Thebans to it and made them to fight against their willes And thus he saith that they fought perforce who might have fled and gone their waies and that willingly they tooke part with the Medes whereas there was not one came in to succor them And a little after he writeth that when others made hast to gaine the hill the Thebans being disbanded and divied asunder both stretched forth their hands unto the Barbarians and as they approched neere unto them said that which was most true namely that they were Medians in heart and so in token of homage and fealty gave unto the king water and earth that being kept by force they were compelled to come into this passe of Thermopylae and could doe withall that their king was wounded but were altogether innocent therof By which allegations they went clere away with their matter For they had the Thessalians witnesses of these their words and reasons Lo how this apologie and justificarion of theirs had audience among those barbarous outcries of so many thousand men in those confused shouts and dissonant noises where there was nothing but running and flying away of one side chasing and pursuit of another See how the witnesses were deposed heard and examined The Thessalians also amid the throng and rout of those that were knocked downe and killed and over those heapes of bodies which were troden under foot for all was done in a very gullet and narrow passage pleaded no doubt very formally for the Thebans for that a little before they having conquered by force of armes all Greece chased them as far as to the city Thespiae after they had vanquished them in battell and slaine their leader and captaine Lattamias For thus much passed even at that very time betweene the Thebans and the Thessalians whereas otherwise there was not so much as civill love and humanity that appeared by mutuall offices from one to the other Besides how is it possible that the Thebans were saved by the testimony of the Thessalians For the Barbarous Medes as himselfe saith partly killed outright such as came into their hands and in part whiles their breath was yet in their bodies by the commandement of Xerxes set upon them a number of the kings markes beginning first at the captaine himselfe Leontiades And yet neither was Leontiades the generall of the Thebans at Thermopylae but Anaxander as Aristophanes writeth out of the Annals and records in the arches of Thebes as touching their soveraigne magistrates and so Nicander likewise the Colophonian hath put downe in his cronicle neither was there ever any man before Herodotus who knew that Xerxes marked branded in that maner any Theban for this had bin an excellent plea in their defence against the foresaid calumniation and a very good meanes for this city to vaunt and boast of such markes given them as if king Xerxes meant to punish and plague as his greatest and most mortall enimies Leonidas and Leontiades For he caused the one to be scourged and
woorse To conclude therefore if Philosophers stand most upon this point and beare themselves aloft for that they are able to dulce and reforme rude maners and not polished before by any doctrine And if it be seene that Alexander hath altered and brought into order an infinite number of wilde nations and beastly natures good reason there is that he should be esteemed an excellent Philosopher Moreover that pollicie and forme of government so highly esteemed which Zeno the first founder of the Stoicks sect devised tendeth to this one principall point that we who are men should not live divided by cities towns divers countries separated by distinct laws rights customs in severall but thinke all men our felow citizens of the same country also that there ought to be but one kind of life like as there is but one world as if we were all of the same flocke under one herdman feeding in a common pasture Zeno hath set this downe in writing as a very dreame imaginarie Idea of a common-wealth well governed by Philosophicall lawes but Alexander hath put that in reall execution and practise which the other had figured and drawen out in words for he did not as his master Aristotle gave him counsell to doe namely to cary himselfe toward the Greeks as a father and toward the Barbarians as a lord likewise to have regard and care of some as of his friends and kinsfolke but to make use of others as if they were brute beasts or plants and no better for in so doing he should have pestered his dominions and empire with banishments which are evermore the secret seeds of warre of factions and sidings most dangerous but taking himselfe to be sent downe from heaven as a common reformer reconciler and governour of the whole world such as he could not draw to accord and agreement by reason and speech he compelled by force of armes and so from every side reduced all into one causing them to drinke round as one would say of one and the same cup of amitie and good fellowship wherein he tempered and mixed together their lives and maners their mariages and fashions of life commanding all men living to thinke the whole earth habitable to be their countrey his campe their citadell and castle of defence all good men to be their kinsfolke and allies all leud persons strangers and aliens He commanded them moreover to distinguish Greeks and Barbarians