first Figure or Connexion of these Squares and he employ'd these Letters alone instead of Words which they denote for brevitie's sake Thus bb signifies the goodness of the difference or the difference of good things bc the goodness of greatness or the goodness of Concord bd the goodness of contrarieties or things contrary and so of the rest for he ties not himself solely to the word of each Square but extends it to all its Conjugata or Derivatives Species and Contraries As the Conjugata of Goodness are Well Good Bonificative or that is able to make something good Bonificent that makes a thing actually good Bonificable that may be made good Bonified that hath been or is made good to Bonifie to make good and Bonification the action whereby a thing is made good The Species of Goodness are 1 Permanent Good as To be Transient Good as To act 2. Honest Profitable and Delightful the Contrary of Good is Evil of Honest Base of Profitable Damageable of Delightful Troublesom Greatness transcendent and not categorical is that by reason whereof it is term'd great and acts very much it s Conjugates are Great Grandifying or Magnifying Magnificative Magnification and to Magnifie whose definitions may be understood by what is said of Goodness its Species are Finiteness and Infinity length breadth heighth multitude production dilatation multiplication and their conjugates its contraries smallness shortness narrowness and their Conjugates Duration is that by reason whereof a thing endures and is permanent Its Conjugates are enduring durable c. its Species Eternity Time and their Conjugates its contraries Change Privation c. with their Conjugates Power is that whereby a thing can exist and act it s Conjugates are potent possible to be able its Species Omnipotence which is in God alone simple power which is in Creatures strength masterdom authority jurisdiction empire its contraries impotence imbecillity impossibility and their Conjugates Wisdom is that by reason whereof any one is wise its Species are Science Intelligence Prudence Art Prophecy Conscience and their Conjugates its contraries Ignorance Imprudence Error Appetite is that by reason whereof a thing is desirable its Species are Instinct Cupidity and Will its contraries Hatred Malevolence Horror c. Virtue is here that which unites and contains a thing its Species are Perfect in God imperfect in Man its contrary Vice c. Truth is that by reason whereof things are true its speech are verity of the thing so God is Truth it self Verity of the Intellect as when we conceive that Man is an Animal and Verity of Speech as in this Proposition Homo est Animal its contrary is Falsity its Species those opposite to the former Truth is again divided into Necessary and Contingent Simple and Conjunct Glory is the supream and utmost perfection of a thing in the enjoyment whereof it acquiesces being unable to wish ought more such will be the Glory of the Blessed its Species are Honour consider'd in it self and call'd by the Latins Decus and Honor receiv'd from others which they properly call Honor. Thus much for the first Column The Second is of Relative Terms which agree not to all things in general as the former do but are three Ternaries one of the three whereof necessarily agrees for every thing either differs or agrees or is contrary to another is at its beginning middle or end is greater equal or less and is extended likewise to its Conjugates and divided into its Species but they have no other contrary but themselves consider'd one in respect of another The Third Column is of Questions whereof the first is Whether the thing simply exist as Whether there be a Phoenix or Whether it be some other thing as Whether the Moon be greater than the Earth The second is What the thing is To which it is answer'd by the Genus or Difference and consequently by a Definition or Description or else What the word signifies The third hath two branches the former demands Whence a thing took its Rise as in this Question Whence comes Original sin From that of our first Parents The latter asks To whom the thing belongs as Whose book is this The fourth Question inquires the Cause as Why a stone always tends towards the Centre The fifth concerns either continu'd Quantity as What magnitude the Sun is of or disjoynted Quantity as How many several magnitudes of stars there are in Heaven The sixth is concerning Quality as Whether Opium be hot or cold The seventh is of Time as When is there an Eclipse of the Moon The eighth is of the means by which one thing is in an other as The Earth in its Centre the Part in its Whole the Accident in its Subject Wine in its Cask The ninth asks How any thing is done As How do the Intellectual Species act upon the Intellect How do the Sensible Species act upon the Senses The Use of this Art styl'd also by its Author Cabalistica because 't is learnt better by Cabal or Tradition than by Rules consists in Terms Questions of the Alphabet and Figures which are Combinations or Conjunctions of two or three of those Terms to the end it may be easie for any one to examine the Question propos'd by all the wayes resulting from these Combinations or Conjunctions of Terms For Example if you desire to prove that the Intellect is immortal you must run over the Terms by themselves and examine the goodness of the Intellect its Greatness Duration Power and other following Terms first each apart and afterwards joyning two or three together And if you would not forget any Medium of proving carry the Question through all the squares resulting from the Combinations of these Terms which indeed are so numerous that the most judicious restrain themselves only to the principal and most suitable to the Subject it being not the multitude but the goodness of proofs that perswades CONFERENCE CXCVI. Why a Needle touch'd by a Loadstone turns toward the North TO omit Preface in this Question There are two sorts of Load-stones the black distinguisht with little lines which draws flesh and that which is of the colour of Iron This latter is call'd Lapis Herculeus perhaps upon account of its great virtue and Sideritis from Iron which it attracts Cardan mentions a third sort with which a Needle being rub'd enters into the flesh without being felt We here consider the second sort which turns it self towards the tail of the lesser Bear And since nothing is done in vain the Loadstone must be mov'd thither by some Cause which also must be either in Heaven or on Earth the Poles of both which are fixt I am of their opinion who say that under the Northern Pole there is an Island call'd Ilva wherein there are high Mountains of Loadstone towards which the stronger prevailing over the weaker both our lesser Loadstones and Needles toucht therewith turn because those vast heaps of Loadstone diffuse their virtue over the whole
Earth and so draw all Loadstones and what-ever Iron is rub'd with them towards themselves The Second said That the Cause of this Motion ought rather to be ascrib'd to some thing in Heaven because in Ships that approach that Island of Loadstone the Needle still tends towards the North and not towards that Island The truth is there is a Sympathy between some parts and things of the world the Female Palm bends towards the Male Straw moves to Amber all Flowers and particularly the Marigold and Sun-flower incline towards the Sun the Loadstone towards the Iron and the tail of the little Bear which if we conceive to be of the Nature of Iron there is no more inconvenience therein than in the other Properties attributed to the rest of the Starrs and Planets The Third said That to wave what other Authors have said this inclination of the Loadstone proceeds from the great humidity of the North which is the Centre of all waters towards which they tend For the Loadstone being extreamly dry and oblig'd to tend some way when it is in aequilibrio it veers towards that quarter to seek the moisture which is wanting to it as also doth Steel heated red hot and suffer'd to cool of it self if it be lay'd upon a piece of the wood floating gently in water The Fourth was of Cardan's Opinion who conceives that stones are animated and consequently that the soul of the Loadstone carries it to the search of its food and its good as the the Eye affects Light a Whelp is carry'd to his Dam's teat and a Sheep naturally eschews a Wolf For it matters not whether we hold That the touch'd Load-stone moves towards the tail of the little Bear which is distant five degrees from the Arctick Pole or Whether it flie and recoil from the part of Heaven diametrically opposite thereunto Now that the Loadstone is animated appears by its being nourisht with and kept in the filings of Steel by its growing old and by the diminishing of its attractive virtue with age just as the virtues of other bodies do Wherefore 't is probable that the Loadstone's soul either with-draws it from that part which is contrary to it or else leads it towards its good Indeed two different inclinations are observ'd in this Stone depending upon the situation it had in the Mine one Northwards whither it turnes the part that once lay that way the other Southwards whither it turns its opposite part But the Experiment of Iron loosing its attraction by being rub'd on the Loadstone the contrary way to which it was rub'd at first is an evident sign of such a soul in it which makes it thus vary its actions The Fifth said That all these accounts leave many difficulties to be resolv'd for if the Loadstone mov'd towards those great Adamantine Mountains of Ilva then they would draw only that and not Iron if Iron too why not before 't is rub'd with a Loadstone Nor doth this inclination of the Loadstone proceed from its dryness for then plain Iron which is as dry Pumice Lime and Plaster which are dryer should have the same effect Besides that there is not such want of humidity as that this stone should seek it Northwards the Mediterranean and the Main Ocean being nearer hand As for Heaven the Cause is no less obscure there and the terms of Sympathy and Antipathy differ not much from those which profess naked Ignorance The second Opinion hath most probability for since the two pieces of a Loadstone cut parallel to the Axis have so great a community of inclinations that a Needle touch'd with one piece is mov'd at any distance whatsoever according to the motion of another toucht with the other piece why may we not admit that the tail of the little Bear or its neighbouring parts are of a Magnetical Nature and have the same community with our Terrestrial Loadstone according to that Maxim in Trismegistus's Smaragdine-Table That which is above is as that which is below CONFERENCE CXCVII What Sect of Philosophers is most to be follow'd ALl the Sciences confess Obligations to Philosophy Divinity draws Ratiocinations from it Eloquence is diffuse Logick and Rhetorick is not to be learnt but after Philosophy Civil Law being wholly founded upon Morality is nothing but an effect of it whilst