Selected quad for the lemma: woman_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
woman_n	child_n	conceive_v	womb_n	1,568	5	9.6606	5	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A42442	Three discourses of happiness, virtue, and liberty collected from the works of the learn'd Gassendi, by Monsieur Bernier ; translated out of French.; Selections. English. 1699	Gassendi, Pierre, 1592-1655.; Bernier, François, 1620-1688.	1699 (1699)	Wing G297; ESTC R8129	274,288	497

which the Augures among the Romans pretended who predicted by the flight or chirping of Birds The Haruspices by looking into the Bowels of Animals The Sortilegi by Lot The Interpreters of Dreams that were dubious and obscure The Interpreters of Thunders Monsters and Prodigies Those skill'd in Physiognomy and Palmestry and such as pretend by the Lines of the Hand to foretel certain particular Events attended with the Circumstances of Places of Times of Persons and Things As to what concerns the Temper and natural Inclinations no doubt but there are signs of them in the Body but yet these signifie not that such and such things shall come to pass at such and such a time and that in such and such a manner As to that other sort of Divination which is not performed by Art or by the help of Signs or long Observation this is effected by some Apparition or a discourse with Ghosts or Spirits or by a certain Agitation or Fury of Mind either supernatural or caused by the Devil Such is that which we believe to have been in the Sybils and such as have been in an Extasie of those whose Understanding sometimes when they have been awake and other times in their sleep hath been so moved and exalted beyond its ordinary Station that it sees many things that in a natural and peaceable Temper it sees not As for artificial Divination 't is not needful that we should busie our selves to refute it seeing by that what we have said concerning judicial Astrology 't is certain that if this Art which among all the Arts of Divination is the Chief and yet is but vain and fantastical the rest ought not to be otherwise esteem'd And truly if there were any reality in these Arts why at present since they are of no use in any Religion should they be looked upon as of worth seeing that heretofore when their Religion ordered them to be taken notice of the learned and most intelligible Men of those Times slighted them For we know what Advice Thales gave to Periander when a Monster half Man and half Beast was born of a Mare from whence the Chief Priest concluded that there would be a dangerous Sedition that would follow 'T is also known what Cato as Cicero tells used merrily to say That he wondered that when a Fortune-teller or Cunning Man met with another of the same Trade that is to say one Cheat met with another how he could contain himself from smiling Mirari se quod non rideret Haruspex Haruspicem cum vidisset 'T is the same thing which was said upon the occasion of a Serpent that had wound it self about a Lever that it had been indeed a wonder if the Lever had been wound about the Serpent Thus Hannibal spoke to King Prusias who was loath to fight because the Bowels of the Beasts were not favourable Had you rather give Credit to the Entrails of a Calf than to an able and experienced General of an Army as Hannibal Such another Story is related of Claudius Pulcher who was resolved to ingage in a Sea-Fight tho' the Chickens would not come out of their Coup Well said he to the Keeper who told him that it was but an ill Sign cast them into the Sea for seeing they will not eat they shall drink Quia esse nolunt bibant Marcellus also said pleasantly That when he would perform any thing he was willing to the better not to be hindered by these Men of Art was wont to march with his Litter shut And Mosamac who kill'd a Bird that hindered a whole Caravan from marching on their Journey because they saw it flying sometimes this way sometimes that spoke thus to 'em Are you such Fools as to believe that this Bird that knew not how to preserve its own life should know any thing of our Journey We may alledge our daily Experience certainly when Experience is constant there is nothing but ought to yield to it But how often do things happen contrary to what is foretold Flavinius saith Cicero obeyed the Sooth-sayers and perished with his Army A year after Paulus who was also persuaded by them was also killed with all his Army at the Battel of Cannae What shall we say of the Answers of the Augures I know of a great many that have had no Events or such as were contrary to their Predictions These Diviners forbid Cesar to pass over into Africa before Winter yet he passed over and Conquered If what we Dream of happens sometimes how often doth it never come to Pass and because sometimes it never happens ought we not to conclude that if it happens 't is Chance rather than to think that there is any Art in it Who is it that shoots every Day with a Bow and will not sometimes hit the Mark We sleep every Night and there is scarce any of us but Dream and we seem surprised when what we have dreamt of sometimes comes to pass You will say 't is an effect of the Providence of the Gods to intimate to us before hand by Signs the things that may befall us for there is nothing more useful to us But to what end should the Gods give us Signs of the Mischiefs that must fall upon us Why should they give us such Signs that we cannot understand without Interpreters Why should they signify to us what we cannot avoid and if the Signs are of a Divine Original why are they so obscure Is it probable that the Immortal Gods those Divine and Excellent Beings should busy themselves to buz about the Beds and mean Retirements of poor Mortals in what part of the World soever they be and that when they find any of them snoring they should present them with troublesome dubious and obscure Visions to fright them and to oblige them the next Morning to run and consult the Soothsayer Is not this a natural Effect that our active Spirits having been lately disturb'd should fancy to see sleeping what they had seen when awake Which of these is most becoming a Philosopher to Interpret things by the Superstion of Fortune-tellers and Conjurers or by the Explication of Natural Causes and the less we are to heed them because they who exercise this Profession are Fellows made up of the Dregs of the People and very Ignorant One that was to run in the Olypick Games dreamt as he was a sleeping that he was carried away upon a Chariot with four Horses In the Morning he went and consulted the Soothsayers they told him you will infallibly carry away the Prize the swiftness and the strength of the Horses intimate as much The same Person went to advise with Antiphon who assured him that of Necessity he would be overcome Don't you see that four ran before you A married Woman that desires to have a Child and questions whether she is Pregnant and fancies that her Womb is shut up The Soothsayer that she went to advise with in the Morning told her that she could