not by their mantle round targuet cemeter turbants or high crowned chaplets but to marke and discerne Greece by vertue Barbarie by vice in reputing all vertuous folke Greeks and all vicious persons Barbarians to thinke also their habilliments and apparell common their tables common their mariages besides and maner of life common as being united all by the mixture of bloud and communion of children Demaratus verily the Corinthian one of the friends that used to give interteinment to king Philip when he saw Alexander in the citie of Susa greatly rejoiced thereat insomuch as for very joy of heart the teares ranne downe his cheeks and he brake foorth into these words That the Greeks before departed out of this life were deprived of exceeding contentment and hearts delight in that they had not seene Alexander sitting upon theregall throne of Darius For mine owne part verily I would not repute them very happy for seeing such a sight as that considering it is the gift of fortune and as much as that befalleth ordinarily to meaner kings but I assure you much pleasure could I have taken if I had beheld those goodly and sacred espousals when under the roofe of one pavilion seeled all over and wrought with gold he enterteined at once all at one common feast and table a hundred Persian Brides maried to an hundred Bridegromes of Greece and Macedonie at which solemnitie himselfe being crowned with a chaplet of flowers was the first that began to sing the nuptiall song Hymenaeus as a canticle of generall amitie when tow of the igreatest and most puissant nations of the world came to be joined in alliance together by mariage being himselfe spouse unto one but the maker of all their mariages yea and the common father and mediator to them all being the meanes of that knot and conjunction For willingly I would have said O barbarous senselesse and blockish Xerxes that tookest so great paines and all to no purpose about making a bridge over Hellespont For after this maner should wise kings and prudent princes conjoine Europe and Asia together not with wood and timber not with boates and barges nor with those linkes and bonds which have neither life nor mutuall affection but by lawfull love by chaste and honest wedlocke by communication also of children to unite and associate two nations together To this comely or nament Alexander had an eie when he would not admit the habiliments and robes of the Medes but the attire and apparell of the Persians as being farre more sober modest and decent than the other for rejecting casting aside that outlandish unusuall pompeous and tragical excesse in the barbarous habit to wit the copped turbant Tiara the side and superfluous purple mantell Candys their wide breeches and slacke sloppes Anaxyridae he wore himselfe a certeine kinde of robe composed partly of the Macedonian and in part of the Persian habit according as Eratosthenes hath written As a Philosopher he made use of things indifferent neither good simply nor ill and as a gracious ruler and courteous king he wanne the love and heart of those whom he had subdued by gracing and honouring upon his owne person their apparell to the end that they should continue fast unto him and firme in loialtie loving the Macedonians as their naturall lords and not hating them as tyrannizing enemies For it would have bewraied a foolish minde and withall disdainfull and proud to have made great account of a selfe-coloured homely mantell and withall to have taken offence at a rich coate embrodered all over with purple or contrariwise to have had this in admiration and the other in contempt like unto some infant or little childe keeping still precisely to that apparell which the custome of the countrey as a nurse or foster-mother hath once put on whereas we see that huntsmen who use to choose deere are wont to clad themselves with the skinnes and hides of those wilde beasts which they have taken as for example of stagges and hindes foulers also that lie for to catch birds cast upon themselves gabardines and coates of fetherworke or beset with wings and fethers Those who weare red clothes beware how they come in the way of buls and such as be clothed in white are as carefull not to be seene of elephants for that these beasts fare as though they were wood and mad at the sight of such colours Now if so great a king as Alexander was minding to tame warlike nations like unto wilde beasts or to dulce and keepe them gentle who
some who openly maintaine that Osiris is the Sunne and that the Greeks call him Sirtus but the article which the Aegyptians put before to wit O is the cause that so much is not evidently perceived as also that Isis is nothing else but the Moone and of her images those that have hornes upon them signifie no other thing but the Moone croissant but such as are covered and clad in blacke betoken those daies wherein she is hidden or darkened namely when she runneth after the Sunne which is the reason that in love matters they invocate the Moone And Eudoxus himselfe saith that Isis is the president over amatorious folke And verily in all these ceremonies there is some probabilitie and likelihood of trueth But to say that Typhon is the Sunne is so absurd that we ought not so much as give eare to those who affirme so But returne we now to