it teaches us to do voluntarily what the Laws makes us practise by force Physick supposes excellent skill in Philosophy since the Physician begins where the Naturalist ends Now there are so many Sects of Philosophers that to follow them all is to fall into manifest contradictions and to adhere to one alone is to be in great danger of mistaking the worst That which keeps us from being able to make a good choice is the little knowledge we have of these Sects and the Probability each seems to have and therefore 't is requisite to examine them in general in order to drawing a general conclusion And because Saint Augustine cites almost three hundred Opinions touching the Supream Good and as many may be brought touching other points of the Sciences I shall only take notice of the famousest Sects as seeming the most rational and most follow'd And let us compare the always contentious Peripatericks and the Stoicks together The end of the former was to contemplate and understand things the latter aim'd more to do good than to know it their design was Speculation the scope of these Practici I side with the former because that Science which embellisheth Man's noblest part his Understanding is the most sublime and consequently the most considerable And as the Understanding is more excellent than the Will so is Theory in matter Science than Exercise Acts of Virtue depending on the Acts of Reason and those of Reason not depending on those of Liberty Besides that is most to be esteem'd which must render us blessed and that is the knowledge of God and of the Creatures in God and in themselves which is to constitute the Beatifick Vision The Second said That Men ought not to get knowledge only to know but to operate comformably to their knowledge Truth would be either useless or dangerous if it lead us not to practise And though the Will is one Sense subordinate to the Understanding yet it commands the same in another To know how to do well and yet to do ill is a double crime And if knowledge alone could make happy the Devils would be soon in Heaven since Divines tell us the least of them hath more natural knowledge than all Mankind together Now the Opinion of the Stoicks regulating the Acts of our Wills and composing our Manners suitable to Reason seems to place the steps which must raise us to the highest pitch of Felicity Wherefore I conclude that the Curious may follow the first Sect of these namely the Peripateticks but good men must necessarily adhere to that of the Stoicks The Third said That there are three other Sects which seem to comprize all the rest
Meteors where the greatest difficulty is to know whether that effect is produc'd by the expulsive or by the attractive and retentive vertue That we should affirm it proceeds from the expulsive vertue cannot with any probability be done inasmuch as expulsion is to be wrought by somewhat that is more powerful and more subtile Now there is not any likelyhood that Iron should be more powerful and more subtile than Air inasmuch as the Iron is of a more weighty matter passive earthy and hath somewhat of the nature of that Passive Element We may therefore rather affirm that this effect is wrought by the attractive and retentive vertue which opinion is prov'd in regard there is but one humid matter which the central fire forces from the deepest part of the Earth and of the more unctuous and weighty part of this matter Metals are made of the less weighty Minerals and Salts from the subtiler part Vegetables and Animals derive their nourishment of the most subtile are produc'd the Winds Thunder and all the Meteors which participate of Heat and Drought which make several combinations in the Air. Now whereas it is from the most imperfect part of this unctuous matter that Iron is made of an earthy and impure Sulphur it is deducible thence that there is a Sympathy between Iron and the gross vapours of Thunder and Lightning To make which out a little more clearly we find that the places through which Thunder hath pass'd smell of Sulphur nay there is fram'd in the Air that which is commonly called the Thunderbolt which somewhat resembles Steel as it were to shew the correspondence there is between Iron and Thunder So that the Air being impregnate by those noisome terrestrial vapours which are of the same nature with Iron meeting with some piece of it laid on a vessel is joyn'd to the Iron by Sympathy makes a sudden stop there and puts a period to its operation and the Iron by its attractive vertue receives them as by its retentive it retains them and by that means prevents their effect The Third said That though that opinion were probable yet doth it require a more ample discussion and we are to examine how this attractive vertue operates Now there are four Natural Vertues which govern all the operations of Nature and Art the Attractive which is now under consideration acts by heat and a temperate drought the Retentive by drought and cold the Expulsive by moisture and heat the Digestive by heat and a temperate moisture The Iron then which is said to attract these vapours hath indeed those qualities of heat and drought yet can it not be easily conceiv'd that a little piece of that mettal can check the malice and infection of a great quantity of Air spread all over a spacious place besides that it is also necessary that the Iron should send forth out of it self the effects of its qualities that so the attraction might be made the marks whereof are neither seen on the Iron nor the effects of the qualities out of the Subject inasmuch as mettals being quench'd in cold Water are not evaporated but by a violent fire So that it may as well be said that the attraction is wrought by some occult vertue which draws yet so as that neither the attraction nor the manner of it can be observ'd The Fourth said That the operations of Nature are not like those of Art her ways and contrivances are more obscure and the causes of things are occult as for example the Load-stone draws Iron yet so as that there cannot be any thing perceiv'd of any body of air and smoak issuing out of the Loadstone And the magnetical Balsom or Weapon-salve cures a wounded person though at a great distance having only some part of his Cloths yet can there not any thing be observ'd on the Subject which receives the Plaister so secret and silent is Nature in her Operations On the contrary the designs and contrivances of Art may easily be discover'd as those of a Clock or Watch. But the reason of this diversity of operations between Art and Nature is that Art goes to work publickly and before the Senses and Nature does her business within doors and secretly the latter works in the Centre the other in the Circumference one produces the seed of the combination of the Elements whereof she keeps an exact account of the weights and proportions and the other can neither make nor produce any thing as being only in a capacity of making use of the substance and materials of Nature in order to their joyning together after she had prepar'd and purify'd them But on the other side Art hath this advantage that her works are much more perfect inasmuch as she makes use of purify'd essences and the other of accidents and superfluities having not instruments fit for the purifying of her Materials So that there are some who doubt of the reality of the effect now under consideration And therefore ere we proceed any further to the finding out of the causes and reasons thereof it were requisite a strict enquiry should be made whether it be certain that Iron prevents the effects of thunder by preserving Wine and Eggs under a Hen that sits from receiving in any prejudice The Fifth said That what was confirm'd by general experience was not any longer to be question'd and that whoever stood upon the Negative betray'd his own ignorance that for us to think to find solutions for all the possibilities of nature were an attempt somewhat like that of exhausting the Sea That there are certain secrets in Nature of things dreadful to humane Reason incredible according to the principles of Art and of our Knowledge That Nature is the great Circe the grand Sorceress That the Load-stone draws Iron to it That there is a certain Stone called Pantarbe which draws gold to it That dead Arse-smart being laid under a Stone cures the wound on which it shall be rubb'd sooner or later according as the Herb putrifies That the hair or wool of a mangy beast being thrust in for a certain time under the bark of an Aspen-tree cures the beast of vermine That the Menstrua of Women trouble Springs spoyl Looking-glasses and Powdering-tubs And if there be some things that corrupt them it is not to be imagin'd that Nature is so cruel a Step-mother but that there may be others whereby they are preserv'd and so the Remedies may come from the same hand as caus'd the disease That the Hazel-tree discovers hidden Treasures and Mines That Talismans are made against Serpents and Insects nay against some Diseases That there is a mutual friendship between the Olive-tree and the Myrtle whereof it would be as hard a matter to give any reason as it would be to give any of the enmity between the Vine and the Laurel and the inclination which the Male-palm hath towards the Female That the crowing of the Cock frightens Lyons and that that Bird should be so exact
Malleus Incus and Stapes in the Ear which serve to reproduce sounds grow not at all though they be full of mucosity and humidity on the contrary the Teeth the dryest of all parts as is manifested by their rotting last yet grow all the life long But if Heat and Moisture were the causes of Accretion then the Sanguine who are hot and moist should be of the largest size as they are not but commonly grow as well as the Flegmatick more in thickness than height augmenting their flesh and fat more then their solid parts On the contrary the tallest men are commonly cold dry and lean the lowest generally hotter and people grow upon recovery after fevers which dry the body Wherefore 't is more probable that the Growth of Animals is an effect of the Spirits which insinuating into the Vessels extend the same and withall the membranes muscles and other parts encompassing them proportionably The Fourth said That the Spirits are indeed the Soul's Organs and Instruments whereby she performs her functions but being of so volatile and fluid a nature as not to be reckon'd in the number of the parts of Man's Body they cannot of themselves cause Accretion which requires Apposition of new matter which insinuates it self equally into all the parts just as the nourishment doth both without penetration of dimensions or admission of vacuity This matter must be humid because of all Bodies the moist are most pliant and extensible Whence the Sea by reason of its humidity produces Monsters of strange bulk Yet this humidity as well as the heat must be in due degree for a great heat consumes instead of increasing whence the Males of Birds of prey are lesser than the