this relation what shall he doe to hazard nothing of the esteeme which his iudgement giues him Among mens inuentions I approue the Artifice which they haue had to forge this feigned Diuinity to stirre vp and incite mens hearts by the alluring sight thereof to surmount all difficult things thereby to make his way and passage to vertue But we ought not to expose and abandon it to all men nor permit that it should be so cheape and common among vs as it is Wee ought not with the same pensill to paint white and black nor with one and the same cloake to couer Vice and Vertue Those who built the Temple of Vertue and Honour together so that none could enter into this before they had first past that did yet retaine some forme and image of this first Institution But what law so euer wee can make it degenerates in the end through the vse thereof either into abuse or tyrannie which seemes to proceede not so much by the fault of man as of the nature of the thing it selfe which being ingaged in the course and Vicissitude of mortall things runnes to the end and cannot long subsist or remaine in one constant and immutable being And indeede in her first yeares and time this Lady Glory followed nothing but Virtue and Merit but some stupid man desirous to content the eyes of his body as well as those of his minde would giue her some solid thing whereunto she might fasten and fixe her selfe as to him who is the best timbred the strongest and the most couragious the dignity to march first in Warres and to command and conduct others As the Infidels doe at this day a thing which sauours not of Barbarisme to him which excells in Wit Iudgement and Iustice the Office to appease differences which arise among the people as Moyses likewise did These Offices giue the first ranke and preheminence to those who were established and by degrees erected in dignities Neuerthelesse those who were formerly prouided were not yet so much honored for the charge and office which they possessed but onely by merit which made them worthy and capable aboue all other But after-times haue not proceeded by election but haue beleeueth that the vertue of predecessours ought to be infused with the seede in the person of successors The which being since maintained then Vertue began to withdrawe and retire her selfe apart and hath not since beene found vnited to these dignities but that by hazard and accident some persons of merit haue beene found of that number In the meane time Honour which was inseparably vnited to those dignities for Vertues sake which was the soule thereof hath not ceased to follow this body although shee haue beene diuided and separated also the glory and the estimation and opinion of people is farre more capable to vnite it selfe to I know not what grosse obiect thing or person then to any thing which is more refined and sublime He cannot perceiue yea nor conceiue Vertue otherwise then painted blowne vp and swell'd by Artifice Those who slide into Offices and Dignities by their naturall honesty and simplicity doe easily escape from so grosse a sight which hath neede of a greater and stronger body although they can take no hold-fast thereof Wee are in a time where the good opinion and estimation of People is iniurious why then shall we so much esteem it Hee who hath a hundred thousand crownes to bestow on an Office or Dignitie he hath verie much shortned the way which another must make by his vertuous actions to make himselfe so well esteemed and accepted It matters not much whether he enter in by some false doore or that it comes not to him by fayre play Howsoeuer he hath performed more in an hower then all the vertue of this other can doe during his whole life Yea to speake properly he hath herein resembled the Troian Horse who effected that in one night which a great Armie could not doe in ten yeares If all the Vertue and Wisedome of the World were assembled in the other it cannot exempt or priuiledge him from being push'd and abused in the streets by euer Porter or Cobler in the throng and croude of those who retyre to giue way place to this great new Merchant And if Honour and Prayse be so impertinently and vndeseruedly giuen what shall hee profit who will buy it at the price of his owne vertue and integritie Glorie should be followed not desired it is not purchased but by the greatnes and goodnesse of our courage which measureth all things by conscience Wee must doe for Vertue that which wee doe for Glorie But me thinkes there is yet more honour not to be then to be praised for a thing which dâ—serues it not But the vulgar people who is the distributer of this praise and who keepes the record and register thereof markes downe the payments and receipts If he offer it to thee canst thou safely receiue this present from so corrupted a hand If hee denie it thee for what doest thou complaine If none could worthily praise the Athenians but before the Athenians themselues shouldst thou care for any other praise then for that of Wise men Or if because thou art a good Musitian that some should praise