our former matter For Isis is the feminine part of nature apt to receive all generation upon which occasion called she is by Plato the nurse and Pandeches that is to say capable of all yea and the common sort name her Myrionymus which is as much to say as having an infinite number of names for that she receiveth all formes and shapes according as it pleaseth that first reason to convert and turne her Moreover there is imprinted in her naturally a love of the first and principall essence which is nothing else but the soveraigne good and it she desireth seeketh and pursueth after Contrariwise she flieth and repelleth from her any part and portion that proceedeth from ill And howsoever she be the subject matter and meet place apt to receive as well the one as the other yet of it selfe enclined she is alwaies rather to the better and applieth herselfe to engender the same yea and to disseminate and sowe the defluxions and similitudes thereof wherein she taketh pleasure and rejoiceth when she hath conceived and is great therewith ready to be delivered For this is a representation and description of the substance engendred in matter and nothing else but an imitation of that which is And therefore you may see it is not besides the purpose that they imagine and devise the soule of Osiris to be eternall and immortall but as for the body that Typhon many times doth teare mangle and abolish it that it cannot be seene and that Isis goeth up and downe wandring heere and there gathering together the dismembred pieces thereof for that which is good and spirituall by consequence is not any waies subject to change and alteration but that which is sensible and materiall doth yeeld from it selfe certeine images admitting withall and receiving sundry porportions formes and similitudes like as the prints and stamps of seales set upon waxe doe not continue and remaine alwaies but are subject to change alteration disorder and trouble and this same was chased from the superor region and sent downe hither where it fighteth against Horus whom Isis engendred sensible as being the very image of the spirituall and intellectuall world And heereupon it is that Typhon is said to accuse him of bastardie as being nothing pure and sincere like unto his father to wit reason and understanding which of it selfe is simple and not medled with any passion but in the matter adulterate and degenerat by the reason that it is corporall Howbeit in the end the victorie is on Mercuries side for hee is the discourse of reason which testifieth unto us and sheweth that nature hath produced this world materiall metamorphozed to the spirituall forme for the nativity of Apollo engendred betweene Isis Osiris whiles the gods were yet in the belly of Rhea symbolizeth thus much that before the world was evidently brought to light and fully accomplished the matter of reason being found naturally of it selfe rude and unperfect brought foorth the first generation for which cause they say that god being as yet lame was borne and begotten in darkenesse whom they call the elder Horus For the world yet it was not but an image onely and designe of the world and a bare fantasie of that which should be But this Horus heere is determinate definit and perfect who killeth not Typhon right out but taketh from him his force and puissance that he can doe little or nothing And heereupon it is that by report in the citie Coptus the image of Horus holdeth in one hand the generall member of Typhon and they fable besides that Mercurie having berest him of his 〈◊〉 made thereof strings for his harpe and so used them Heereby they teach that reason framing the whole world set it in tune and brought it to accord framing it of those parts which before were at jarre and discord howbeit remooved not nor abolished altogether the pernicious and hurtfull nature but accomplished the vertue thereof And therefore it is that it being feeble and weake wrought also as it were and intermingled or interlaced with those parts and members which be subject to passions and mutations causeth earthquakes and tremblings excessive heates and extreame drinesse with extraordinarie windes in the aire besides thunder lightnings and firie tempests It impoisoneth moreover the waters and windes infecting them with pestilence reaching up and bearing the head aloft as farre as to the Moone obscuring and darkning many times even that which is by nature cleane and shining And thus the Aegyptians do both thinke and say that Typhon sometime strooke the eie of Horus and another while plucked it out of his head and devoured it and then afterwards delivered it againe unto the Sunne By the striking aforesaid they meane aenigmatically the wane or decrease of the Moone monethly by the totall privation of the eie they understand her ecclipse and defect of light which the Sunne doth remedy by relumination of her streight waies as soone as she is gotten past the shade of the earth But the principall and more divine nature is composed and consisteth of three things to wit of an intellectuall nature of matter and a compound of them both which we call the world Now that intellectuall part Plato nameth Idea the patterne also of the father as for matter he termeth it a mother nurse a foundation also and a plot or place for generation and that which is produced of both he is woont to call the issue and thing procreated And a man may very well conjecture that the Aegyptians compared the nature of the whole world especially to this as the fairest triangle of all other And Plato in his books of policy or common wealth seemeth also to have used the same when he composeth and describeth his nuptiall figure which triangle is of this sort that the side which maketh the right angle is of three the basis of foure and the third line called Hypotinusa of five aequivolent in power to the other two that comprehend it so that the line which directly falleth plumbe upon the base must answer proportionably to the male