Females because they are hotter but if it be too weak then the moisture instead of ascending falls downward by its proper gravity which is the cause that Women who have less heat are also of lesser stature than Men and larger downwards as Men are upwards According to the various marriage of this heat with moisture bodies grow variously some more slowly others more speedily some are little and dwarfish others Giants according to the defect or abundance of the matter serving to their first Formation But as for the rest of Man-kind Wise Nature hath set her self such bounds as she hath judg'd convenient beyond which the most part grow not which are between six and seven foot Not the Accretive Faculty is then lost or corrupted for 't is that power of the Soul and consequently incorruptible and inseparable from her but it cannot act longer for want of fitting dispositions to wit the softness and moistness of the solid parts As a Mule hath a Sensitive Soul but not the virtue of generating which is one of the Faculties of that Soul and a Load-stone rub'd with Garlick hath still the virtue of attracting Iron but cannot employ the same by reason that its Pores are stopt no more then the Eye can see in a Suffusion CONFERENCE CXXXII Whether the Dinner or Supper ought to be largest DIet or the Regiment of Living which is the first and most general part of Physick because it concerns both the healthy and the sick consists in regulating the quantity and quality of Aliments and the order and time wherein they are to be taken The Quantity must be proportional to the nature of the Person so that his strength may be repair'd and not oppress'd thereby As for the Quality they must be of good juice and as pleasing and agreeable as may be The Order of taking them is to be this such as are moist soft laxative and of soonest Digestion or Corruption must precede such as are dry hard astringent and of more difficult Concoction The Time in general ought to be so regulated that the interval of Meals be sufficient for digesting the nourishment last fore-going The Custom of most Nations hath made two Dinner and Supper Break-fast and Afternoon-collations being but Diminutives or parts of them two and the over-plus of notorious excesses Now if we compare Dinner and Supper together it seemes requisite that the latter be more plentiful because the Time ensuing it is most proper for Digestion in regard of the intro-recession of the natural heat during sleep which becoming by that means more united and vigorous performes the natural functions to wit Concoction Distribution Apposition and Assimilation more perfectly then after Dinner when it is diverted otherwise to the Senses and Operations both of Body and Mind Besides that the coldness and darkness of the night contributes not a little to the same effect upon the account of Antiperistasis Unless we had rather with some establish a new power of the Soul governing and disposing the Spirits according to necessity sometimes giving them the bridle and causing them to move outwards as in Anger Shame and Indignation sometimes summoning them inwards as in Fear Sadness and Sleep which for this reason renders the Countenance pale and all the extream parts cold whereas in the time of waking the external parts being hotter leave the Internal more cold The Second said That he agreed with the Church which enjoynes Fasting in the Evening but allows Dinners which it doth not without mature consideration drawn as well from Nature as from Grace For it thereby designes the eschewing those Illusions and Temptations attending good Cheer taken before going to bed and conceives a light Supper fittest for meditation and serenity of Mind The reparation of our dissipated Spirits by Food causeth the same disorder in the Body that happens in a Town or Village upon the entrance of strangers to people it after its desolation by some accident and therefore 't is better that this trouble arrive in the day when our waking senses are able to secure themselves from the Commotions caused by this change than in the night whose darkness helps to multiply the Phantasms which are in the Imagination pester'd with the vapors and gross fumes of Meats the Digestion whereof is then but begun Whereas in the day time such vapors transpire more freely by the Pores which are opened by the heat of the Sun and by the Exercises which are used in the Afternoon Besides Meats being onely to fill emptiness the time of the greatest inanition is the fittest for repletion which certainly Noon must be after the Evacuations of the fore-going Night and Morning The Third said There are four manners of taking Repasts First Some eat often and very much at each time so did the Athletae of old and so do those Gourmandizers who are alwayes hungry and whose Stomacks have been found after their death of unusual capacity This way is altogether opposite to Health Secondly Some eat little and seldom which course befits acute Diseases those that are judg'd the fourth day requiring sometimes a total abstinence in case the Patient's strength can bear it those that reach to the seventh or fourteenth very little Food and seldom Thirdly Such as must eat little but
Causes The Second said That the Remora worketh the same Effect upon the Ship that the Torpedo doth upon the hand of the Fisher which becomes stupid when he toucheth the same with a long pole Now of this effect of Remora is not hard to be accounted for if we follow the Principles of Campanella and those who allow sense to all even the most gross corporeal things But this opinion being little received 't is better to say that whereas all natural things subsist only by the vicissitude of motion and rest wise Nature who is the principle of both hath judiciously dispenc'd them that they are found differently in some things and in others and that for the good and ornament of the Universe which requires that as they are bodies immoveable by reason of their scituation or use to wit the Earth and the Poles of the Heavens others always in motion to wit the Heavens Rivers Air and Fire and others endued with an attractive vertue as the Loadstone and Amber so She hath given others a Quality contrary to this Namely the Remora that of stopping the motion of a Ship and because motion and rest are contrary one to the other their principles are no less as well those that are effective of motion as those which cause rest but 't is better to explicate them by their sensible and indubitable effects than by reasons ordinarily frivolous and impertinent The Third said 'T is no rare thing for Ships to be staid in the main Sea whatever pains the Mariners take to make them go forward and how favourable soever the Wind may be the cause whereof is no other but the contrary motion of the waves of the Sea especially in streights and narrow places where there are strong Currents which probably stopp'd Caligula's Ship and those other mentioned in History rather than this little Fish which 't is credible can send so strong a Vertue from its small body as to fix and check the far greater and oftentimes irresistible force of the Winds and Sea Unless you had rather attribute this retardment to the mucosity and other foulnesses wherewith Ships are crusted in long Voyages which hinder their advancing and this Fish being sometimes found in those mucous humidities people mistake it for the cause though it no wise contributed thereunto The Fourth maintain'd according to the opinion of Francastorius That 't is not possible for so small a Fish as the Remora to stop a great Ship at full sail but that this Effect is occasion'd by Rocks indu'd with a Quality like that of the Loadstone upon which this Fish using to reside when a Ship passes near them their Adamantine Vertue attracts the same towards them whence the same thing happens by these two violent motions viz. that wherewith the Vessel is driven along in the main Sea and the attraction of these Rocks as when two equal forces draw a weight two several ways the thing remains unmov'd so that this fish is not the cause but only the sign of this retardment The fifth said That if there were any such magnetical vertue in this case the nails and iron-works of the Ship so stay'd would rather be taken away than its course stopt the latter being more hard to do than the former since a little force sufficeth to pull a nail out of a Ship whose impetuous motion 't is not possible to withhold whence Archimedes's his drawing of a Ship out of the Port into the Market-place by his endless serue pass'd for one of the goodliest secrets of the Mechanicks though indeed it be nothing to the present enquiry And the truth is this strange effect may best be attributed to a hidden property and singular quality of this Fish which being always found sticking to the stopped Ships is more probably the cause of that impediment than any unknown Rocks which ought to do the like to all Vessels that approach them if there were any such For t is a vanity condemn'd by the most intelligent in the secrets of Nature to presume to give valid reasons thereof whilst we have none for the most sensible and ordinary effects for want of knowing the last and proximate differences which constitute every thing in its Essence and distinguish it from others it being easie to know that the Remora after the example of many other which act by a propriety of their form produceth this effect without being needful to trouble our selves to find out the means it imploys in order thereunto CONFERENCE CCXI. Of Negroes NAture loves variety so well that she is not contented with producing a great number of Species of all sorts of Animals differing chiefly according to the Climates which produce them but she hath also pleas'd her self in an innumerable diversity of individuals especially as to colour as cannot be call'd an Accident in Blackamores but an inseparable property which distinguishes them from other men and constitutes the nature of Negroes in whom the Sun's heat produceth an effect contrary to that of his light this brightning the other obscuring the subject upon which it acts Yet it acteth not alike upon all Subjects since the same Star Aethiopian whitens linnen and wax but this blackness happens to the Aethiopians because moisture exceeds and in a manner extinguisheth heat just as we see it come to pass in Charcoals Gangreens and the parts of man's body when struck with Lightning For if the first Quality would take colours no doubt cold would be white as we may judg by Water Ice Snow Gray Hairs and the Animals that live under the Artick Pole which are all white though of the same Species with ours of another colour as Bears and Hares Which is further prov'd by Herbs which grow white under ground and lose as much of their heat and bitterness as they partake of such whiteness witness the stalks of Hartichoaks and Savoury Hot things would be red and of the colour of Fire which we see gives that colour to faces formerly pale to hot Iron and burning Wood but a superfluous humidity supervening stifles and extinguishes this heat and leaves behind it the colour of corruption as we see the whitest skin grows black by heat upon travelling Southwards the contrary happening to those that go Northwards The Second said That if heat alone made Blackamoors those that are most expos'd to the Sun-beams should be the blackest but they are not so there being many Nations of the New World where it is so hot that they go all naked of an olive colour whereas in Guiney Aethiopia and other places inhabited by Moors they are cloth'd and feel more cold And because this colour may be ascrib'd to the reciprocation of heat and cold which is more likely to alter men's bodies in all other qualities than in a permanent one there are found both black and white people under the same parallels and elevation of the Pole as in the Isle of Sumatra where the Inhabitants are white Wherefore this colour must