thee for a good Pylot or for an excellent Physitian canst thou endure this false praise without true shame The Estimation of the vulgar measures all things according to the outward shew and lustre and iudgeth not of a mans sufficiencie but by the number liuerie of his footmen That Philosopher who discoursing publiquely in the Streetes was interrupted by the applause of the people he presently turned to one of his friends to know if there had any thing impertinently escaped his tongue which had thus giuen the people occasion to praise him as if hee were not capable to esteeme any thing but that which is worthy of contempt And yet when these defects doe not meete and happen can a man receiue honour but from at least his equall to wit or on the like tearmes and condition If there were not the like interest hee should but sleight him and say It s a man that spake it There are reproaches enough in this very word to blemish the lustre of his best actions they issue from sense as from vertue out of their originall Spring the which wee must re-obtaine thereby to make a worthy iudgement thereof None can obserue or remarke the difference The approbation of a vertuous man is better then that of a multitude but the onely approbation of a good conscience is yet farre more to be priz'd and esteem'd He is happie who liues peaceable and quiet and who without designe contemplates the course of worldly actions and accidents As the Shepheard who during the heat of the day reposing himselfe at the foote of a tree lookes sloathfully and carelesly vpon the streame of a small riuer thereby to employ and recreate his thoughts vntill
〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Hic vera felicitas THE IVDGMENT OF Humane Actions A most Learned Excellent Treatise of Morrall Philosophie which fights agaynst Vanytie Conduceth to the fyndinge out of true and perfect Felicytie Written in French by Monsieur Leonard Marrande And Englished by Iohn Reynolds LONDON Imprinted by A. Mathewes for Nicholas Bourne at the Royall Exchange 1629 I Cecill sculp TO THE RIGHT HONOVRABLE AND truly Noble EDWARD Earle of DORSET Lord Lieutenant of his Majesties Counties of Sussex and Middlesex Lord Chamberlaine to the Queene One of the Lords of his Majesties most Honourable Priuie Councell and Knight of the most Illustrious Order of the Garter His Singular good Lord and Master RIGHT HONOVRABLE EIther by Earthly accident or Heauenly prouidence meeting with this late imprinted French Treatise of The Iudgement of Humane Actions written by Monsieur Marande a name that I more honour then know and diuing into the perusall thereof I found it for matter so solide and for phrase so curious a Master-peece of Morall Philosophie that I sawe my selfe engaged yea and in a manner bound to deuest it from its French garbe and to sute it in our English attire and habite as desirous that England as well as France should participate of that benefit and Felicitie But as I was entering into this taske and casting my selfe vpon the resolution of this attempt I was instantly met and assayled by an obstacle of no small importance For considering that France hath now made and declared her selfe Englands enemie and consâ—quently giuen vs no iust cause or reasons to loue French men but many to hate them I therefore in honour to my Prince and Country to whose prosperity and seruice my best blood and life shall euer bee prostrated at first began to reiect this Booke because written by a French man and so to looke on the translation thereof rather with an eye of contempt then of affection But at last recollecting my thoughts and considering that Peace is the gift and blessing of God and Charâ—ty the true marke of a Christian I therefore from my heart and soule wishing and desiring a safe honorable and perdurable peace betweene these two mighty neighbour Sister Kingdomâ—s in particular and to all Christians and the whole Christian world in general And also well knowing that Learning is vniuersally to be cherished and vertue honoured in all persons times and places of the whole world without exception or distinction then these premiâ—es considered this my last consideration preuailed and vanquished my first and so I re-assumed my former designe and resolution to finish it although in regard of the deepe matter and the knottie and elegant stile thereof I ingeniously confesse that many Gentlemen both of England and Scotland had beene farre more capable for the discharge and performance thereof then my selfe Hauing thus made my selfe an English Eccho to this French Author and now in these times of Warre taken this Booke as a rich French prise and landed him on our English shores Where should this Impe of my labour looke but on your Ho on whom my hopes heart haue euer looked or to whom else should it flye for harbour and shelter but onely to your Lordship who in all the stormes and tempests of these my weather beaten fortunes haue so graciously and generously serued me both for shelter and harbour when the immerited malice of some and the vndeserued