〈◊〉 that his debt did grow unto him by the interest for use Furthermore because ever and anon the same Homer attributeth unto the night the epither 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which signifieth Quicke and sharpe you Grammarians are much affected to this word saying He understandeth thereby that the shadow of the earth being round groweth point-wise or sharp at the end in maner of a cone or pyramis And what is he who standing upon this point that small things may not be the proofes and signes of greater matters will approove this argument in Physicke namely that when there is a multitude of spiders seene it doeth prognosticate a pestilent Summer or in the Spring season when the leaves of the olive tree resemble the crowes-feet Who I say will ever abide to take the measure of the Sunnes body by clepsydres or water-dials with a gallon or pinte of water or that a tyle-formed tablet making a sharpe angle by the plumbe enclining upon a plaine superficies should shew the just measure of the elevation of pole from the Horizon which alwaies is to be seene in our Hemisphaere Loe what the priests and prophets in those parts may alledge and say And therefore we ought to produce some other reasons against them in case we would mainteine the course of the Sunne to be constant and unvariable as we hold heere in these countries And not of the Sunne onely cried out with a loud voice Ammonius the Philosopher who was then in place but also of the whole heaven which by this reckoning commeth in question For if it be granted that the yeeres decrease the race of the Sunne which he runneth betweene the one Tropique and the other must of necessity be cut shorter and that it taketh not up so great a part of the Horizon as the Mathematicians set downe but that it becommeth shorter and lesse according as the Southern or Meridionall parts be contracted and gather alwaies toward the Septentrionall and Northerne Whereupon it will ensue that our Summer will be shorter and the temperature of the aire by consequence colder by reason that the Sunne turneth more inwardly and describeth greater paralelles or equidistant circles than those be about the Tropicks at the longest and shortest daies of the yeere Moreover this would follow heereupon that the Gnomons in the dials at Syene in Aegypt will be no more shadowlesse at the Summer Tropicke or Solstice and many of the fixed starres will runne under one another some also of them wil be forced for want of roome to runne one upon another and be hudled pell-mell together And if they shall say that when other starres hold their owne and keepe their ordinary courses the Sunne onely observeth no order in his motions they cannot alledge any cause that should so much as hasten his motion alone among so many others as there be but they shall trouble and disquiet most of those things which are seene evidently above and namely those generally which happen unto the Moone in regard of the Sunne So that we shal have no need of those who observe the measures of oile for to proove the diversitie of the yeeres because the ecclipses both of the Moone and Sun will sufficiently shew if there be any at all for that the Sun shall many times meet with the Moone and the Moone reciprocally fall as often within the shadow of the earth so as we shall need no more to display and discover the vanity and falsitie of this reason Yea but I my selfe quoth Cleombrotus have seene the said measure of oile for they shewed many of them unto me and that of this present yeere when I was with them appeered to be much lesse than those in yeeres past So that Ammonius made answer in this wise And how is it that other men who adore the inextinguible fires who keepe and preserve the same religiously for the space of an infinit number of yeeres one after another could not as well perceive and observe so much And say that a man should admit this report of yours to be true as touching the measures of the oile were it not much better to ascribe the cause thereof unto some coldnesse or moisture of the aire or rather contrariwise to some drinesse and heat by reason whereof the fire in the lampe being enfeebled is not able to spend so much nutriment and therefore hath no need thereof For I have heard it many times affirmed by some That in Winter the fire burneth much better as being more stronger more fortified by reason that the heat thereof is drawen in more united and driven closer by the exterior colde whereas great heats and droughts doe weaken the strength thereof so as it becommeth faint loose and rawe without any great vehemencie and