't is the multitude of persons excelling in all sort of Arts and especially in the Sciences whereof never were so many Doctors Regents and Professors seen in one single Age as in this that makes us less esteem the ingenious that are now living for 't is onely rarity that gives price to things and that made him pass for a great Clerk a few Ages ago who could but write and read he that spoke Latine was a Prodigy though now 't is a Tongue almost as universal and common as the Native Now Admiration being the Daughter of Ignorance the esteem had of most of the admired in former Ages is rather an Argument of the Rudeness and Ignorance of the Times than of the excellence of their Witts Nor were they better than we in their Manners but onely more simple and yet culpable of as many Crimes But were we the more wicked this were no Argument of want of Witt which is the matter in question And if there have been sometimes a Ceres a Bacchus a Pallas a Vulcan and others advanc'd to Deities for finding out the way to sow Wheat plant Vine-yards spin Wool and forge Iron we have had in these last Ages the Inventors of the Compass the Gun Printing the Tubes of Galileo and a thousand other Inventions both more difficult and excellent the easiest having been first discover'd The Modesty of those that govern us who no less hate the vanity of praise than they know how to exercise Actions deserving it permits me not to shew you that all pass'd Ages have nothing that comes near the grandeur of their Souls and that their conduct is the more to be admir'd in that their business is both to keep themselves up with Friends and give reason to Enemies who also help to verifie that there are greater States-men and Captains in this Age than in any of the preceding CONFERENCE CXLV Of the Serene which is a hurtful Dew falling in Summer Evenings AS Painters find it harder to represent a calm smooth Sea than the rampant foaming billows of a storm which require more variety of Colours and afford the Pencil more liberty and as a History of Peace is harder to write and less pleasant to read than the Troubles and Commotions of Warr So I think it less difficult to describe the several impressions of Tempests than those of a calm Air which nevertheless at certain times produces pernicious Effects so much more remarkable in that they proceed from a very simple Cause no-wise malignant of it self to wit from a clear and serene Air free from Clouds and Vapours which in the Evening being cool'd by the reason of the Sun's Elongation acquires a certain Refrigerating and Catarrhous quality call'd by the vulgar The Serene because it happens either in the Evening or more commonly in fair weather when the Air is serene than when it is pluvious and full of Vapours Which quality some ascribe to the Influence of the Stars especially to the Moon term'd for that reason by the Psalmist Infrigidans which hath indeed a notable dominion over all Humid Bodies particularly those of Men who find sensible alterations in themselves according to the several faces of that Planet But because the Heavens diffuse their Influences upon those that are under covert as well as upon those that are in the open Air where onely the Serene is felt I should rather pitch upon the alterations of the refrigerated Air which acts but so far as it is near us and 't is always more proper to attribute Effects here below to proximate Causes than to recur to the Heaven which is but an equivocal Cause thereof The Second said If Cold were the Cause of the Serene the same should happen where-ever it were cold and be more hurtful according to the vehemency of that quality as towards Midnight or Morning and likewise in Winter Yet the Serene is never spoken of but in the temperate Seasons of Spring and Autumn and some little portion of the Seasons bordering upon them Besides in Summer the air of our cold Caves should be capable of producing it at mid-noon Wherefore I cannot think the Serene an effect of bare cold but of the vapors wherewith the air howsoever apparently pure is always charg'd whence proceeds the diversity of refractions In the Planets especially at Sun-rise and Sun-set which is never without some clouds which vapours being destitute of the diurnal heat and so coming to be condens'd fall down upon our heads just as Dew doth which is produc'd after the same manner but of a matter somwhat thicker and more copious And as there is no Dew so there is no Serene but in temperate Seasons and Regions never in Winter or the midst of Summer for violent cold congeals these vapours into Frost and Ice and vehement heat dissipates and consumes them The practice of our Ladies who use to remain in the Serene thereby to whiten their complexion and soften their flesh shows that this evening-air having a cleansing and levigating vertue must be impregnated with a quality like Dew which is detersive by reason of the salt which it drew from the earth by means whereof it not only whitens Linen and Wax but also purgeth Animals as appears by the fluxes hapning to Sheep driven out to grass before the Sun has consum'd the Dew and by Manna which is nothing but a condens'd dew and hath a purgative vertue The Third said Mans body being subject to the injuries of all external Agents receives so much greater from the impressions of the Air as the same is more necessary to life capable of subsisting for some time without other things but not a moment without Air which is continually attracted into our Bodies not only by respiration but also by insensible transpiration through the Pores of the Body which is pierc'd with holes like a Sieve for admission of air which is taken in by the Arteries in their motion of Diastole or Dilatation And being most agile and subtle it easily penetrates our Bodies altering them by the four first qualities wherewith it is variously impregnated according to the vicinity of the Bodies environing it which make the four Seasons of the Year wherein it variously disposes the bodies upon which it acts changing even their natural temperament And because the parts of a natural day have some proportion with those of a year upon account of the several changes caus'd by the common and proper revolutions of the Sun hence the Morning is like the Spring hot and moist or rather temperate and the Blood then predominates Noon resembles Summer hot and dry at which time Choler is in motion the following part is cold and dry Melancholy and correspondent to Autumn the Evening and whole Night by its coldness and humidity which puts Phlegm in motion is a little Winter the coldness whereof proceeds not from the vapors which are always accompani'd with some extraneous heat whereby they are retain'd in the Air and kept
same to it by its own sole approach Hence such Insects as need fewest parts are soonest and most easily generated of Putrefaction perfecter Animals never The Fourth said That Nothing being made of Nothing some Matter is requir'd to every Generation which being barely alter'd in Animals which produce their like is corrupted in those which are generated of themselves the internal Humidity which serv'd to conjoyn the dry parts together being drawn out whence Carcases become dust And because Nature is never idle therefore when She finds part of that Humidity full of a seminal Vertue and a Vital Spirit and cannot make a Plant or an Animal of it like what it was before then she forms imperfect Creatures Which effect is not to be attributed to the Elements being full of souls nor to that particular Intelligence which Avicenna saith is destinated to the introduction of Forms nor to Heaven call'd by some The Parent Forms but to the establish'd order of Nature That when Matter is indu'd with all the Dispositions requisite to such or such a Form the same must be introduc'd into it which constitutes not a different Species from the Animals generated of Seed though the particular end of those bred of corruption seems to be the purgation of the Elements all whose impurities they attract and are nourisht therewith The fifth said That these Generations must be attributed to the Sun who transmits not only his Influence upon the surface of our Elements but also his Influence and Vertue to the Center of the Earth where it concocts digests prepares and vivifies Metals and makes mineral Waters boil For besides that such Generations happen chiefly when he approaches or makes himself most fell upon our Horizon some have observâ—d That Rats begotten of Corruption without the help of Male and Female are distinguish'd from others in that being expos'd to the Sun after death they have little or no bad smell but are consum'd and become in a manner nothing that Planet resuming what it had contributed to them whereas the smell of other produc'd by ordinary generation is intolerable The Sixth said That both in Univocal Generation which is compar'd to one fire kindling another and in that by Corruption which hath some Analogy with fire excited by a Steel the same difficulty occurrs namely What imperceptible Chain and Link attracts Forms and makes them necessarily descend into the Compound to give it Being so soon as fit Dispositions concur therein whether these Dispositions are awaken'd by the Seed as when you sow a Plant in well-prepared ground or whether they spring out of the earth without sowing as many Plants do which are more vigorous and less need cultivation than others by the Gardener's reason that Mothers have more care of their own Children than Nurses have of those of others Hence Rats bred of Corruption are more sprightly and long-liv'd and multiply more than others As for the manner of their Generation it must have some proportion with that of perfect Animals which are as little understood there being no Philosophy that can tell why a Horse begets rather a Colt than a Calf nor why a Pear-tree rather produces a Pear than a Plum CONFERENCE CLXIIII Of Zoophytes or Plant-Animals THe comprehensiveness of this Universe appears in that in the division of Entity and Substance not onely