ingratitude of others haue denied it me The which yet I speake and remember more out of sensibility to my selfe â—hen any way out of passion much lesse of Enuie to them as resting contented with this resolution to keepe the griefe thereof to my selfe to leaue the shame to them and to giue the thankes and glory to your Honour As this Booke of Marande is curious so he made his Dedication thereof wherefore led by the fame and lustre of his example I could doe no lesse then immitate him herein for as he directed it to the Cardinall of Richelieu So your Lordships Merits and my dutie enforce me to inscribe it to your Honour who are as much the Cardinalls equall in Vertues as by many degrees his superiour in bloud and extraction And although I well know that shall rather wrong mine Author then right my selfe to erect or proffer any Paâ—â—gerike to his Merits and Iudgement on this his Booke because of it selfe iâ— sufficiently peâ—formes and acts that part Yet when your Lordshipâ— leasure and pleasure shall borow so much time from your great and weighty â—ffâ—ires of the State to giue it to the perusâ—ll and contemplation of this his Booke I doubt not but you will then see and acknowledge that Marande herein as another Cornelius Agrippa learnedly fights against the Vanitie of Humane Sciences and as a second Montaigne iudiciously contests against the poyson of our hearts I meane against our intemperate and therefore our pernicious Passions For in this worke of his as in a rich Treasurie and Sacrary of Nature He with a zeale and iudgement euery way worthy of himselfe laughes at the Vanitie of all Humane Artes and Actions as also generally at all the presumptuous and profane professors thereof and by reasons as cleare as the Sunne passeth his iudgement on them prouing GOD to bee the sole Author and Giuer of Wisdome and that GOD and none but GOD ought to bee the onely obiect of our desires and affections Here hee hath deuested and stript our passions naked and curiously delineated and depointed them to vs in their true colours and naturall deformity Heere he hath taught vs to beleeue and our thoughts and resolutions to know that exorbitant Ambition prooues most commonly the bane of our hearts the poyson of our mindes and the Arch-Enemie and Traytor to our owne fortunes and fâ—licitie Here hee hath curiously arraigned and anatomized the power and functions of the Senses and shewed vs how violently and maliciously they euery moment conspire to corrupt our bodies and to betray our soules to sinne and voluptuousnesse Here he hath brought home to our Vnderstanding and Iudgement what power our soules haue ouer our bodies and God ouer our soules and that our bodies can expect no true tranquillity or felicity here on Earth except our soules doe first fetch it from Heauen and deriue it from God And here hee hath crowned Reason to be the Queene of our soules and adopted Vertue to bee no lesse then a Princesse and Daughter of Heauen and taught vs how tenderly and religiously we ought to loue either and honour both of them sith thereby they will then infallibly prooue the two spirituall guides to conduct vs to true happinesse in this life and consequently to bring vs to true felicity and glory in that to come Which considered As also that such is the vniuersall iniquity of our times the generall deprauation and corruption of our liues and manners that through the darke cloudes of our humane Vanitie and Ambition we many times
fight against her selfe and that the onely way to excuse her herein is to accuse her for the ruine of our repose and tranquillity because her inconstant Nature cannot looke or bend to the surest side and that feare and hope wherewith shee perpetually ballanceth the course and actions of our life promiseth vs nothing lesse then perfect felicity SECTION III. Wealth and Riches are too poore to giue vs the felicitie which wee seeke and desire BVt there is no reason so soone to stoppe her mouth and condemne her Let vs a little see and obserue the great preparatiues which with so much noyse shee drawes after her The Master doth not alway carry the purse It may bee that this Felicitie may consist and meete in the one or the other of her goods and benefits of Fortune that follow her as her chiefest Officers Let vs cursorily consider hee who defuseth so much pompe and lustre that it seemes the eyes and hearts of all the World should follow this splendant brightnesse It is that which we tearme Wealth or Riches What is your designe promise nothing which you cannot performe if it bee not that you are constrained thereunto by the command of your Mistris Obedience is blinde and it is onely that which excuseth you Doe you beleeue that in curing our Pouerty you cure vs of the rest of our diseases Doe you thinke because of your aboundance that you want nothing to adde to your content You doe nothing lesse for all that you onely a little rub your itch but presently after it afflicts you farre the more for then the heate or fire takes it and the more you continue it the more it encreaseth But