not possibly Conceive because her Womb was closed up Another tells her that doubtless she was with Child because nothing is sealed or closed up in vain and without cause What ought we to think of that Conjectural Art which is to no other end but to delude and deceive us by the subtilty of Wit Is it that the great number of Observations and Precepts that the Stoicks have gathered concerning this matter signifies any thing else but a little Cunning and Subtilty which from some likelyhood carries its Conjecture now this way than another Suppose one should now find a Serpent twin'd about the young Roscius yet in his Cradle which perhaps was false but if there should be found one in the Cradle there is no great wonder because the Serpents are very common and numerous at Celoin they being often found by the Fire-side I know that these Soothsayers pretend that there is nothing more Illustrious nothing more Noble more Excellent than their Art I wonder why the Immortal Gods should be willing to shew such strange and miraculous Thing in favour of a Charlatan and that they would never shew so much Favour to a Scipio Africanus For as to that Divination which is without Art we might justly take for Fabulous such as that related amongst the Heathens of certain Spirits that appeared openly and familiarly discoursed and foretold things that were to come For to mention something of that of Brutus that told him that he should lose the Day at the Battel in the Fields of Philippi and that he would there appear to him We must observe that Brutus having revealed this Apparition the foregoing Night to Cassius the next Morning Cassius told him that this supposed Apparition or Spirit was but a Mist before his Eyes or of his deluded Imagination And that this was the more probable because Brutus was of a Melancholy Temper as Plutarch observes that the troubles of his Mind so oppressed him that he seldom slept and when he considered in what danger the Common-wealth was and remembred that Pompey had been unhappy in a like cause he pondred what Resolution he might take if things succeeded not well and that which is considerable ruminating and thinking upon these and such like things when the Night was well spent all his Camp very silent all their Lights out and he half asleep 't is no wonder that he then thought he had seen and heard his Genius or Spirit because he was perswaded by the Doctrines of his Sect being a Stoick that there were good and evil Spirits besides there are four Circumstances that discover in what disturbance his Mind was then in and that we may suppose him to have been but in a Slumber or as we say Dreaming or half asleep The first is that he enquired of his Servants if they had heard nothing This shews that he himself was doubtful whether this had happened to him awake or asleep The second that the Domesticks answered him that they had neither seen nor heard any thing nevertheless if it had been so they could not but have seen that monstrous Image or Appearance at least to have heard its Voice which Brutus declared to be to this effect I am O Brutus thy evil Genius thou shalt see me again at the Fields of Philippi The third that his Servants should have heard the Speech of Brutus to the Spirit when he askt it whether it was a God or Man and what it would have Ecquis tu Deorum aut hominum es Ecquid tibi vis qui ad nos venisti And that Word which he spake without being daunted after the Spirit had discoursed with him Videbo The fourth is that Brutus according to the Relation of Plutarch was settled in his Mind after that he had heard and advised with Cassius by whose reasoning he understood that all this was but a meer Dream But what shall we say of that famous Genius or Demon of Socrates 'T is true Socrates himself speaks of it diversly in several Places but as this Philosopher was altogether employed about prescribing Precepts of good Manners he may perhaps make use of this cunning to add a greater weight to his wholsome Admonitions for we may know well enough with what authority he speaks who is supposed to be divinely Inspired Besides when Simias in Plutarch made it his business to inquire of Socrates himself what this Genius was Socrates never answered him a Word This shews sufficiently that Socrates would not tell a lie by confirming it nor would deny it by answering for fear that his wholsome and good Councils should lose thereby their Authority and Influence So that we may suppose that the Genius of Socrates was nothing else but his Reason his Wisdom and Natural Prudence which had been empowered by a constant and continual Study of Philosophy and which discover'd to him what was best to be done and furnished him with those good Counsels which he imparted to his Auditors and this is so much the more probable because Xenocrates one of the Disciples and Successors of Plato and who consequently ought to know the Thoughts of Plato and of Socrates saith That he is happy who is inriched with a good Soul and that such a Soul is to every one of us a Genius or advising Spirit And Plato speaks in this manner of that most excellent part our Soul That God hath bestowed it upon us to be as our Demon that inhabits in the highest and loftiest Fortress of our Bodies and that he who takes care of that divine Spark within him and who emproves well his familiar Spirit becomes extraordinary Happy Clemens Alexandrius speaks almost to the same Purpose when he teaches That Happiness is nothing else but to emprove well our Spirit or Genius and that the principal part of our Souls is called by the name of Demon. As to what concerns that supposed Agitation by which the Spirit being as it were out of it self and seperated from all Matter foretold things to come this supposeth that the Spirit is a Particle of God or of the Soul of the World and by that means knows all things as being of the same Nature with God who is present in all Actions and every where and therefore is ignorant of nothing Now the Disciples of Plato and generally all those who are perswaded that our Soul is part of the Soul of the World fancy that when the Soul is ingaged in the Body it sees not plainly all things as that Soul doth whereof it is a Particle but nevertheless that it is in a possibility to see and know them first when it is stirred up by the strength of certain Diseases for Aristotle acknowledgeth that in those Persons who are troubled with Melancholy there seems something Divine which predicts the time to come Secondly when it withdraws its self in its own Being and is in a perfect Tranquility and Sequestring it self at the same moment from the Thoughts and Incumbrances of Corporeal