A Philosophical Treatise concerning the quietness of the mind. Taken out of the Moral works written in Greek, by the most Famous Philosopher, & Historiographer, Plutarch of Cherronea, Counsellor to Tra●●● the Emperor. And translated out of Greek into French by james Amyor Bishop of Auxerre, and great Almoner to the most Christian King of France Charles the ninth. And now turned out of French into English by John Clapham. Printed by Robert Robinson for Thomas Newman. 1589. ¶ To my very good Father Master Luke Clapham contentment of mind in this life, and continuance of joy in the life to come. SIR, after I had finished the translation of this Philosophical Treatise, (which was my chief work these long Winter nights:) I purposed to send the written copy unto you, not minding then to publish it. Howbeit being since persuaded that it might be beneficial to others (considering the necessity of the argument) I have now made that common to all which at the first was intended only to you, wherein whatsoever my intention was, I can hardly excuse myself of rashness in publishing it to the view and censure of the learned, & skilful in the French tongue (whereof myself have but a taste) who will easily perceive my wants, & errors in the translation. And yet seeing oftentimes that endeavour supplieth default of sufficiency, and a good meaning countervaileth a bad performance: I have at all adventures (as you see) stripped this moral treatise out of a rich French attire into a poor English weed, (I would be loath that some French man should take it as an injury) thrusting it out to the eye of the world under your patronage, being the first fruits of my labour in this kind, not doubting of your favourable acceptance thereof, as proceeding from him, that in nature and duty is most bound unto you, and to whom he oweth himself and all that he hath. If the pains I have taken herein may either please or profit the Reader, I shall be glad: if both, I require no more. If neither, yet for the first time, Sit voluisse satis. And thus in my hearty prayers I commend you with my good Mother to the protection of the Almighty, whom I beseech to send ye many happy years to your joy and contentment in this world, and everlasting peace to your endless comfort in his Kingdom. From the Court at Richmond, the 2. of januarie. 1589. Your humble and obedient son. john Clapham. Translator ad Libellum. Si quis (parue liber) quum primum viderit hospes Forte rogat quiduis? cuius es? unde venis? Jgnotus (dic tu) Dominus me protulit, atqui Cum nequeat quod vult, sit bene velle satis. Intereà faveátque tibi, Dominóque precare Qui me lior a volet, cum meliora valet. A Philosophical treatise, concerning the quietness of the mind. Plutarch to Paccius health, etc. I Received your letter very lately, wherein you desire me to write some thing unto you cocerning the quietness of the mind, and with all, touching certain places of Plato's Timaeus, which seem needful of a most diligent exposition. It chanced at the same time, that Eros our familiar friend had occasion to sail with speed towards Rome, about certain letters which he had received of the most virtuous gentleman Fundanus: who therein was very earnest to have him departed forth with, and to come unto him. So wanting sufficient time to employ in the matter, which you desired, and unwilling, that he departing from me, should come unto you with empty hands: I have drawn together summarily out of notes, and remembrances (which I had long since collected for mine own private use) certain sentences touching the tranquillity of the mind, persuading myself that you have not required this discourse, to the end that you might take pleasure in reading a treatise well and eloquently written, but only to serve you at need, knowing very well, that to get the favour of great men, and to be reported a good speaker, and as eloquent a pleader of causes in the Palace, as any one in Rome: you do not for all this, as Merops the Tragedian, who wearieth & consumeth himself with vainglory to please the humour of the popular sort (which therefore worthily account you happy:) but I doubt not that you keep well in memoric the speech which you have oft times heard me use, that neither a nobleman's shoe healeth the gout in the foot, nor a precious ring, the cramp in the finger, nor a Diadem, the pain in the head. For how serveth store of wealth, great honours, or credit in Court, to free the mind from trouble, and to make a man's life peaceable, if (That) be not within, which can Reason. use it virtuously, and if it be not always accompanied with contentment, which never wisheth that it hath not. And what other thing is That, but only reason, accustomed & exercised in bridling straightways the unreasonable part of the mind, which easily, and oft times passeth her bounds, so that it cannot wander abroad at her own pleasure, nor be carried about after her own appetites. Wherefore as Xenophon doth warn men to be mindful of the gods, and to worship them, especially when they are in prosperity, to the end, that in time of necessity they may be more assured to reclaim them, as having been long before favourable and friendly unto them: So ought wise, and discreet men to make provision of reasons, which may serve to defend them against passions, so that having them prepared before hand, they may be more available, when need requireth. For even as dogs which are fierce by nature do grin and bark at every strange noise they hear, and are not appeased, but with the sound of that voice which is familiar unto them, and with which they are acquainted: So is it not an easy matter, to bring back to reason, the wild wandering passions of the mind, unless we have a fit, and familiar bridle at hand, that may check them, as soon as they begin to stir. As for them, which say, that if we would live quietly, we should not deal with many matters either private, or public: First I say that they would sell us this tranquillity too dearly, which will Idleness. have us buy it with the price of idleness, which is as much, as if they should warn every man, as being sick, even as Electra doth her brother Orestes. Continue quiet, wretched in thy bed. But this were an ill medicine for the body, which to case the pain thereof must take away the feeling: neither is he a better Physician for the mind, who to take all disquiet from it, would make it idle, effeminate, forgetful of all duty towards friends, kindred and country. We see than it is untrue that their minds are settled, and quiet, which intermeddle not with many matters. For if it were so, then must we say, that women live more contented, and less troubled than men, considering that for the most part they stir not out of the house. But very true it is, as the Poet Hesiodus saith. The piercing wind, that from the North doth pass. Hurts not the body of the tender Lass: But griefs, cares, vexations, and discontentments, be it through iealousysuperstition, ambition, or proceeding from vain opinions, and conceits, that 3 especial causes of women's discontentment. are almost innumerable, do easily rush even into Lady's closerts, and bedchambers. And Laertes, which lived solitarily in the country for the space of twenty years. Alone with one old woman that he