vigour nay if a man kindle it against the Sunne-shine the operation of it is lesse hardly catcheth it hold of the wood or fewell and more slowly consumeth it the same But most of all a man may lay the cause upon the oile it selfe for it goeth not against reason to say that in old time the oile was of lesse nutriment and stood more upon the waterish substance than now it doth as pressed out of olives which grew upon yoong trees but afterwards being better concocted and riper in the fruit comming of plants more perfect and fully growen in the same quantity was more effectuall and able longer to nourish and mainteine the fire Thus you see how a man may salve and save that supposition of the Ammonian priests although it seeme very strange and woonderfully extravagant After that Ammonius had finished his speech Nay rather quoth I Cleombrotus I beseech you tell us somewhat of the oracle for there hath gone a great name time out of minde of the deity resident there but now it seemeth that the reputation thereof is cleane gone And when Cleombrotus made no answer heereto but held downe his head and cast his eies upon the ground There is no neede quoth Demetrius to demaund or make any question of the oracles there when as we see the oracles in these parts to faile or rather indeed all save one or two brought to nothing This rather would be enquired into what the cause should be that generally they all doe cease For to what purpose should we speake of others considering that Boeotia it selfe which heeretofore in old time resounded and rung againe with oracles now is quite voide of them as if the springs and fountaines were dried up and a great siccitie and drought of oracles had come over the whole land For there is not at this day goe throughout all Boeotia unlesse it be onely in Lebadia one place where a man may would he never so faine draw any divination what need soever he hath of any oracle for all other parts are either mute or altogether desolate and forlorne And yet in the time of the Medes warre the oracle of Ptous Apollo was in great request and that of Amphiaraus
by an even number and dubled bringeth forth Ten a perfect number but if by the odde it representeth it selfe againe Heere I omit to say that it is composed of the two first quadrate numbers to wit of Unity and Foure and that it is the first number which is equivalent to the two before it in such sort as it compoundeth the fairest triangle of those that have right angle and is the first number that containeth the sesquialter all proportion For haply these reasons be not well sutable nor proper unto the discourse of this present matter but this rather is more convenient to alledge that in this number there is a naturall vertue and facultie of dividing and that nature divideth many things by this number For even in our owne selves she hath placed five exterior senses as also five parts of the soule to wit naturall sensitive concupiscible irascible and reasonable likewise so many fingers in either hand Also the generall seed is at the most distributed into five portions for in no history is it found written that a woman was delivered of more than five children at one birth The Aegyptians also in their fables doe report that the goddesse Rhea brought forth five gods and goddesses signifying heereby under covert words that of one and the same matter five worldes were procreated Come to the universall fabricke and frame of nature the earth is divided into five zones the heaven also in five circles two Arctiques two Tropickes and one Aequinoctiall in the midst Moreover five revolutions there be of the Planets or wandring starres for that the Sunne Venus and Mercurie run together in one race Furthermore the very world it selfe is composed 〈◊〉 respective to five Like as even among us our musicall accord and concent consisteth of the positure of five tetrachords ranged orderly one after another to wit of Hypates Meses Synnemenae Diezeugmenae and Hyperboliaeae likewise The intervals likewise in song which we use be five in number Dresis Semitonion Tonus 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 So as it seemeth that nature taketh more pleasure in making all things according to the number of five than after a Sphaericall or round forme as Aristotle writeth But what is the cause will some one say that Plato hath reduced the number of five worldes to the five primitive figures of regular bodies saying that God in ordaining and describing the whole world used the Quinarie construction and yet afterwards having proposed the doubtfull question of the number of worldes to wit whether we should hold there was but one or rather that there were five in truth he sheweth plainely that his conjecture is grounded upon this very argument If therefore we ought to apply the probability to his minde and opinion then of necessity with the diversity of these figures and bodies there must ensue presently a difference also of motions according as he himselfe teacheth affirming Whatsoever is subtilized or thickned with the alteration of substance changeth withall the place For so if of the aire is ingendred fire namely when the Octaedron is dissolved and parted into Pyramides and contrariwise aire of fire being driven close and thrust together into the force of