each Member answers to as many things as are in Nature but there are as many others as there can be several combinations made of the Members of this division Thus in the division of Souls into vegetative sensitive and rational there are found middle ones not onely between sense and reason but also between Vegetation and Sense Examples whereof may be seen in the Families of Animals and Vegetables Some Plants have no Root as Misleto and Mushrooms others nothing but Root as Trubs and Truffles some have onely leaves as Duckmeat others neither flowers nor seed as Ferne some want leaves as Venus-Navil others commonly put forth the Fruit before the Leaf as the Fig-Tree and lastly some Flower without bearing Fruit as the Flower-Cherry-Tree Of Animals some are bred of putrefaction and of others some remain a while without motion or life to appearance as the Silk-Worm in its bag and Snails in Winter others remain alwayes immoveable as Oysters And because this manner of being nourish'd and growing without any progressive motion is proper to Plants and yet by opening and shutting their Shells they testifie some sense therefore they are call'd Plant-animals in which the Soul seems to be compounded and to resemble changeable colours which consist of two extreams as Gray doth of White and Black being wholly neither but both together So also a Zoöphyte is something less then an Animal and more then a Plant. The Second said That Forms and particularly Souls are indivisible Indeed one may be comprehended in another as the Vegetative is in the Sensitive and this in the Rational which comprehends all eminently but it cannot enter into the composition of another much less be divided informing a body that is half Plant and half Animal otherwise by the same reason there might be others half Men and half Beasts which is not imaginable but under the form of a Monster Moreover such division would proceed to infinity there being a Latitude and Degrees without end between one extream and another of one whereof that which partakes most would constitute a new Species or rather a new genius which is absurd and contrary to Philosophy which admits not multiplication of things without necâ—ssity The Third said That by the same reason Plants and Animals being of the same species there can be no doubt but these two attributes might be found in the same Subject For Vegetation and Sense being onely several operations of the same Soul which acts differently according as it findes the Organs of its Subject dispos'd hence the multiplication of Souls is unnecessary seeing they are all but one And as in Brutes the sensitive faculty supervening to the vegetative in their generation adds no new form to the former so the vegetation of Plants is nothing less then the sensitive the dispositions of the matter being the sole causes of this diversity An Animal depriv'd of the use of some senses is no less an Animal then another that hath all why then is a Tree less an Animal because it exercises fewer operations of its soul then Animals do Nor is it a conclusive reason that Plants are wholly destitute of the faculties of sense because the same are not perceptible to our Senses which yet finde something to satisfie themselves in the sensitive Plant growing as Scaliger and others relate in Zanolha a part of Tartary where the Inhabitants sowe a Grain like that of our Melons but somewhat longer from which grows an Herb which they call Borrametz that is a Lamb whereof it hath the whole figure especially the Feet Hoofs and Ears yea all the Head excepting the Horns instead whereof it hath a
as often of apprehension as they thought of that sad fate Which fear ended with the Swine's meat and the Ship 's arrival at a safe Port where it appear'd that that vile Animal had felt none of that trouble which the Tempest had caus'd in the more unhappy men and consequently that their Imagination was the sole cause of it The like may be said of all other afflictions which men give themselves call'd therefore deservedly by the Wise-man Vanity and vexations of spirit For most of the inductions and consequences which the Mind draws from events prove false and nevertheless they give us real sorrows we see frequently that a great Estate left by a Father to his Children makes them debauch'd and worthless and degenerate from the vertue of their Parent who having receiv'd no inheritance from his own was constrain'd to labour and by that means attain'd Riches and Honour Whence it appears that the trouble of a Father leaving a small Estate to his Children at his death hath no foundation in the thing but only in his abus'd Imagination and consequently cannot be a real Evil and yet this is the most general Evil of all with the Vulgar Thus two men lodging under the same roof lost both their Wives not long ago one of them was so afflicted therewith that he dy'd of sorrow the other receiving the consolatory visits of his friends could not so well dissemble his joy but that it was perceiv'd and yet their loss was equal So that the sadness of the one and the joy of the other depended only upon the different reflection they made upon this accident Thus also the same affront that made one of Socrates's Disciples draw his sword made the Philosopher himself laugh at the sottishness of his enemy and every thing which the Vulgar calls Good or Evil Pain excepted is a Medal which hath its right side and its reverse CONFERENCE CLXXXII Whether Man be the most diseas'd of all Creatures and why A Disease being a preternatural disposition hurting the Functions every living Body capable of action may become sick by some cause impeding its actions Hence not only Men but also Animals and even Plants have their Diseases which Theophrastus diligently describes Amongst Beasts though some are subject to particular Diseases as the Dog to Madness the Swine to Leprosie the Goat and Lyon to Fevers yet there is none so invaded with all sorts of Maladies as Man who is not exempt from any the least of his similary parts that is nourish'd being subject to twelve sorts of Diseases namely when they attract their aliment either not at all or but weakly or otherwise then they should or when they are defective either in retaining or concocting it or in voiding superfluities But if such part have sense too it may have fifteen if motion also eighteen And if it not only be nourish'd it self but labours also for the publick 't is lyable to twelve more according to the three ways that its Functions may be offended in attraction retention concoction and expulsion The Eye alone is subject to almost 200 infirmities and as if there were not ancient Diseases enough we see daily new ones unknown to former Ages Now the reason hereof lyes in the nature of Man who being the most perfectly temper'd and best compounded of all Animals because design'd to the greatest actions is therefore apt upon the least occasion to lose that evenness of proportion which as it requires a great train and concurrence of many things so also there needs but a little thing to subvert it by defect of the least of those requisites Indeed there are but two causes of Diseases to wit Internal and External and man is alike subject to both to the former by reason of his hot and moist temper which is prone to putrefaction and the more upon account of his variety of Food whereas other Animals never change their Diet which is the most probable cause of their health and good constitution For diversity of aliments incommodes Nature weakens the natural heat produces Crudities the Sources of most Diseases which also are frequently caus'd in Men by the internal Passions of Anger Fear and Joy The most ordinary external causes are the evil qualities of the Air pestilential vapours and malignant influences whereof Man's body is the more susceptible by reason of the tenderness of his Flesh and the porosity of his skin which on the contrary in other Animals is hard and cover'd with Hair Feathers and Scales and renders them less subject to the impressions of external bodies as also to Wounds Contusions Fractures and other solutions of continuity The Second said That such perfections or defects of things as we know most exactly seem to us the greatest as the excellences and defects of Pictures are not well observ'd but by those that are skill'd therein and he that is unacquainted with some certain Nation cannot know its Vices so as they that converse with it do Now Beasts being unable to signifie to us the differences of their pains and the other circumstances of their diseases hence we judge them to have fewer although the contrary appears in the Horse in whom observant Farriers remark a great number of Diseases to which we are not subject So that other Animals may have as many or more than Men who being less concern'd therein less understand them 'T is true the parts of Animals resemble ours saving what serve to distinguish their outward shape as appears by the Dissection of Apes whereby Galen learnt Anatomy and no difference is found between the Ventricles of a Man's and a Calfe's brain If their blood and other humors differ so do those of one Man from those of another Moreover Beasts have the same inward Causes Fear Anger and the other Passions in short all the other Non-natural things and not at their discretion as Man hath If a Dog hath the harder skin yet man is less lyable to blows and the injury of the Air. In fine who knows but it may be with these Animals as 't is with rusticks who though Men as well as we and subject to the same inconveniences yet all their Diseases are reduc'd to a few Heads since the true and spurious Pleurisie the Asthma the Cough the Palsie and other Maladies whereof we make so many branches are all reckon'd by them only for a hot or a cold Rheume The Third said The nearer Nature promotes Bodies to their utmost perfection the more frail she renders them And as in Mixts Glass which is her utmost atchievement is weaker and brittler than Stones so in Animals Man the most excellent and perfect is the most frail and weak by reason of the part wherein he abounds more than they and which advances him to wit the Brain the root of most Diseases And as the most noxious Meteors are form'd in the coldest Region of the Air so those that have a moist Brain are soft and less vigorous as Women and