had. To dress his meat he lived pensive & sad. Albeit he separated himself far from his country, from his house, and kingdom, yet he always carried grief, and sadness in his heart, which are ever accompanied with idle discontentment, and pensive silence. Moreover there are some which say, that not to be employed in affairs is oft times cause of displeasure, and the disquiet of a man's mind, As appeareth by the discontented Greek, whom Homer describeth. But stout Achilles sprung of Peleus' race Being light of foot, and full of divine grace, Had no delight once from his ships to move, Or march in battle as did him behove Amidst the Greeks, or else among the wise To sit in counsel, or to enterprise Some brave attempt, beseeming his estate, But all alone possessed with spite, and hate He did consume himself from country far, Although he loved nothing more than war. Whereupon himself being passionate and vexed in mind saith a little after that. Hard by my ships, where doing nought I stood, A lump of Earth unfit for any good. In so much that Epicurus himself is of opinion that a man ought not to continue still, doing nothing, but that every man should follow the inclination of his own nature, as the ambitious, and desirous of Honour to deal with public affairs, and to intermeddle with the government of the common wealth, saying that otherwise in doing nothing they should be more troubled, & disquieted, because they could not obtain that which they desired. But herein he is of a bad judgement in calling to the government of the state, not those men, which are most fit for the place, but such as can least give themselves to case, and rest. Howbeit we ought not to measure or determine the quiet or disquiet of the mind by the great or small number of matters, but by the good or bad handling of them. For (as we have already said) it is no less troublesome, nor less offensive to the mind, to omit that which is good, then commit that which is ill. And as for them which think that there is assuredly a certain special kind of life without any discontentment, as some hold the life of labouring me, to be some, the life of young men to be married, and some the life of Kings: Menander answereth them sufficiently in these verses. O Phania I thought, that men of power, Which have great store of wealth at every hour. So that they need not upon usury: To borrow, as men do in penury. Had from all care, & thought been freed clean: And had not known what grief, & pain doth mean. Or all nights groaning, sighing, & unrest: Turning from side to side, as men oppressed. To cry alas, and wish it were their hap: To close their eyes, or take one slumbering nap. But afterward, looking nearer into their state, and perceiving that the rich lived as much discontented as the poor he saith. Thus discontentment, in all states being rife: No state, or kind of life free from trouble, and disquiet. The sister german, of this human life. Participates with nobles, in the Court: With men of power, of wealth, of every sort. The silly soul, by her doth pine away: And every where, she bears no little sway. But this is, even as those that are fearful, The cause of discontentmet in ourselves. and sick upon the seas, which think to ease, and cure themselves in passing, out of a Bark into a Brigandine, and out of a Brigandine into a Galley: And yet they gain nothing thereby, for so much as they always carry with them the humour, and fear, which causeth their sickness: Even so alteration in the kinds of life doth not take away the griefs and vexations, that trouble the quiet of mind; which griefs proceed partly of want of experience in matters, partly of lack of good conference, and advise, & partly of default of knowledge; & discretion to apply ourselves to our present estate. This is it, which disquieteth as well the rich, as the poor. This is it, which troubleth as well the married, as the unmarried. This is the cause, that many do fly the palace, and please please in courts. And yet for all this, they cannot brook quietness, or give themselves to rest, by reason they desire, and seek to be a duanced, and to have great places in Princes courts, which when they have once obtained suddenly they become weary of them. Hard is it to content the man that's sick. The mind never contented. So saith jon the Poet: for his wife displeaseth him. He accuseth the Physician. He is angry with his bed, some one of his friends offendeth him, because he cometh to visit him, another because he cometh not, or being come for that he will needs departed. But afterwards when the disease decreaseth, and that there cometh an other temperature, & disposition of body: then health returneth again, which maketh all things pleasing, and delightful. So that he, which of late, nay, but yesterday refused with loathing, and abhorred eggs, fine cheat, & the whitest manchet that might be got: this day falleth to brown household bred, with olives, and water cresses, even savourly, and with a good stomach. Even Reason changeth affections so the judgement of reason coming to form itself in man's understanding, bringeth with it the like facility, and the very same change in every kind of life. They say, that Alexander having heard Alexander's ambition. Anaxarchus the Philosopher dispute and maintain in argument, that there were innumerable worlds, began to weep: And being asked what reason he had so to do, answered saying: have I not great cause, to weep, if the number of worlds be infinite, seeing that I cannot yet make myself lord of one alone? Crates contentment. Whereas Crates having for all his wealth but one old ill-favoured, ragged cloak, and a patched scrip did nothing all his life long but sport, and laugh, as if he had always been at a feast. Contrariwise, Agamemnon complained for that he had Agamemnon's complaint. such a great world to command. Lo Agamemnon, son to Atreus: Upon whose neck, jupiter caused to bide: The heavy weight, for all the world beside. Whereas Diogenes, when they sold him for a slave lying all along upon the Diogenes' carelessness ground, mocked the crier that sold him, and would not rise up, when he commanded him, but sported and jested with him saying. And if thou shouldst sell Socrates' patience. a fish wouldst thou make it rise up? And Socrates being in prison used familiar conference in discoursing of matters of philosophy: whereas Phaeton being mounted up to heaven yet wept for despite, that they would not let him rule, & govern the horses, and Chariot of the Phaeton's impatience. Sun his father. Even as the shoe becometh crooked according to the deformity of the foot, and not otherwise. : So is it the humours of men, which make their lives alike, and conformable to their dispositions. For it is not custom (as one would have it) which maketh a good life pleasant to them, which have Wisdom, and Temperance causeth a good and pleasant life. chosen it: but wisdom, and temperance are the things, which make our life good and pleasant withal. And therefore sith the spring head of all quietness of mind resteth in ourselves, let us look unto it, and diligently cleanse it, to the end, that those chances, which shall befall us in outward things, may seem pleasing, & familiar unto us, when we are well acquainted with them