octaedron it is not possible that it should be in the place where it was afore but flie and runne into another as being forced and driven out of the former and so fight against whatsoever standeth in the way and maketh resistance And yet more fully and evidently declareth he the same by a similitude and example of such things as by fannes or such like instruments whereby corne is clensed shaken out or winowed and tried from the rest saying that even so the elements shaking the matter and likewise shaken by it went alwaies to bring like to like and some tooke up this place others that before the universall world was of them composed as now it is The generall matter therefore being in such estate then as by good likelihood All must needs be where god is away presently the first five qualities or rather the first five bodies having every one of them their proper inclinations and peculiar motions went apart not wholly and altogether nor severed sincerely asunder one from another for that when all was hudled pell-mell confusedly such as were surmounted and vanquished went evermore even against their nature with the mightier and those which conquered And therefore when some were haled one way and others caried another way it hapned that they made as many portions and distinctions in number just as there were divers kindes of those first bodies the one of fire and yet the same not pure but carying the forme of 〈◊〉 another of a celestial nature not sincere heaven indeed but standing much of the skie a third of earth and yet not simply and wholy earth but rather earthly But principally there was a communication of aire and water as we have said heeretofore for that these went their waies filled with many divers kindes For it was not God who separated and disposed the substance but having found it so rashly and confusedly dissipated of it selfe and ech part caried diversly in so great disorder he digested and arranged it by Symmetrie and competent proportion Then after he had set over every one Reason as a guardian and governesse he made as many worldes as there were kindes of those first bodies subsistent And thus let this discourse for Ammontus sake be dedicated as it were to the grace and favour of Plato For mine owne part I wil never stand so precisely upon this number of worlds mary of this minde I am rather that their opinion who hold that there be more worldes than one howbeit not infinit but determinate is not more absurd than either of the other but founded upon as much reason as they seeing as I doe that Matter of the owne nature is spred and diffused into many parts nor resting in one and yet not permitted by reason to runne in in finitum And therefore especially heere if else where putting our selves in minde of the Academie and the precepts thereof let us not be over credulous but as in a slippery place restraine our assent and beleefe onely in this point of infinity of worldes let us stand firme and see we fall not but keepe our selves upright When I had delivered these reasons abovesaid Beleeve me quoth Demetrius Lamprias giveth us a good and wise admonition For The gods for to deceive us men devise Right many meanes not of false Sophistries as Euripides faith but of their deeds works when we presume and dare pronounce of so high and great matters as if we knew them certainely But as the man himselfe said even now we must recall our speech unto the argument which was first proposed For that which heeretofore hath beene said namely that the Oracles are become mute and lie still without any validity because the Daemons which were wont to governe them be retired and gone like as instruments of
of the waters that served the city as also to the Arcenall c. Moreover they had power to attach the bodies of great persons and were charged to see unto the provision of corne and victuals At the first none but of noble families or Patricians were advanced to this place but in processe of time Commoners also atteined thereto More of them how in Iulius Casars time there were elected six Aediles whereof two were named Cereals See Alexander at Alexander lib. 4. cap. 4. Genial dieth Aegineticke Mna or Mina Seemeth to be the ancient coine or money of Greece for they were the first that coined money and of them came 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Caelius Rhodig Aeolius Modus In Musicke a certeine simple plaine and mild tune apt to procure sleepe and bring folke to bed Aequinox That time of the yeere when the daies and nights be of equall length which hapneth twice in the yeere to wit in March and September Aestivall that is to say Of the Summer as the Aestivall Solstice or Tropicke of the Sunne when he is come neerest unto us and returneth Southward from us Aloïdae or Aloïadae were Othus and Ephialtes two giants so named of Aloëus the giant their supposed father for of his wife Iphimedia Neptune begat them It is said that every moneth they grew nine fingers Alphabet The order or rew of Greeke letters as they stand so called of Alpha and Beta the two formost letters and it answereth to our A.B.C. Alternative By course or turnes one after another going and comming c. Amphictyones Were a certein solemne counsell of State in Greece who held twice in the yeere a meeting in the Spring and Autunne at