what good doe you Riches bring vs If wee cast vp our accompts together I beleeue you remaine our debter What is there in you which is worthy to bee esteem'd by your price and value but onely your exterior lustre and shew and if there be but onely that what is there which wee finde not farre more admirable in Starres and Flowres and which is not common to a thousand other naturall Bodies You must then confesse that you are in our debt by vertue whereof you must couenant and condition with vs to satisfie our desires and so to exempt vs of Pouerty And yet notwithstanding you neither performe the one or the other Is it in your power to quench our thirst when we are extreamely pressed and afflicted therewith You make vs beleeue that we yet want something and yet the possession thereof doth but encrease its violence If there be any thing in you that be capable to enrich vs it must be your presence and yet notwithstanding you bring vs more profit vpon the Exchange then in your Coffers It is not therefore your presence which is to be desired sith your absence enricheth vs farre more By this wee see that pouerty is found richer then abundance Whereof then are we healed and cured But you will say that your want doth impouerish vs O poore Riches sith you still carie with and about you some degree of beggery Hee who wants many things is hee not iustly held and reputed poore But when you are ariued any where how many seruants and guards doe you want to secure you from your Enuiers How exceedingly you want the ayde and assistance of Iudges to punish those who offend and wrong you And if hee who receiues and enioyes you haue neede of all these things and which is more hath neede of himselfe because hee is no more himselfe the last and most extreame point of beggery is not hee then more to bee contemned or rather pittied then hee whom you tearme poore who weighes not his goods by the Goldsmithes Ballance but by the yard of necessity and who wants not all these things O Riches for what then serue you but onely to enrich vs in wanting farre more things then wee enioy Why then doe you constraine vs to carie on our backes your gold and siluer which oppresseth and afflicts vs farre more in your company then it did when you were alone or absent A double burthen is not the way to ease a Porter O Riches where then is this good which hath deceiued our hopes It is not for you to purchase it it hath cost vs too many cares and labours It is not for you to conserue it it hath too many feares and apprehensions Is it in your losse I doubt so if wee will beleeue the Wise man who reioyced to study Philosophy more at his ease after the Shipwrack and losse of all his goods Auant then Riches for you are professed Enemies of repose and tranquillity and therfore of felicity SECTION IV. Glory and Reputation hath nothing which is solide but Vanity we must therefore else-where seeke our Soueraigne contentment THere is more likelihood and semblance that this Lady clad so sleightly and slenderly who promiseth to carie our name on her wings to all parts and corners of the world tearmed Glory Honour or Reputation doth carie in her bosome this precious pearle which we seeke I meane felicity It is impossible hauing trauailed and ranne ouer so many Countries but that shee hath met it either in the East Indies or some other transmarine part And indeede if wee will beleeue those who haue made profession of Learning and Philosophie wee shall finde that they were partly of that opinion which they sufficiently testified by the desire and immortality of their writings and that our felicity depended of the fauours of this Goddesse who hath power besides the fruit which wee receiue thereby in our life to prolong the enioyance thereof after our death Shee opens Graues and Tombes Shee forceth Times and Ages Shee snatcheth out of the bowells of Death and the hands of Obliuion the life and name of him who by the merit of his loue and the assiduity of his seruices hath wonne her heart and affection But faire Goddesse I am much deceiued if you are not extreamely debased and fallen from your pristine beauty and from what you haue beene I know not if it be not the loue of some Narcissus which hath so much blemished and withered you and reduced you to the Estate wherein you now are What hope remaines there for vs to cherish and comfort our loue by the sweet pressure of your embracings What is become of this former health and beauty of this delicate skinne this rauishing countenance and vermilian cheekes What doe you retaine nothing thereof but onely your voyce no more then miserable Eccho doth A voyce so weake and imperfect that shee can pronounce nothing but our name What say I If as to an Eccho wee make her speake what we please and pronounce with one tone yea and no. This triuiall Lady hath beene taught to praise Vice as Vertue and to vse the same Language for the one as for the other He who flatters a Tyrant hath no other tearmes to praise a good Prince and those who knowe them not but by