and can make use of them. Be not offended, whatsoever chanceth: For at our anger, fortune sports, & danceth. But he that for all haps, his mind can frame: Undoubtedly deser●es, a wise man's name. For Plato compareth our life to Table Our life is compared by Plato to Table play. play, where the die must show the cast and the gamester must content himself with his chance. Now touching these two points, the event, and hazard of the die are not in our power, but patiently, and moderately to take in good part, whatsoever it shall please fortune to send, and to dispose every thing in such place, as it may help much, if it be good, or hurt little if it be bad, this is in ourpower to do, & this we ought to do, if we be wise. For fools, that are slaves Foolish men know not how to use either prosperity or adversity. to their affections, which know not how to behave themselves in this human life do presumptuously rush out of their bounds in prosperity, and timorously mure up themselves in adversity. So that they are troubled with both extremities, or (to say more truly) with Goods themselves in both extremities, & principally in that which they call Goods, as Theodorus. those men who being sick are unable to endure either heat or cold. Theodorus that for the ill opinions he held, was surnamed Atheos, which is without God or (godless) used to say that he delivered his discourses to his Auditors with the right hand, but that they received them with the left; even so simple, and ignorant men which know not how to live, entertaining oftimes with the left hand, the fortune, which cometh to Error in mistaking fortune. them on the right, commit thereby many gross, and absurd enormities. But on the contrary part wise men like Bees that suck honey out of Time a rough, and dry herb do draw some good, and profitable thing for themselves even out of the worst, and most troublesome accidents that befall them. This then is the first point wherein we must be trained and exercised: as he which aiming to hit a Dog with a stone misseth the Dog, and striketh his stepmother; and yet Fortune to be applied by will to every accident. saith, it falleth not out ill: (even so may we transfer our fortune by our will, and apply it to that, which she bringeth unto us. Diogenes was driven out of his country into exile, yet went it not ill with him, for that his banishment was the first beginning of his study in Philosophy: Zeno the Citiei an had once a Zeno. merchants ship, and having news, that it was cast awaic, & that the merchandise, and all were sunk into the bottom of the sea: Fortune (quoth he) thou dost well to make me fit for the long plain rob, and the study of Philosophy. What letteth us to follow them herein? Thou hast been deposed from some public office, or place of authority, which thou hadst in charge. Well, be it so: Thou shalt live privately in the country upon that, which thou hast. Thou did dost make suit to be entertained into the house and service of some Prince or noble man. Thou hast had the repulse, well, thou shalt live at home with thyself, and that with less pain, and less danger. Contrariwise thou art entered into dealings with matters of state, wherein is much pain, and great care. The hot water of the bath doth not so much come for't the wearied limbs as Pindarus saith. The hot bath doth not yield so much delight. Unto the wearied limbs of any wight. As hope of glory, others to surmount, To live in wealth, in credit and account. Doth make all travail, sweet unto the mind. Tendure such pains, as Honour hath assind. Art thou fallen into disgrace? or hast thou received some privy back blow by envy, or ill report? This is a good wind in the Poop of thy ship to turn thee strait to the study of learning, and philosophy, as Plato was, when he had made Plato shipwreck of the good favour of Dyonisius the tyrant. And now it is a mean of no small importance The state of great men to be considered by the meaner sort. for the settling of the mind in quiet, to consider the state of great men, and to see if they be moved, and troubled with the like accidents. As for example. The cause of thy discontentment, is, for that thou canst have no children by thy wife. Look how many Roman Emperors there have been, whereof not one left the Empire to his son. Art thou grieved because thou art poor? And which of the Thebans wouldst thou wish to resemble rather, then Epaminondas? or of the Romans, than Fabritius? Hath one defiled thy wife? Hast thou not red the inscription, which is set up in the Temple of Apollo at Delphos, upon an offering, which was there presented? Agis a crowned King by sea, and land Hath placed me in this Temple, where I stand. And have you not heard how Alcibiades Agis honour not empared by his wives adultery. corrupted Timoea his wife, and how she herself amongst her women called softly the child which she had by him, Alcibiades? But for all this her lewdness was no let, that Agis became not the greatest, and most famous man of all Greece in his time. Neither in like manner was the incontinency of Stilpoes' daughter an occasion that he lived not as joyfully, as any other Philosopher of his time. So that when Metrocles the Cynic cast it in his teeth, he said unto him, is this my fault or hers? Metrocles answered: the fault is hers, Stilpo not disquieted with his daughter's incontinency. and the misfortune thine. Stilpo replied again, how so? Are not faults unhappy casualties? Yea surely (quoth the other.) Then Stilpo goeth forward. And are not such casualties ill events? The other confessed it. And are not ill events misfortunes to them, on whom they chance to fall? By this sweet, and Philosophical progression from point to point, he showed, and proved that all his reproach, and malicious speech was nothing else, but a dogs barking. Again on the other side the most part of men are troubled, and disquieted Most part of men troubled with their enemy's vices. not only with the vices of their friends, acquaintance, and kindred, but also with their very enemy's misbehaviour. For ill company, contention, envy emulation, and jealousy accompanied with hate and disdain, defile the minds of those men, which are possessed with these passions, notwithstanding they oft times vex, and offend the unwife: as the sudden falling out of neighbours, the troublesome conversation of familiars, the lewdness of servants in those things which are committed to their charge, with which thing you seem to be moved, & troubled as much, as with any other matter, doing therein as the physicians, whom Sophocles describeth. Washing the choler with like juice iwis Of quality, such as the humour is. Fretting, and disquieting yourself with their passions, and imperfections to small purpose in my opinion, for that those matters, whereof the government is committed to your trust, are not ordinarily handled by intercourse of persons of simple and good behaviour as by fit, and pliable instruments but oftentimes by rough & crooked tools: Now No striving against nature. think not that it is your duty or a thing easy to be done by altering the form to amend them, but if in using them, as being borne such as you find them, even as Surgeons do, their hooked instruments, wherewith they close the gaping of wounds, you