Thermopyle being assembled from the 12 flourithing cities of Greece there to consult of most important affaires Amphitheatre A spacious shew place in forme round and made as it were of two Theaters See Theater Amphora A measure in Rome of liquors only It seemeth to take that name of the two eares it had of either side one it conteined eight Congios which are somewhat under as many of our wine gallons Amnets Preservatives hung about the necke or otherwise worne against witchcraft poison eiebiting sicknesse or any other evils Anarchie The state of a city or countrey without government Andria A societie of men meeting together in some publicke hall for to eat and drinke Instituted first among the Thebans like to the Phiditia in Lacedaemon Annales Histories Records or Chronicles conteining things done from yere to yeere Anniversarie Comming once enery yeere at a certeine time as the Nativity of Christ and Sturbridge faire c. Antarcticke That is to say Opposit unto the Arcticke See 〈◊〉 Antidote A medicine properly taken inwardly against a poison or some pestilent and venimous disease A counterpoison or preservative Antipathie A repugnance in nature by reason of contrarie affections whereby some can not abide the smell of roses others may not endure the sight of a Cat c. Antiparistasis A 〈◊〉 or restraint on every side whereby either colde or heat is made stronger in it selfe by the restraining of the contrary as the naturall heat of our bodies in Winter through the coldnesse of the aire compassing it about likewise the coldnesse of the middle region of the aire in Summer by occasion of the heat on both sides cansing thunder and haile c. Antiphonie A noise of contrarie sounds Antipodes Those people who inhabit under and beneath our Hemisphaere and go with their feet full against ours Apathte Impassibilitie or voidnesse of all affections and passions Apaturia A feast solemnized for the space of foure daies at Athens in the honour of Bacchus So called of Apate that is to say Deceit because Xanthius the Boeotian was in single fight slaine deceitfully by Thimoeles the Athenian For the tale goeth that whiles they were in combat Bacchus appeared behind Xanthius clad in a goats skinne and when Thimoeles charged his concurrent for comming into the field with an assistant as he looked backe he was killed by Thimoeles abovenamed Apologie A plea for the defence or excuse of any person Apothegme A short sententious speech Apoplexie A disease comming suddenly in maner of a stroke with an universall astonishment and deprivation of sense and motion which either causeth death quickely or else endeth in a dead palsey Archontes Were chiefe magistrates at Athens at first every tenth yeere and afterwards yeerely chosen by lot unto whom the rule of the common-welth in their popular state was committed of whom the first was named 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is to say King the second Archon that is to say Ruler the third Polemarchus and the other six Thesmothelae Arctick that is to say Northerly so called of Arctos in Greeke which signifieth the Beare that is to say those conspicuous seaven starres in the North named Charlematns waine neere unto which is that pole or point of the imaginarie axell-tree about which the heavens turne which thereupon is named The pole Arctick and over against it underneath our Hemisphaere is the other pole called Antarctick in the South part of the world Aristocratre A forme of Government or a State wherein the nobles and best men be Rulers To Aromatize that is to say To season or make pleasant by putting thereto some sweete and odoriferous spices Astragalote Mastis A scourge or whip the strings whereof are set and wrought with ankle-bones called Astragali thereby to give a more grievous lash Atomi Indivisible bodies like to motes in the Sunne beames of which Democritus and Epicurus imagined all things to be made Atticke pure that is to say The most fine and eloquent for in Athens they spake the purest Greeke insomuch as Thucydides called it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that is to say Greece of Greece as one would say the very quintenssence of Greece Averrunct or Averruncani Were gods among the Romans supposed to put by and chace away evils and calamities such as Hercules and Apollo among the Greekes called thereupon Apotropaei Auspices Plutarch seemeth to take for Augures that is to say Certeine priests or soothsaiers who by the inspection and observation of birds did foretell future things Axiomes Were principal propositions in Logicke of as great authoritie and force as Maximes in law and it should seeme that those Maximes be derived corruptly from Axiomes B BAcchanalta named also 〈◊〉 Certein licentious festivall solemnities in the honor of Bacchus performed at the first by day light and afterward in the night season with all maner of filthy wantonnesse instituted first in Athens and other cities of Greece euery three yeeres in Aegypt also at last they were taken vp in Italy and at Rome Bacchiadae A noble familie in Corinth who for the space almost of 200. yeeres there ruled Bachyllion A song or daunce which seemeth to take the name of a famous Tragoedian poet named Bachyllus who devised and practised it like as Pyladion of Pylades as notable a Comoedian