prodigie And yet that onely proceeds from the fascination of the eyes which is abused and deceiued and thinkes to see a biller for a strawe So opinion makes vse of the same Artifice and whiles the eye of reason is deceiued and betrayed hee cannot not discouer the abuse Now consider then with a sound and perfect sight all those things as they are to the end that if thou fall once againe into the relapse of this same errour that the remembrance of that which thou now â—eest may diminish the opinion and estimation of that which thou mayest make hereafter which will bee no small profit and aduantage â—or thee The lesse thou esteemest them the lesse passionate thou shalt bee for them For the worth and merit which wee beleeue is in a thing is that which engendereth our desire and loue What doest thou thinke hereof now at present Doest thou not feele a tranquillity in thy selfe through 〈◊〉 contempt and disdaine of those thinâ—s And alâ—hough thou art voluntarily dispâ—â—y led of all thy delights as thy vaine glorie ambition and foolish loue of riches yet thou shalt neuerthelesse feele a perfect coâ—â—ntâ—â—ment Thou must then confesse that 〈…〉 true sith the possession of all these things hath not giuen thee this perfect content 〈…〉 tranquillity that thou must accuse 〈◊〉 weakenesse and that it proceedes 〈◊〉 some other thing which is in vs which is called reason and which must bee dressed and pruned by a long exercise and custome which wee tearme Vertue which watering this plant makes it to produce desire and felicitie As our good issueth from interiour man so also doth our euill For that which afflicts thee is the designe to possesse those things which thou hast not But those things are within thee sith they touch thee not and they doe thee no good nor harme Thou complainest neuerthelesse to feele so sharpe and burning a griefe that it troubleth thy rest by night and almost dries thee vp with languishing But heerein there is but two things to consider to wit desire and the thing desired and because this last is neither criminall nor guilty of thy griefe as being farre distant from thee it must therefore needes follow that it is desire sith it is lodged in the same place where thou feelest this burning this affliction in being remoued with too much violence Hee hath exceedingly scratch'd and fetch'd blood of thee within he is then the cause of thy griefe and euill thou must thâ—refore cut it off and retaine it peaceably within the compasse of those things which are easie and neere If Fortune diminish any thing it is but to restraine it the more and when all that wee haue shall vanish and be tane away there will yet remaine enough in our breast and minde to reioyce us The voyce being restrained and shut vp makes more noyse strength being collected and assembled produceth more effects and the more our desire is restrained the more it puffes vp and swells our contentment as being neerest to his tranquillity and next neighbour of our owne felicity Cease therefore to desire any thing but that which thou enioyest All these things which Fortune giues thee is but borrowed apparell from common Brokers the which because it is common to all men belongs not properly to any one who weares them I counsell thee to clad thy body with them but not thy affections and to loade thy backe with them but not thy minde Reserue this for Vertue it is by her which we ought to weigh and ballance all the priuiledges and good fortunes of man Reason makes him very different from beasts but reason or perfect reason makes him to differ much from other men who are like him in shape but as then not in quality and vertue To measure a man by his exteriour goods of Fortune is to comprehend in measuring a Statue the height of his basis or foundation but to measure him by his interiour vertues wee must then doe it by his naturall greatnesse whereof neither fetters nor fire can diminish or take away the very least part Fortune subiecteth vs to all things but contrariwise Vertue eleuates vs aboue all Shee dissolues Ice shee enforceth and giues a law to griefe and paine She breakes Irons yea she passeth through fire and flames to put vs in possession of this felicity We say therefore that felicity is the vse of a perfect reason It is this Philosophers stone which conuerts to gold all that wee touch Shee supports all aduerse accidents and misfortunes that befall her with a requisite moderation and decencie and performes the best actions which can be desired or discouered vpon all causes and accidents which betide her If wee are assieged by many disasters and afflictions she then makes vse of Constancie as of some sharpe and Physicall potion to cure vs in this extreamity or at least to flatter and sweeten the sense and feeling of our paine and griefe If they come not to vs by whole troopes but by one and one at a time then she teacheth vs how to fight with them and which is more how to vanquish them And because the goods of Fortune by their arriuall or departure doe still engender some interiour disease in vs therefore shee purifieth and preserues our minde