show yourself gracious and tractable, as the case requireth, surely you shall reap not so much displeasure, and discontentment at their lewdness, as pleasure, and contentment at your own disposition. And thinking that such substitutes, and servants do that which is their property and nature as Dogs, when they bark, you shall keep yourself from heaping up more griefs, and vexations, which use to distill into the minds of pulling, & fainthearted men, as into a pit (or low place) that is filled up with an other man's inconvenience and mishap. For seeing that their are certain Philosophers, Miserable men to be helped, not lamented for. which reprove the pity and compassion, which some take of miserable, and distressed men, as being a very good thing to help them in their misery, and calamity, but not to grieve, or suffer with them, or once to be moved with them: And (more than this) seeing that the same Philosophers would not that we should be sorry, or disquieted, if we perceive ourselves to offend, or to be given to any vice but that we should correct, and amend it, without grieving or troubling ourselves otherwise, considering what small reason there is to be sorry, or discontented, for that all those, which have to do with us, and which keep company with us are not so honest and virtuous, as they ought to be. But let us take heed (friend Paccius) that this proceed not so much of the hate of vice in general, as of the love of ourselves in particular, which maketh us fear, and dislike the ill dealing of those men, with whom we are conversant. For sometimes affecting too much the state of government & public affairs desiring and haunting after them more hotly than is fit, or contrary wise having at all no taste of them, or making no account of them this engendereth in us suspicion, both of impatience and discontentment against those persons, which make us misconceive and imagine that they have deprived us of this commodity or made us fall into that inconvenience. But he that is accustomed to behave himself temperately, and indifferently in common affairs, is thereby more gracious, fit and conformable to deal with men in the world. And therefore let us again find fault, and blame these dealings in matters, and business? For even as he that is sick of a fever findeth all things that he taketh displeasing to his taste, and bitter, but when we see others which tasting thereof find them nothing unsavoury, or unpleasant, than we blame no more either the broth or the meat, but only the disease: Even so shall we cease to àccuse, and take these matters grievously, or impatiently, when we shall see other men taking them in hand cheerfully, & joyfully. Wherefore when any cross accident shall befall us against our will it shall be good for the The remembrance of our good fortune past must countervail our present mishap. surer seating of the mind in quiet not to cast behind us our good, and fortunate chances, but tempering the one with the other to deface and darken our ill haps, by comparing them with our good. But in opposing the one against the other let us refresh and comfort our eyes, being offended with the sight of too lively, & glittering colours, by casting them upon natural flowers and the green grass. And let us employ our imagination to matters of grief, and trouble, enforcing it to rest and continue in the meditation of our adverse & sorrowful chances, pulling it up forcibly by the roots (as I may say) from the remembrance of our good & prosperous haps, whereunto you may very fitly transfer the discourse which in another place was made against the Curious man what is Another treatise written by Plutarch in his Morals. the cause, O most envious man, that thine eyes are so bright and piercing in viewing other men's evils (and so dull, and darkened in beholding, thine own? And wherefore is it good Sir, that thou lookest so steadfastly upon thy mishaps in making them always manifest, and fresh in memory, and never appliest thy thoughts to the good things which thou presetly enjoyest, but even as the Cupping, & scarifying instruments which chirurgeons use, do draw unto them the corruption, that is in the flesh: even so dost thou heap up against thyself all the worst that is in thyself very fitly resembling the merchant of Chium, who selling to other men great store of good wine, went every where seeking and tasting to get vinegar for his own dinner. So there was a servant, who being asked what he left his Master doing, answered; having much good he seeketh that which is ill. Even so the most part of men superficially passing over the good and profitable things, which they have, do tie themselves to things troublesome, and offensive. But Aristippus did not so: Aristippus' disposition for he was always disposed to cheer himself and to allege reasons to that end, whensoever any unlooked for mishap did befall him, placing himself in that balance, which was carried upward so that one day by casualty having been dispossessed of a good piece of ground, he went to one of his familiar friends, who seemed to make most show to be grieved and to be sorry for him, and said haste not thou only one little farm? and have not I three other goodly plots of ground? The other affirmed that it was so, wherefore then is it not reason to be sorry with thee rather than with me. For it is a madness to grieve for that which we have not, and not to rejoice for that which we have, but to do, as little children use, from whom if a man take but one of their little toys, that they play withal, though they have never so many: yet in anger and despite they cast away and break all the rest, & then howl, & cry a main. In like case if fortune trouble us in any one thing, we make all the favours that she doth us in other matters vain, and unprofitable, by reason of our complaining, & tormenting ourselves. Some man will say unto me, what have we? Nay, we ought rather to say, what Every man hath some thing for which he ought to be thankful. have we not? One man hath honour, another, a fair house, this man a virtuous wife, and that, a faithful friend. Antipater the Philosopher, borne in the town of Tharsus drawing near his end, and calling to remembrance the good, and happy turns, that had chanced to him in his life, forgot not to place and count amongst the rest, his fortunate voyage in coming from Cilicia to Athens. And yet we ought not to omit, or let pass even those things which are common to us with most, or all men, but to esteem and make some account of them, as to rejoice for that we live, that we are healthful, and well disposed, that we see the Sun, that there is no war, that there Common benefits not to be neglected. is no sedition, but that the earth yieldeth to the plough, that the sea is navigable without danger to him that will pass, that it is lawful to speak, and to be silent, to deal in matters, The want of good things maketh them more esteemed & desired. and to give ourselves to rest. And hereby we shall enjoy the contentment of mind more assured, if having those common benefits above recited, we imagine that we have them not, remembering oftentimes how much health is lamented, and wished for of those that are sick, and peace of them that are afflicted with wars, and what a happy