deadly to Men is not warranted by any Example Antiquity whose Judgement is venerable even in doubtful things allowing this Beast capable of doing mischief only in the place where he resides CONFERENCE CCIX. Whether a Dead Body can be preserv'd naturally many years THis Question is divided in two points First Whether a dead Body can be kept without art Secondly Whether it can be so by art Nature being here oppos'd not to Art but to what is supernatural The first is hard every Carkase having in it self the principles of Coruption because the harmony of qualities which caus'd to subsist being dissolv'd it advances of it self to an annihillation And Nature should cease her continual motion if her subject depriv'd of animal life should always remain in one and the same state Yea if Nature should stop her course in dead Bodies and not be able to resolve them into other works the Influences of the Heavens would be useless in respect of them as also their motion which is in order to generations which would cease if there were no more corruption whence the destruction of the Universe in its parts would follow Nor would the Elements act any more one against another remaining pure and simple and incapable of any generation since siccity could no more act upon humidity nor heat upon cold It remains to enquire Whether a dead Body may be preserv'd by art which seems possible because we may by art destroy the activity of the Elements and reduce them to a just and equal temperament capable of long preservation For if impurities and superfluities lead mixt Bodies to Corruption 't is easie to separate them by Chymistry otherwise this art would be incapable of reducing them as it doth every day to a just Temperament Yea if we consider the Principles of Preservation it will appear that those of Art are more powerful than those of Nature in regard of the means and Instruments it employs to separate them which Nature cannot do because She mixes things without choice and depuâ—ation and consequently since Art hath so much power in so many Agenâ—s 't is possible to preserve a dead body for many years Moreover our own Experience and that of Antiquity teach us that Balms are able to preserve bodies a long time as appears in the Mummies of Aegypt and in some Embryo's which â—re preserv'd long in spirit of Salt and other Liquors repugnant 〈…〉 The second said That a dead body may be preserved long not only by 〈◊〉 but also naturally as that of a Lady deceased fifty six years ago which was found lately intire and gave occasion â—o this Conference Whence it may be presum'd That Women are not so easily corruptible because their bodies are made of flesh more elaborate then that of man which was immediately taken from the dust and consequently is more prone to return into its first Original Now the way to preserve dead bodies from corruption is to prevent the dissolution of their parts which is done by maintaining the connexion of humidity with driness to which end all extrinsical heat and moisture must be kept from them as much as possible Hence it is that dead bodies are plac'd in subterraneous places and inclosed in leaden Coffins to the end the cold and dry vapours symbolizing with the qualities of Saturn which the Chymists make as justly preservative as the Poets make it destructive may withstand extrinsecal heat and moisture and maintain the marriage of 〈◊〉 with humidity which is also the scope of the Gums and Spices we employ to imbalm bodies which having some heat with a certain Unctuousness suck up the superfluous moisture and preserve the Natural Moreover the Sex Age and Temperament are considerable in this matter A Habit of body moderately fleshy which Galen accounts the most laudable and which denotes a good Constitution is fittest for this purpose and 't is probable that the bodies of those that die of a sudden death resist putrefaction longer than those that have been extenuated by a longer Sickness or brought to the Grave by a Feaver because in these cases the body is in a great tendency to putrefaction even before Death CONFERENCE CCX Of the Remora T Is a small Fish half a foot long called by the Greeks Echeneïs and by the Latins Remora because 't is thought to stop the motion of Ships by means of two scales wherewith it closely imbraces the keel This common belief is founded upon many experiences reported by Authors worthy of Credit Pliny writes That Periander having sent a Ship to Gnidos with orders to castrate all the principal Children of that Island it was stopp'd in the main sea so long time as was requisite to send for other Orders contrary to the former by another Ship and that in remembrance of this happy retardment the two scales of this little fish were in his time seen hanging up near the Altar of Gnidia and Venus The like happen'd to a Pretorian Ship of Anthony at the battel of Actium so that he could not advance to give Orders to his Naval Army The Emperor Caligula having set sail from Asturia with a Gally of five banks was likewise constrain'd to stay by the way with his Vessel the other Ships not suffering the same obstruction at which this Prince was so incens'd that he presently commanded divers to seek out the cause who at length found this Fish sticking to the helm of the Vessel which they shew'd him about the bigness of a Snail and he was more surpris'd when he saw that it had not the like effect within the Ship as without as 't is said the foot of a Tortoise being in a Vessel makes it move slowly Plutarch in the second book of his Symposiacks affirms That this Fish was found sticking to the Ship which he hired to sail into Sicily and Rondeletius saith That the Cardinal of Tourain being imbarked for Rome in a Vessel of three banks was a long time stopp'd in a place at Sea by this little Fish which being taken was serv'd up to his table though others write that it is not fit to eat But what they add That its vertue of retarding is such that it is made use of to hinder the Judgment of a Law-suit whereof the issue is fear'd and also in filtres to retain a Lover that despises his loving Mistris is as hard to believe as 't is to find considerable reasons for it without having recourse to the ancient asylum of those who despair to find any which is the specifick form of this Fish which hath the same faculty of stopping Ships that a Diamond hath of retaining the Vertue of the Loadstone and Garlick of hindering it to act as the Ship appeaseth the fury of the Elephant the Fig-tree that of the Bull and many other such things which though small in bulk are yet very great and virtuous as they make appear in their Qualities which are as sensible in their Effects as they are occult in their
they are much more fond of their Children than the Fathers which fondness is a sign that there may be more of the Mothers observ'd in the Children than of the Fathers For the love we have for our selves is so great that God would have it to be the measure of that which we ought to bear unto our Neighbour and that which we bear to God himself hath some reference to his affection towards us Those therefore who would insinuate themselves into the favour of any one have no surer way to do it than by complying with his humor and as much he can become conformable to him CONFERENCE CCXXII Whether is harder for a Vertuous Man to do that which is Evil or for a Vicious to do that which is Good BEfore we come to the Resolution of this Question we are to consider two things the former that Man consists of two parts the Superiour which is the Soul and the Inferiour which is the Body and whereas these two parts have different objects and such as which contradict one the other there happens to be a great Conflict the body being strongly inclin'd to sensuality and the Soul endeavouring to raise her self up to spiritual things But in regard the Organs she makes use of are material such as are also the Senses which assist her in her operations it is not to be thought she can overcome without great pains inasmuch as the instruments which she stands in need of for the exercise of Virtue hold a greater correspondence with the Body and as they derive their Being from matter so they betray the Resolutions of the Soul reducing her under a Tyrannical Subjection Whence it follows that the wicked or vicious person finds it the greater difficulty to do well inasmuch as being enslav'd to vice and sin he cannot shake off that yoke as having a constant inclination to evil The Second thing to be consider'd is good and evil in it self for according to Nature there is no evil in Humane Actions inasmuch as in appearance they are all good otherwise the Will the object whereof is that which is Good and pleasing would not be inclin'd thereto since good is that which all things desire There are therefore two sorts of good and as many of evils one Natural and the other Moral the Soul is easily enclin'd to the Moral good and the Body to the Natural and consequently it is much more easie for the Vicious person to do a Moral good than it is for the Virtuous Man to do a Moral Evil. The Second said That it is harder for a good Man to do evil in regard that to the virtuous man Virtue seems so fair and taking that he finds it the greatest difficulty in the world to forsake her and so to embrace Vice which he looks upon as a hideous Monster inasmuch as Beings and Substances are more amiable than Privations are odious in regard that as Love respects the things that are amiable and aversion is not extended to that which is not in like manner Vice is not so much shun'd as Vertue is belov'd Whence it follows that it is a greater trouble for the good man to do that which is evil in regard he knows the perfection of good as much as the vicious person is ignorant of it and from that ignorance there must needs proceed a difficulty and backwardness of embracing it The Third said That the vicious person finds it a harder task to do well in regard that Nature is strongly bent towards that which is evil and consequently the virtuous person when he does that which is evil easily falls down into the bottom according to the descent of humane inclinations and the vicious person when he does that which is good climes up a high Mountain full of Rocks and Precipices and engages against Nature her self being in open hostility against the sensual Appetite and according to the Scripture We do not the good which we would do but the evil we would not do that we do To shew that the difficulties men find in the pursuance of good are so great that Saint Paul himself complains of his having a Law within him which rebelled against the Law of God This Nature of ours being full of the imperfections conceiv'd in Original Sin hath so great a repugnance to good that there was a necessity of a Law of Grace to regenerate it in order to the pursuit of good a complyance with the true sentiments of Religion and the knowledge of God not to urge that Pleasure hath so great attractions and charms that it is almost impossible to over-master them Thence it came that Vlysses order'd himself to be bound to the mast of his Ship and caus'd his ears to be stopp'd that he might not hear the harmonious voices of the Syrens otherwise his Reason would not have been so strong as to over-master his sensual Appetites which must be either destroy'd or so fetter'd that the Soul may not be drawn away by pernicious temptations The Fourth said That Virtue was natural to Man before Adam's Transgression and from the time of his rebellion against God Vice hath seated it self in her place so that when Innocence forsook our first Parent all vices and imperfections possess'd themselves