from this contagion Or if it seeme to thee that Vertue giues thee not so many sweet and ticklish pleasures in this felicity as vnchast and impudent Fortune doth in the hugge of her embraces The pleasure neuerthelesse is more firme solid and permanent Men dally and kille their Mistresses otherwise then they doe their children and yet notwithstanding in these embraces and kisses their affection is sufficiently bewrayed and demonstrated to those who see it Time in the end cuts off the web of those foolish affections but what griefes so euer this naturall loue meetes in the breeding and bringing vp of his children it is yet more tender and deere as if their watchings their care sweat and labour therein were as so many materialls to cyment more firmely and soundly this their affection to their children So any difficulties which oppose the designe of a vertuous man cannot interrupt the course of affection which hee conceiues and beares to his lawfull children I meane to those faire and glorious actions who as to make shewe and demonstration of their beauties they seeke not an ampler Theater then that of a good conscience So they neede no other light or day to accompany their glory then that which they cast and dispierce in the company of wise men by the lustre of their owne proper brightnesse The end of the fifth Discourse The sixth Discourse Of Morall Vertue SECTION I. Sicke or distempered mindes are not capable of all sorts of remedies but they shall finde none more soueraigne then the diuerting thereof WEE haue long enough played the Philosopher and now in its turne we must represent and act that of man That heroicall Vertue whereof wee precedently discoursed appertaines to
feeling thereof as the Poets fiction made miserable Niobe to approue and feele who afflicted her selfe with the murther of her children although they departed out of most extreame sorrow and melancholly Wee must diuert and attract the spirits to Hearing as the most subtill and industrious sense for this cure and remedy especially those who are preualent and delicate in this sense So Dauid by the sweet melody of his Harpe charmed and expelled the deuill out of Saul So Orpheus hauing enchanted his sorrow and lull'd a sleepe his griefe for the remembrance of his losse by the sweet tunes and harmony of his Lute Hee thought hee had againe drawne his deare Euridice from her Tombe hauing for a small time calmed the stormes and tempests in his soule of his violent griefes and sorrowes And if we may beleeue the Masters of this Art and Mysterie of Loue they haue practised no more assured remedy to cut off and appease the violence of their passion then by the diuerting and diuiding of their hearts and thoughts as it were into two riuers which they leaue to streame and slide away to the discretion and seruice of their Mistresses Or if they yet feele them selues too much oppressed and afflicted with this halfe diuided Empire they can then enlarge themselues and breathe more at their ease vnder the gouernment of many by changing if they can so please the Monarchie of Loue into an Aristocratie or Democratie And time which we see proues the sweetest Physitian of afflicted hearts and soules what hearbs doth it not imploy in their cure which the vse and practise of diuers iests and replies that mannage and surprise our imagination doe in their turnes thereby cast into a slumbering Lethargie or obliuion the remembrance of these our afflictions as some sweet and sense-pleasing Nepenthe or drinke of obliuion Yea the change of ayre contributes something to the cure of our spirituall afflictions and diseases And briefely as poysons are profitably vsed and employed in our Physicke So passions the true poysons of the soule serue to the cure of her troubles and perturbations which cannot bee so speedily or easily appeased as by applying the power of some different and contrary passion And these are the weapons and armour wherwiâ—h our Vertue couereth her selfe hauing not any other sufficient force and courage to appeare in the face of her Enemie vnarmed and vncouered SECTION II. The life of a Wise man is a circle whereof Temporance is the center whereunto all the lines I meane all his actions should conduce and ayme STormes doe not much hurt or endomage Ships which are in harbours and the tempest of humane actions doth not much disturbe the tranquillity of that minde which rides at an anchor in the harbour of Temperance If man in his infirmities will yet preuaile ouer any perdurable felicity hee muâ—t with full sayles and top and top gallant striue to ariue there although the rockes and shelues are so frequent in his way that he can difficultly secure himselfe from shipwrack And yet he is likewise happy who sauing himselfe vpon the broken ribbes or plankes of his Ship can yet steare and conduct the rest of his life to this place of secuâ—rity and safety Some wise men haue approued the excesse of intemperancie and the distast of an extreame satiety before they could resolue to containe themselues within the bounds and limits of