thing to be desired it is, for a stranger unknown in such a town to get so great authority, & such friends, and contrariwise what a grief it is to lose them, after a man hath got them. Whereby we see that a thing cannot be of great price when we lose it, and of no value when we enjoy it. For the want of it increaseth neither the price nor value. Neither should we possess these things, as matters of great weight in trembling always for fear to lose them, and to be deprived of them, The fear of losing them taketh away the pleasure of enjoying them. and in the mean while, when we have them at will, to forget and set nought by them, as things of small importance: but to use them, while we have them, & to take pleasure in enjoying them, to the end that if we chance to lose them, we may take the loss more patiently. But the greatest number of men are of opinion, as Arcesilaus said, that we ought to follow with our eye, and thoroughly peruse the poems, tables, pictures, and images of other men, to behold, and survey them particularly from point to point, from one end to another; but as for their lives, & behaviour wherein there are many deformities to be seen we glance them over in regarding only the outward show of honours, advancement, & other mensfortunes, as adulterers do upon other men's wives in setting nought by their own. And now it is a point of great importance for the quiet, & contentment of our minds, that every man should The consideration of a man's own self and estate very necessary. consider principally himself, his estate, and condition, or at least to behold them that are above him, not as many men do that compare themselves with their superiors, as for example the slaves, that are bound, accounted them happy that are unbound the unbound, the freemen: the freemen, the citizens: the mean citizens: the rich burgesses, the rich burgesses, the great Lords, & Princes: the Princes, the Kings the Kings, finally the Gods, desiring (in The desire of that we have not taketh away the pleasure of the enjoying that we have. a manner) that they were able to thunder, and lighten. And by this mean being always needy, and desirous of that which is above them, they never enjoy the pleasure of that, which is in them (which they have inpossession.) I care not for the store of wealth, Which Gyges once possessed: My heart was not at any time, With blind desire oppressed. Nor do I envy any man, Sweet fortunes golden showers: Nor do I seek to match myself, With the immortal powers. Nor yet do I affect the Pomp Of Kings, and glory bright: Mine eyes alas imperfect are, Once to behold that light. It was a Thracian woman that said this. But some other either of Chium, Galatia, or Bythinia, will not content himself with his allotted part, and portion of honour, credit, and authority in his Country amongst his Countrymen, but will whine and mourn if he bear not the habit of a Senator or one of the Nobility, and if he be by election advanced thereunto: then if he be not a Roman Prator, and if he be once a Praetor, then forsooth if he be not Consul, and if he be Consul, then if Desire of advancement maketh men discontented. he were not the first proclaimed. And what other thing is this but to heap up affected and desired occasions of ingratitude against fortune to our own sorrow, punishment, and affliction. But a wise, sensible, and discrete man if there be one amongst so many millions of men which see the Sun. And which live by the fruits the earth doth yield, That is, either more Honourable, or more wealthy than himself, he doth not therefore straightway withdraw himself from company, weeping, lamenting, and giving over all, but keepeth on his way blessing and thanking Fortune, in that he liveth more honourably, and more at ease then millions of others. For true it is that at the solemn assembly for the games of Olympus, the gamesters do not of purpose choose those men to encounter with, of whom they may be assured to win the prize; but in the life of man the affairs thereof are so ordered that they give us occasion to boast and vaunt ourselves, to be above many men, and to be envied, rather than to envy others, unless peradventure some one be so presumptuous to make himself a Paragon, for a Briareus, or a Hercules. When therefore thou shalt have much esteemed as a great Lord some man whom thou shalt see carried to his palace in a litter between men's arms, cast down thine eyes a little, and behold the same man carried upon men's shoulders to his long home. And after thou hast admired the happiness of the great king Xerxes for passing the strait of Hellespont upon a bridge of ships, consider also those men which were forced with blows and stripes to cut & make the mount Athos hollow, and those men whose ears and noses were cut off, when the tempest had scattered & broken the said bridge of ships. And withal imagine in thy self what they think and how blessed they account thy life, & condition in respect of theirs? Socrates (hearing a familiar friend of his say. This town is marvelously dear: The wine of Chium costeth ten crowns, purple cloth thirty, a measure of honey five groats) taketh him and leadeth him to the shops, where Things necessary easily gotten. they sold half a peck of meal for a halfpenny (good cheap:) and then to the place where olives were sold, a peck for three farthings, (good cheap:) after that to the Drapery, where they sold apparel, (a Coat for ten groats) good cheap. You see then (saith he) something good cheap in the town. Even so when we shall hear some one say, that our estate is mean and our fortune base for that we are not Consuls or Precedents of Provinces: We may answer, but by your leave Sir, our estate is honourable and our life happy in that we beg no alms, nor carry burdens, nor get our living by flattery. But notwithstanding, sith for the most part we are become so foolish that we use to live to others, rather than to ourselves, and that our nature is corrupted with such a puling Error of conceit by reason of the outward show maketh men think others estate better than their own. jealousy, and infected with so great envy, that it doth not so much rejoice at her own good, as it repineth at other men's: let us not only behold, and mark that which is glorious, glittering and renowned in those whom we wonder at, and whom we esteem so fortunate: but abasing ourselves, underpeering and discovering a little the counterfeit curtain, and shadowed vail of appearance, and opinion which is spread over them, let us enter into them, and there doubtless shall we find great toil, many griefs, and much vexation. By reason whereof Pittacus pa●ience. Pittacus that man so famous, and renowned for his valour, wisdom, & justice, feasting one day certain of his friends being strangers: his wife cometh in about the midst of the feast, and being displeased A part of a cursed, & madbrain shrew. therewith, overturned the table and all that was upon it. The strangers were all ashamed and abashed thereat; himself made no other matter of it but only said. There is none of us, that hath not in himself some default: But as for me I have but this only point (my wives headstrong humour) which letteth me from being in all things entirely most happy. He seems in show a happy