of his Mind and are become so naturaliz'd there that it begat a necessity of establishing Divine and Humane Laws whereof some were for the eradication of Vices others for the punishment of Crimes all which trouble might have been spar'd if there had not been so much difficulty in the doing of that which is good The Fifth said That it being suppos'd as indeed it is true that Humane Nature is more inclin'd to Vice than to Virtue for the reasons before alledg'd yet is there a certain means to frustrate and destroy that Inclination and advance the Soul to a sovereignty over the Body by abolishing and destroying the Senses and those intellectual powers whereby the Organs are govern'd For if the Body have the Mastership the Soul will be forc'd to obey but if the Soul commands she will bring the Body into subjection to all the vertuous actions she pleases her self And then the Vertues will be naturaliz'd in man and the Question propos'd will meet with a contrary Solution for in that Case it will be much more hard for the vertuous man to do that which is evil than for the vicious to do well inasmuch as the virtuous person by that mortification of the Senses will be in a manner reduc'd to the state of original innocence and restor'd to the glorious condition Man was in before the Fall The Sixth said That such a moral regeneration is a great Cabalistical Secret unknown to all the learned that such a mortification and destruction of the Senses as was propos'd is a work not yet well discover'd to the Curious as transcending all common rules For if the Soul acts not without the assistance of the Organs and the interior and exterior Senses the weakning
done among others by the Marigold which for that reason is called Heliotropium for the great correspondence there is between it and that all-enlivening Star Nay that correspondence is also so remarkably obvious in the other Plants that those who have observ'd them most exactly affirm that there is not any herb so despicable but it hath an interiour character answerable to that of some Star which communicates its vertues and qualities to it and thence it comes to be called a terrestrial Star Why therefore should it come into dispute whether Man hath such a Priviledge as that he may be sensible of what is prejudicial or advantageous to him by that tingling of the Ear which may well be the sign thereof though the cause be not absolutely manifest For experience it self and the effects consequent to the observation do very much confirm it for those being commonly answerable to what had been conceiv'd by those to whom that kind of Divination by the Ears had happened there is as much ground to give it some credit as there is to deduce any thing from some other less considerable accidents from which the like conjectures are made such as are for example among others the twinkling of the Eyes sneezing the meeting of something extraordinary especially a Negro an Eunuch or some other defective person and the striking of ones feet against the threshold of his own door which prov'd fatal to C. Gracchus who was murther'd the very day that such an accident had happened to him as also to Crassus the day he was defeated by the Parthians In all which signs there is much less likelihood of declaring the accidents which some would attribute thereto than may be imagin'd in the Tingling of the Ear as being the seat of the Memory which the Ancients for that reason were wont to stir up by plucking the tip of it and if it be true what Plato saith that all our Knowledge is but Reminiscence and that we only remember the Species of things which had been before in our Understanding it will be no hard matter to find out some ground for this praesension The Fourth said That there was no other conjecture to be drawn from this Tingling of the Ear than that the Person subject thereto hath a weak and ill-dispos'd Brain which breeding abundance of ill humours if they come to make any stoppage in the passages of the Ear its action is vitiated and obstructed by that Tingling which is a symptom of a deprav'd Hearing and causes the party to hear an importunate sound or noise though there be not any made without and that there be not any application of the hollowness of the hand to the Ear in which case it hears some such noise 'T would therefore be ridiculous to look after any other causes thereof than what may be in the disposition of the Brain and the excrements it produceth on the diversity whereof as also on that of their Motion in the Ears that Tingling depends as do also the Breathing the Ringing the Buzzing and the Swimming of the Ear which are Symptoms of a deprav'd Hearing the breathing or blowing being done by a little blast which gets out gently the Tingling by the interruption of its motion the ringing proceeds from a more gross vapour and such as blows more strongly as the resounding does from an impulsion yet more vehement and lastly the Swimming is caus'd by the agitation of these as well vaporous as spirituous matters which being different and differently moved produce those different sounds And therefore it is absurd to derive any other marks of what should happen to us then those laid down in Medicine which teaches us that they who are subject to these frequent tinglings and ringings of the Ears are in their way to Deafness by reason of the danger there is that these vaporous humours should make so strong an obstruction in the organs of Hearing that the auditory air cannot get into it to make sensation and if this happen in a burning Feaver together with dimness of the eyes it is a certain presage of the distraction or madness which ordinarily follows that noise of the Ear. CONFERENCE CCXXIX Of Philtres and whether there be any proper Remedies for the procuring of Love THere is not any thing so pleasant and delightful as to be belov'd To procure that it is requisite there should be some perfection which being conceiv'd such by the person whose favour is courted it prevails so far upon his Inclinations that he cannot forbear being in Love with it Thus is it that a known Truth doth so fully satisfie our Understanding that it cannot deny its consent thereto Thus is the Will so strongly engag'd upon the pursuance of a Good which seems delightful to her that it is hardly in her power to gain-say it nay she is of her self inclin'd thereto not needing any other Charms to induce her thereto than those she meets with in the goodness of the Object which she loves These are real Philtres which never fail to raise Love in those that have them there is no necessity of looking after other Remedies all which are us'd either to a bad end or to none at all Deianira desirous to make use of them in order to her being better belov'd by her Husband Hercules prov'd the occasion of his death by the means of a garment which she sent him dy'd with the Blood of the Centaur Nessus Another Woman as Aristotle affirms in his greater work of Ethicks brought her Husband to the same Fate after she had made him take a Medicine of that kind Lucilia administring such a Philtre to the Poët Lucretius her Husband put him into such a distraction that he kill'd himself The like was done by the Emperour Lucilius after he had taken such a one from the hands of Callisthenes as also by Caligula after he had drunk off one of these potions into which there had been put a piece of that flesh which is found on the fore-heads of young Colts as soon as they are cast called in Latine Hippomanes an ingredient particularly recommended among these Medicaments In which Receipts we find also the brains of Cows when they would go to Bull and those of young Asses the bones of a green Frog the little Fish called the Remora the Matrix of the Hyaena and the little Bird call'd Motacilla the Wagtail from its continual wagging of the tail which it seems is so effectual a Remedy for the procuring of Love that Pindar in his fourth Ode of the Nemaea acknowledges that his Heart was so strongly drawn away and charm'd by the means thereof that he could not forbear Loving But though it were granted that these Remedies had some particular Vertues to excite Love in those to whom they had been administred yet would it not follow thence that they should make that Love mutual by obliging them to love those by whom they are belov'd For those to whom they are given commonly not
same customs very ill provided and that benefit commonly accompani'd with new expences Indeed some Legislators have absolutely forbidden Trafick as Lycurgus others have only permitted it to the inferior people as Romulus which induc'd Plato to found his Common-wealth far from the Sea-ports for fear it should be corrupted by the delights ordinarily introduc'd by strangers and his Citizens getting their livelihood by Merchandize should learn to lye and deceive the common vices of Merchants which Cicero saith likewise of the Carthaginians that being good of their own nature they learn'd by the converse of Merchants to addict themselves to frauds and lyes out of their great desire of getting But as Trading begets dissimulation so it makes men more prudent by the knowledge of several persons manners Whence Homer in the beginning of his Odysseus makes this remark of Vlysses that he had seen many Cities which is proper to Merchants but every body knows that one may lye dissemble and deceive without being a Merchant nor ought the abuse of some hinder all from the use The Second said That the reason why Trading is interdicted to Gentry is lest the sweetness of gain should retard them from the Wars for the service of the King and defence of the State whereof they are the support and the right hand And Gentlemen having no other exercise but Arms must needs be better skill'd therein then if their Minds and Bodies were shar'd amongst several Occupations and upon occasion they are more ready and free from other employment to execute the orders they receive then if they were in some long Voyage or busied about examining an Account-Book an errour wherein sometimes imports their whole estate Besides Souldiers more cheerfully obey him who they see leads a life far from all Trading This was the practise of the Romans among whom 't was not lawful for a Citizen to exercise Merchandize but only for freed Servants or others of the low vulgar Much more was it forbidden to the Senators who for that reason had the Port of their Ship limited lest they should Trafick under pretext of transporting their Fruits and Rents all profit seeming to them dishonest And the Thebans admitted no man to any Magistracy unless he had discontinu'd Trading at least ten years before The reason is given by Aristotle because Merchandize is an enemy to Vertue Hence all access to Honours hath been by the Laws interdicted to Merchants or so much as to bear Arms so that Gentility and Merchandize seem inconsistent Add hereunto that God forbids his people to have any Merchant amongst them because saith the Wise man the Merchant can hardly