this Vertue imagining that her grauity contained some hard and anxious thing vntill experience had taught them that Temperance is the seasoning and ordering of pleasure as intemperancie is the only plague and scourge therof Or if you will tearme intemperancie to bee the daughter of pleasure and voluptuousnes say then withall that shee is cruell and a Parricide because by her life she giues vs death and doth hugge and embrace vs so fast that shee strangles vs Contrariwise Temperance sharpens her desire and caries vs into the very bosome of true pleasure yet not to engage our soule there but to please her and not to lose her but to finde her Considering this vertue mee thinkes it may be said of her as of Bacchus that shee is twice borne Her first birth shee deriues from Vice as he doth his from a simple woman because to ariue to this point and this mid way where shee is situated she must necessarily proceed from the one or other of these vitious extreames which are neighbours to this Vertue For hee which is not yet liberall or bountifull before he be he must either be a niggard or a prodigall But afterwards shee ripeneth and perfecteth his being in the power and vigour of the Wise mans minde and opinion as the Sonne of Semele in the thighes of Iupiter Strange effects of a corrupted nature which from the infected wombe of Vice snatcheth Vertue and from that of Vertue likewise drawes Vice Choler giues weapons to valour valour lends them to rashnesse and yet all three neuerthelesse hold themselues so close together and are vnited with so naturall a cyment that it is extreamely difficult to obserue their bounds so much they are intermixed and confounded on their confines Wee must haue wonderfull strong reynes to keepe our temperance firme in this passage for if shee passe or slide neuer so little beyond these fixed and appointed limits shee shall presently finde her selfe to bee in the way and tracke of vice Two enemies are still at her sides and elbowes who watch for her ruine and destruction If shee recoyle or aduance neuer so little shee is instantly endomaged either by the one or the other either by excesse or defectuosity But as to strike the white there is but one way but many yea an infinite number to misse it So for vs to walke to this perfect felicity there is but this only way whereas to misse it and to fall into the one or the other of these vitious extreames wee may doe it by infinite wayes and courses This tranquillity of the Soule which Philosophie represents vnto vs is it any other thing then the obedience of the inferiour part which wee call sensuall appetite to the superiour which we tearme reasonable But how can they remaine of one minde and accord if wee grant and passe not some thing to the desire and will of the law which we feele in our members wholly opposite and contrary to that of our reason This perpetuall Warre and ascending tyrannie which wee will maintaine betweene them Doth it not approue and testifie vnto vs how farre distant we are from this tranquillity There is no peace but is to be preferred to Warre prouided that it can maintaine it selfe Mans life on earth is nothing but a perpetuall warre and it sufficeth that it be a forraigne one without that wee should againe foment a ciuill and intestine one A Souldiour holdes himselfe vnfortunate who in time of peace cannot safely enioy the spoyles and pillage which hee hath wonne in warre and yet farre more he who hauing fought with
they hinder their regular function There is no point of wisedome so pure which can hinder this trouble or secure it selfe from it because it cannot resist the power of sleepe But perfect reason subsisteth nor but by this well-gouerned function of the spirits for that ceasing shee also ceaseth But O yee Stoickes what will be your felicity in torments If your reason forsake you and play false company with you what will then become of this Vertue which no longer knowes her selfe is this it which she had promised you Whiles the Enemie sackes you and Fortune teares and dragges you by the haire shee will abandon you at neede and dares not shewe her selfe but when your Enemies are retired and vanished And yet then shee returnes so weake and trembling that it seemes shee hath felt the very same blowes which our body hath What shall we say of those from whom shee hauing beene but once absent shee neuer had the assurance to returne againe Lucretius a great Poet and Philosopher by a loue potion too sharpe for the palate of Vertue gaue him occasion to dislodge and to abandon the place to folly Faire Felicity how your fauours are difficult to purchase and easie to lose Will you so permit that leuity command and dispose you to the preiudice of that fortitude and constancie whereof you make profession you say that you are a daughter of Heauen and can you therefore suffer the affront and disgrace of this daughter of Earth I meane Fortune that she dragge you Captiue and proudly triumph of your spoyles At least if this Stoicall Vertue could ingender a degree of leaprosie in our sense and