man to be, Whose gate stands ope, himself from care not free. Within sits musing all alone, his wife Must master be, or else there will be strife. From noon to night, from night tomorrow still. Her tongue runs post, & she must have her will. And yet more crosses fall unto his share, Poor silly man oppressed with grief and care. Many such harsh and bitter discontentments are there hid in the hearts of those that are rich, and placed in authority, The pomp of Princes hideth their troubles from the sight of private men. yea even in the minds of kings, which the common sort knoweth not, for so much as the pomp and outward show covereth them. Lo Atreus son happy without annoy Fulfilled with goods, and Fortunes lovely boy. All this is but a recital of his outward happiness, by reason of the armour, horses, and soldiers, that he had about him. But the lamcntable voice of his passions proceeding from within, doth falsify that vain opinion when he saith, For this my life full fraught with misery jove hath reserved a wretched destiny. And this other saying: O happy old man blest for thy degree, In mine opinion whosoe'er thou be, That being borne of mean and base estate Livedst uncouth void of danger, and debate, And free from thoughts aspiring worldly praise, Hast finished here thy transitory days. By such like meditations we may qualify, and draw somewhat from our continual cries & complaints against Fortune, whereby we debase and condemn our own condition, in praising and commending the state of other men. But there is another matter which hindereth the quiet of the mind, as much as any thing else, which is, when the pricks and spurs of will, and desire in men are unmeasurable, and disproportionable to Will their power, as when men set up greater men's folly to be blamed rather than their fortune in desiring things above their reach and attempting things impossible. sails than their ships will bear, promising themselves in their reasonles desires, and vain hopes more, than they ought. And in the end when they see, that they cannot compass them, than they blame Fortune, and accuse their destiny and not their folly; For neither he which cannot draw an arrow with a plough or course a Hare with an Ox may therefore term himself unhappy. nor he that would take a heart with a small fish hook can therefore complain of his bad fortune as being therein contrary and against him, but well and worthily should he condemn his own rashness & folly, that would attempt things impossible. The principal cause of which error, is the foolish, and blind love of Self love. ourselves, which maketh men desire, the first, and highest places, and to be wilful in opinion, and unmeasurably wishing all things for themselves, being never satisfied, nor contented. For they would be not only rich, & learned, strong, and lusty, pleasant conceited, and minions of Kings, and governors of towns; but also if they have not the best Hounds, the swiftest Horses, the daintiest quails, the most courageous cocks for the game that may be had, they cannot be pleased. Dionysius the elder was not Dionysius. content to be the greatest, & most mighty Monarch of his time, but for that he was not a better poet, than Philoxenus, and could not discourse so well as Plato: he so disdained thereat, and was so fiercely moved against them, that he caused the one to be cast into the Quarries, where offenders, and bondmen were punished, and sent the other to be sold, as a slave in the isle of Aegina. Alexander the great was not of that mind, for being told that Brisson his horse courser, with whom he ran a race to see who should get the price of swiftness, was faint, and failed in his course, he was greevoustie offended with him. And Non omnia possumus omnes. therefore Homer speaking of Achilles doth wisely in saying, None of the Greeks could be his paragon. When he adjoineth strait after. In martial feats, but as for eloquence Many there are of greater excellence. Megabysus a great Prince of Persia Megabysus went one day into Apellos shop, where he painted. And when he began to fall in talk of the art of painting, Apelles with his right hand closed his mouth, saying to him. So long as thou heldest thy peace, thou diddest seem to be some goodly great thing, by reason of thy gold chains, and karkynets, and thy purple rob, but now there is not the least boy in my shop, that grindeth my colours which doth not mock thee, and laugh at thee hearing thee say thou knowest not what. And notwithstanding some of them think that the Stoic Philosophers do but sport, and mock when they hear their saying (which is) that a The stoics opinion of a wise man wise man in their opinion is not only prudent, just and valiant, but also (as they call him an Orator, a Captain, a Poet, a rich man, and (more) a king. And they forsooth would feign have all those qualities, the want of which makes them pensive and discontented. And yet amongst the gods one hath power in one thing, and another in another, and therefore one is surnamed Enyalius that is to say Martial, another Mantous, that is to say Prophetical, another Cerdous, that is to say Gaining by traffic. And jupiter sendeth Venus to beds, and bride chambers, not to the field, as being very unfit for her to deal with edge tools. Besides there are some of those qualities which they affect and desire that cannot meet together (in one Subject) as the study, and practise of Eloquence and the Mathematical sciences require liberty of mind and leisure. Contrariwise credit and authority in the common wealth, and the favour of Princes are not to be obtained without trouble and dealing in public affairs, and continual following the Court: even as much eating of flesh, and great drinking of wine maketh the body strong and lusty, and the mind faint and feeble, and as daily care to heap up riches, and to keep them together doth increase our wealth, and contrariwise, the small account and contempt of them is a great mean to draw us to the study of Philosophy, and practise of All things not fit for all men. moral virtue. And therefore all things are not fit and convenient for all men, but we ought following the sentence of A man must first learn to know himself. Nature not to be forced. Apollo Pythius, to learn first to know ourselves, and then to use ourselves, by applying ourselves to that whereunto we are borne, and not to force Nature, dragging it by the hairs as I may say, now to one imitation of life, anon to another. The horse is made, for service in the field: The Ox to plough the earth, which fruit doth yield. The Dolphin midst the main, doth leap, and skip: Sporting himself, in swimming by the ship. The fierce wild boar, which threateneth nought but death. The hardy bound, pursueth on the heath. But he that is disquieted, and troubled, for that he is not at one time both a great Lion of the mountain to trust in his strength, and a little Dog of Maltha to be dandled in some rich widows lap, doubtless is a mad and senseless fool. And even as wise is he, that would resemble Empedocles, Plato, or Democritus, writing of the nature of the world, and of the truth of things, and straightways fall a courting, and then creep to some old rich woman's bed, as Euphorion did: or quaff, and carouse with Alexander the