have his hands clean from sin And so Chrysostome adventures to say that a Merchant cannot please God by reason of his perjuries and frauds qualities directly contrary to true Gentility The Third said That seeing this life needs Action more then Contemplation therefore good Polititians invite by all sorts of Honors and Priviledges those that are able to contribute most to the benefit quiet and increase of the State But so are Merchants who bring plenty of all kinds of Goods to the most desolate places and enrich the more fruitful by distributing their commodities which otherwise would be poor amidst their abundance Nor are they oblig'd to Trade in Person so that they are not hindred from paying the personal Service they owe to their King and Countrey for whose good they are oft-times best advertis'd by their Forreign Correspondences and give the certainest Intelligence of an Enemies Designs besides that having travell'd into his Countrey in time of Peace they the better know what way to mannage a War against him and the money wherewith they abound more then Gentlemen gives them large Credit amongst the Souldiers The Roman Law that forbad Senators to Traffick was extinct in the dayes of Hortensius as he complains whereby it appears to have been lawful not only for them but also for the Equites or Knights to negotiate either by themselves or by others as at this day the Nobles of Spain England Venice and especially those of Florence do Thus Cicero speaks of Lucius Pretius an illustrious Roman Knight that Traffickt at Panormus and of Q. Mutius of the same quality at Syracuse That God forbad his people Traffick 't was probably to keep them from being corrupted by the Idolatry of other Nations and 't is no more to be drawn into consequence for us then abstinence from Swines Flesh and their other Ceremonies But should all that hath been said against Merchants be admitted for good it must be onely against Merchants by Retail not against those that Trade in Gross who have alwayes been excepted from the rank of others The Fourth said That Utility is not more incompatible with Honesty then Trade is with Nobility which nevertheless is different according to the several sentiments of Nations being rated by extraction amongst Christians by warlike exercises amongst the Turks by learning amongst the Chineses as also the Nobles live in the Countrey in France and England but in Cities in Spain and Italy from which circumstances Nobility receives several Estimations according to the several opinions of Nations But in general Commerce as 't is the exercise of the people so it hath been more honor'd in popular States then in Monarchies where the power of Sovereigns shines brightest in War which is opposite to Merchandize and the fear of Monopolies which would easily prevail here renders odious the trading of Grandees who incurre the peoples envy as soon as they undertake the employments belonging to them Moreover the gain of Merchants is contrary to the liberality of a Gentleman whose donations are interpreted in Law more extensively when there is question about them then those of Yeomen And our Saviour so gentle towards other sinners whipt the Tradesmen out of the Temple calling them Robbers and their Shops Dens of Thieves As accordingly Pagan Antiquity assign'd them for their Patron Mercury the Patron of Thieves and the most infamous of the Gods And the Emperours forbad Merchandize not only to Senators by the Lex Clodia but also to Nobles by extraction L. Nobiliores C. De Comerciis Mercat to Officers Leg. Ne quis C. de dignit and even to Souldiers L. Milites C. Loca L. eos C. ne milites negotientur And if some Nations confounding Utility with Honesty have authorized the Trading of Nobles 't is but as base Money is upon some necessity allow'd current in one Countrey and rejected in all others And their own Doctors agree that the Splendor of such Nobility is much diminisht by negotiation the distinction of Gross and Retail not changing the Species of the Question any more then more and less do in all others Nor is it material whether they negotiate by the intervention of others since 't is not lawful to do by another what we may not do our selves besides that such intervention draws in the Honor of a Gentleman to vouch anothers Fact
Lastly the poverty intended to be avoided thereby is oftentimes met with instead of Riches and were it otherwise yet Poverty commonly serves for a spur to Virtue Hence ordinarily Cadets are more courageous then Elder Brothers and the poor Epaminondas and Phocion were the more Warlike but Crassus the Rich was overcome and slain by the Parthians CONFERENCE CLXI Why the French are so much incensed with the Lye TRue and Good being reciprocal hence to call a man Lyar is as much as to say that he is of no Value and because the paltery Fellow is unworthy of Honour whereof the French is more covetous then any other Nation as appears by the courage wherewith he runs upon hazard to the danger of his Life testifying thereby that he prises Life less then Honour to which most other Nations need to be incited by infinite Artifices hence it comes to pass that the French are more sensible of the Lye than they The second said That all Mankind make esteem of Piety towards God and Courage towards men the former having been a means us'd by the greatest Princes and Legislators to gain the minds of their people so powerful that some even with the apparence of it alone have produced strange effects witness the dotages of Mahomet in the East and many others elsewhere The other namely Courage being the vertue most rever'd amongst men and esteem'd by women who commonly favour the most valiant Now Lying is a Vice opposite to both these Vertues implying Impiety towards God and Cowardize towards men For he that lyes cannot be ignorant that God the Father of Truth knows and will sooner or later punish his Crime if he have power to do it as cannot be denied without manifest irreligion And since Truth comes of it self to the Tongues end unless it be detained Captive by Fear or some other servile consideration hence a Lye presupposes Cowardize and Fear of him before whom it is spoken So that it is no wonder if the reproach of these two crimes trouble us so much the French Nation being the most glorious of the World The third said That the Lye cannot but have something in it more hainous then the reproach of Coward and Impious since these are repayed only with the Lye but the Lye it self with blows probably because Lying is a servile Vice and the French are very jealous of preserving their Liberty But we must distinguish between lying and telling a Lye for in this latter case people are not readily offended as in the former Thus an Advocate pleading upon a Breviate the matter whereof is fictitious takes it not for an injury if the Adversaries Advocate is false but replies only that he will justifie it The Philosopher maintaining an erronious opinion which he believes good will not be angry at its being impugned of falshood But when one is surprised in a Lye which seems invented purposely to impose upon the Company the discoverer of the falshood seems to reproach him not only of knavery but also of sottishness in that he could not utter it dexterously enough to make it believ'd As therefore Theft was not punished but esteemed among the Lacedemonians when it was well concealed and received not chastisement except the Thief were taken in the fact so a Lye seems to offend only when it is discovered but if handsomly told instead of being blamed is authorized by Rhetorick and Poetry which are arts of handsomly feigning things that are not by Complements which are fair Disguisements by dissimulations common enough everywhere by stratagems of War Hence when we give the Lye to any one we add saving the respect of the Company intimating thereby that we intend not to reproach them of little judgment in letting pass so gross a falshood for a truth For I see not that the French are greater Lyars then other Nations unless you will bring under Lying their reservedness and modesty in not telling their designs to all the world The Fourth said That the French being the most civilized of the world have reason to take for the greatest affront the Vice which most destroyes civil Life and Conversation which being founded upon Communication whereof Speech is the Interpreter if there be no assurance in this then Humane Society is destroyed All other things are known for what they are by the species which they send to our senses as the species of a Dog and a Horse never fail to represent them to us such as they are our intentions and thoughts alone are committed to speech which if it ill represent them is no more to be esteem'd then a false Looking-glass which represents objects quite other then what they are or then a copy not at all resembling its original or lastly then a thing which is nothing less then what it is taken to be Hence a Lyar seeing himself dis-believed and every one upon their guard when he speaks or negotiates he hath reason to be sharply offended with him that gives him such a repute and because being accounted a Lyar he that accuses him would not believe his bare affirming the contrary therefore he gives him a box on the ear as the most suitable reply that can be made to the Lye which being the highest affront the blow is the first revenge of it which the uncover'd parts of the body namely the hand and face present to the offended person which blow is esteem'd the greater out-rage in that it testifies the highest contempt of the receiver and is onely meant to provoke him to resentment Therefore a thrust with a Sword at an enemy purposely to deliver ones self from the fear of him by killing him is accounted much less injurious then an affront done purposely for the affronts sake But besides the foregoing reasons custome which oftentimes hath none in France authorizes the greatness of the injury of the Lye The Fifth said That the refiners of Honor are like those that sharpen the points of Needles so much till they break The French instead of interessing their Honour as most other Nations do onely in things of importance and of fairly maintaining that they speak true when they are told that they Lye are as much incens'd upon the sole pronunciation of these words as if they were so many magical terms forcing the hand to give a blow or draw the sword and which is strange 't is not enquir'd whether the thing be true or false the Lye being judg'd alike offensive in both yea ordinarily they are the greatest Lyars that are most offended with the Lye the reason whereof may be That the reproach of true Vices offends us more then that of false and suppositious and those of the minde more then those of the body as being more reprehensible in us in that 't is our own fault that they are not amended for a reproach made to one for a Vice he cannot remedy serves more to shew the malice of the Reproacher than the fault of him that is blam'd