feeling shee hereby might make head and oppose against Fortune but shee is so farre from it as she sharpens it and makes it more sensible to the Arrowes that she shoots at vs And to shewe more clearely and apparantly how this poyson of paine and griefe runnes into the superiour party which wee tearme reasonable and so infects it with its contagion wee must knowe that the contrary qualities which concurre and meete in the compound would neuer subsist together if they were not attoned and agreed by a third party who participating both of the one and the other doth thereby entertaine them and appease their enmity and contention And Nature could neuer haue sowed or tyed to man two such contrary peeces without the ayde and assistance of a third which are the purest and most subtillest spirits of the bloud which hold fast and tye themselues to the abundance and affluence thereof by the grossest part which is in them and to the soule by that which is purest in it and which holds fast and stayes in this prison of the body So that prouided that this third be not offended Man still maintaines himselfe He can liue without reason as the Sunne can doe towards vs and in our Hemispheare without enlightning vs with his rayes and beames whiles hee is eclipsed with so blacke and thicke a cloude that it cannot pierce forth to our eyes because reason is as the eye of the soule which shines not forth openly and brightly to vs if it meete with any obstacle or interposition If the legges or armes of a man be wounded or cut off he may yet support himselfe and liue But when this third is excessiuely endomaged and that hee hath forsaken the match then the body being too corpulent and massiue hauing no more hold-fast of the soule is constrained to forsake and abandon her This third therefore serues as an Interpreter both to the one and the other Hee giues the body to vnderstand the will of the soule and to the Soule the appetites and desires of the senses All that generally befalls man is diuided by this third which sends to the one and the other their part and portion If paine afflict the body it spreads and runnes through all the spirits to the very soule as by a sulphurous match lighted at both ends and at the same instant sets fire euery where as well in the superiour as the inferiour part where she offends and outrageth both the senses and reason Thus paine hauing then past and entered into reason it there troubleth the repose and changeth the felicity of the Stoick So that the voyce of that Philosopher who cryed out O Paine I will not say that thou art sharpe or euill is not a sufficient testimony of his victory ouer it It is a Souldier which hee hath taken in the middest of the conflict and combat but yet hee dragges our Philosopher as his prisoner after him A Captiue who spets iniuries in her Masters face is yet no lesse his Slaue Hee who willingly obeyes not is more rigorously handled and the Wise man who armes himselfe against a violent paine or griefe hath not so cheape a bargaine as our selues because it is still ill done of vs to incense an enemie who hath in his hands the power and meanes to offend vs. To put this Constancie as she is depainted by them into a mans hands to oppose and fight against this strong Enemie it is to put Hercules his Club into the hands of a Pigmee The Weapons and Armour wherewith they loade our weake shoulders doe beat vs down and kill vs with their weight It belongs to none but to Socrates to weare this Corslet or to manage or play with the weapons of Achilles and to accustome our selues to it we must vigorously assayle and assault Fortune neuer to make truce with her to prouoke and dare her to the Combat with a firme footing and resolution with the sweat on our front to sup dust into our mouth to make vs drunke with her wounds by little and little to fortifie our stomack as another Pill of Methridatum against the poyson of vnlooked for accidents which may corrupt our health I meane the peace and tranquillity of our felicity SECTION VI. Mans life is a harmonie composed of so many different tones that it is very difficult for Vertue to hold and keepe them still in tune I Finde that the Poets doe exceedingly sing and paint forth the praises and beauty of Venus That commonly they lend Arrowes to this young Cupid which are sharper then those he caries about him in his quiuer and that their true naturall beauty is nothing in comparison of those they borrow from this strange painting and false decoration But it seemes to mee that Philosophers doe no lesse by their wisedome for she haâ—h not so much beauty or excellencie naked as by those ornaments and attires wherewith the Stoikes embellish and adorne her and I know not if the Gods enuie not the condition of men for the price of the like recompence This Vertue as it is painted out by Seneca haâ—h such enchanted lures and graces that if this Image could heat it selfe in our breast and receiue life in our armes by the fauour of Minerua as heretofore the Statue of Pigmalion did by the 〈◊〉 of Venus I beleeue that the