great, as Medius did: and he that is grieved, and discontented because he is not so much esteemed for his wealth as Ismenias: or for his virtue, as Epaminondas. But the Runners are not displeased because they have not the Wrestlers crouns but are contented & glad of their own. Sparta is fallen unto thee, take pain to adorn Make much of thine own. it, as the common proverb saith, following the saying of, Solon. We would not change our good yet ne'ertheless, For all the ill (the muck, that they possess) Virtue continueth firm and of great power, Riches uncertain changing every power. Straton the natural Philosopher understanding that his neighbour Menedemus had more auditors & scholars than he what marvel is that saith he? sith there are more that would be washed with The most part of men prefer pleasure and ease before pro fit, and honesty. water, then rubbed with oil, that is which love to live loselie and delicately at there own pleasure, than hardly, and austerely, as I instrust them. And Aristotle writing to Antipater saith, that Alexander alone, should glory not only in that he commanded so great a number of men, but also, and nothing less in that he commanded such men, as had a right belief, and opinion of the Gods, as they ought to have. They which in this manner exalt their own estate, shall never envy the condition of other men. And now we require not that the vine should bring forth figs, or the Olive tree grapes; How be it if we ourselves have not all the commodities, & advantages together, but of rich and learned men, Soldiers and Philosophers parasites, and jesters, free men, and citizens, spenders, and sparers, than we cavil, repine, and become unthankful to ourselves, and contemn our life as needy, and wanting all things necessary. But further we see, that herein Nature her Nature's provision. self doth warn and teach us. For as she hath provided for bruit beasts divers kinds of food, and nourishment and hath not ordained that all should devour flesh, or all live by grains, and seeds, or that all should eat herbs, & roots: So hath she appointed for men divers kinds of living, as for some to live by their cattle, some by tillage of the ground, some by fowling, and some by fishing. And therefore every man should That kind of life is to be chosen, which is most agreeable to our nature. choose that kind of life which is most sortable and agreeable to his nature, and let him practise and follow it, and not convince the Poet Hesiodus of error or insufficiency in saying, The Potter to the Potter envy beareth, The Mason to the Mason. For we do not only envy those men, which be of the same estate, and behaviour of which we are: but also there is a certain jealousy between the rich and the learned, the Citizen and the Nobleman, the Advocate and the Rhetorician, in such sort, that you shall see sometimes, even Free men nobly borne envy a Player of Comedies, whom they see rewarded with a pleasant Plaudite in the Theatre, or dancers, jesters, and base fellows, whom they know to be welcome, and in great credit in kings and Princes Courts, admiring them so long, that they become even senseless, and breathless, in wondering at them and disquieting themselves. But admit it were so, that every one of us had in himself the treasures of contentment, & discontentment & that the tuns of good & evil were not placed upon the threshold of jupiters' door (as Homer saith) but in the mind of every man: yet the divers and variable passions that are in us would make this matter sufficiently known, and manifest: For fools, and ill advised men do neglect and pass over the present goods Care for the time to come devoureth the pleasure of the time present. and benefits (which they hold in possession) having neither discretion to use them, nor contentment to enjoy them, by reason their minds are so busied and cumbered with care for the time to come. But wise men do so firmly retain the remembrance of things already past, Wise men delighted with the remembrance of good turns past. that they make them fresh in memoric, and rejoice thereat, as if they were now present. For the present time suffering itself to be apprehended of us, but only by a moment seemeth to fools not to be ours, and not to pertain unto us. And even as the Cordmaker that is painted in the description of hell, wasting and consuming as much green broom cord, as he can wreathe & work, upon an Ass that standeth by him: so the thankless and senseless forgetfulness of many men gathering together, devouring, Forgetfulness cause of discontentment. and burying in discontentment all good actions, all practice of virtue, all delightful pastime, all familiar discourse and friendly conversation, doth not suffer our life to be uniform and alike (the time past being linked to the time present) but conferring and comparing those things that were done yesterday, with things done this day, and things done this day with things to be done to morrow, putteth together all that hath been, with that which yet never was, and drowneth it in perpetual oblivion. They which take out of Philosopher's schools, and disputations all kinds of Analysis, saying that the substance continually ministereth matter, as the spring doth water will make us at all times believe by their Arguments that we are not the same we are indeed, or that we are not the same this day, which we were yesterday. But these men through default in that they are not able to keep in memory things past or to comprehend them and rest upon them, but letting them always run out at large do make themselves truly and in effect vain, void, and empty every present day, depending ever of the day following, as though that which they had or did the year passed, or lately, and but yesterday appertained nothing unto them, or never had befallen them. This then is one of those matters which troubleth the equanimity, and quietness of the mind, and another thing yet more (which is) that as flies cannot stand and fasten themselves upon looking glasses that are smooth and slippery, and contrariwise do settle themselves upon such as are rough, unplaine and engraven: even so men flying upon their smooth, joyful, and profperous adventures do rest themselves upon their hard, displeasant, and adverse mishaps. Or rather as it is reported in the territory of the town of Olynthus touching a place mortal, and deadly to beetles, whereupon it is also called Cantharolethron, for so much as when the beetles, are Cantharolethron. once entered therein, they can never come forth again, but wind and turn about so long, till they be both windless, and breathless: even so these men being entered into the remembrance The remembrance of mishaps engraven in the hearts of men. of their forepast mishaps, will never come forth thereof, or give themselves a breathing time, but waist and consume themselves even to death. Howbeit contrariwise we ought to do as he that painteth a table, wherein he layeth the dark, and sad colours underneath, and the fresh and lively colours upon them; for utterly to blot out all mischances in life, and wholly to deliver and free ourselves from them, it is impossible, for so much as the harmony The world compounded of con traries. of the world is compounded of contraries, and things diverse, even (as I may say) of a Bow, and a Harp. And there is nothing in this human estate, which is altogether pure, and clean, but as in Music there are divers voices, Nothing pure in this life. whereof some be loud, and shrill, some low, and base; and in Grammar there be some letters called vowels, and some mutes, and he is neither a Grammarian, nor a physician which neglecteth the knowledge of the one, and followeth the practice of the other, but he which can make use of them all, & temper them together according to his art: even so are the affairs, & state of men having counterquarters one with an other, for as much as Euripides saith. The good is never severed from the ill. But there is (I know not how) a certain mixture, to the end that all things being well disposed may prosper, and continue in good order to the general benefit of life; neither ought we for some one accident to be utterly discouraged and become careless of all, but resembling musicans in depressing the point of our adverse haps, by calling to mind our prosperous adventures, and embracing always our good fortune with our ill to make a formal composition of life fit, and agreeable to every man's nature. For it is not as Menander saith, That every man throughout the world so wide. Hath one good Angel which his life doth guide. But rather as Empedocles saith, assoon as ever we are come into the world, two devils, or destinies lay hands on us, and direct us. First Clothania is the earthly destiny, Heliope views the Sun in majesty. Eris that ever enui'de human good Delights to have her hands painted with blood. Harmonia with her sweet and smiling face, Calisto fair, Aeschra with her ill grace. Thoosa's swift, Dinaea, which will make The action good that she doth undertake. Nemertes fair, and white as any snow: Asaphia fowl, and black as any crow. So that our nativity receiving the seeds of all these passions mixed and confused together, and by this mean our life being unequal, and not always a like, those men that be wise, & of good judgement should wish and desire the gods to bestow the best upon them, & yet dispose themselves to expect the worst, and to make use of all, taking from every one, that which therein is Riches, glory, authority do most delight them, who least fear poverty, misery, and disgrace. needless, or superfluous. For he which is least careful for to morrow, shall not only more joyfully come thereunto, (as Epicurus used to say:) but also riches, glory, authority, and credit do most delight and content them, which lest doubt and fear their contraries. For the too ardent desire that men have of these things, impressing in them a too vehement fear to lose them, maketh the pleasure of enjoying them feeble and uncertain, even as a flame shaked, and carried every way with the wind. But he whom reason fortifieth, and strengtheneth so that he is able without fear, or trembling to say unto fortune. Some pleasure mayest thou take, from me I wots: But not displease me: for I fear thee not. This is the man which most pleasantly, and contentedly enjoyeth his present goods in assurance, not fearing the loss of them as though it were a thing intolerable. And, herein we may not only commend, but also imitate the virtuous disposition of Anaxagoras, Anaxagoras. who understanding his son was dead, said. I knew well that Ibegat him a mortal man: and so may we say when any chance, or casual mishaps befall us; I knew well that I had riches; but transitory, not everlasting; I knew well that that they which bestowed this honour upon me could take it from me again; I knew well that I had a virtuous wife, and yet but a woman; and a friend, that was a man, which is (as Plato defineth it) a living creature by nature mutable. Such preparatives, and dispositions of the mind provided before hand, if peradventure any accident shall touch us contrary to our will, and not answerable to our attempt, The mind must always be prepared for all misfortunes. do soon take away all griefs, and passions, which cause us to sigh, and say. I would never have thought it. I looked for another matter. I would never have imagined that such a thing could have happened. Which are even like the breaking of the heart, and beating of the pulses, whereby the vital spirits are distempered, these preparatives (I say) do easily qualify and stay every furious motion and violent perturbation of impatiency. Whereupon Carneades, used oft times to say that in great matters what soever happened contrary to hope and attempt was easily turned into grief, and despair. The kingdom of Macedonia was but a small part of the Roman empire; But king Perseus having lost it, bewailed greatly his fortune, and all the world therefore accounted him most miserable and unhappy, Contrariwise Paulus AEmilius that had overcome him, having resigned over his mighty army commanding sea, & land, to the charge, & conduct of another was crowned with garlands of flowers, in honour of his victory and sacrificed to the Gods, being generally and not unworthily esteemed the happy man of the world, for as much as the one knew well, that he had received a power of men, which he was to yield up again at the end of his term, the other had lost one, which he looked never to lose again. Homer the Poet showeth us, what that is, which befalleth contrary to hope, and attempt in making Ulysses weep for the death of his dog, and notwithstanding being come home, and sitting by his wife that wept, he lamented not, for so much as he was Reason tameth affection. come thither; having long before tamed and cut off his affection with the judgement of reason. And contrariwise we see how suddenly, & unawares against his attempt he failed in the other accident. But in some concerning those things, which befall us contrary to our Some things offensive by Natura Cancel will, some of them grieve, & offend us by nature, other some, and the most part by conceit, and ill custom do vex, and trouble us, being occasions of discontentment, which we nourish in ourselves. And therefore it were not amiss to have always in readiness this sentence of Menander. There is no harm, at all befallen thee: Unless thyself, fain a mishap to be. For (saith he) how can it pertain unto thee if it concern neither thy body, Conceit nor thy mind? As for example, the base estate of thy father, thy wives adultery, loss of honour, or preferment: all which inconveniences may befai a man, and yet neither his mind, nor his body be thereby any thing the worse, but both very well disposed. Now against those things which naturally grieve us, as sickness, travails, the death, and loss of friends, or children, we must oppose Nature. another saying of the Poet Euripides. Alas, but what? alas, these mishaps than Are things of course, and common to all men. For neither can reason, nor demonstration keep in Sensuality, or restrain it so much, when it slideth away, and is carried about after her own affections, The common necessity of nature more forcible than Reason. etc. as the meditation and remembrance of our common, and natural necessity, whereby man as touching his body being a substance mixed, and compounded is laid open to fortune, and turned upward, as the only handle of which she can take hold: in the rest being always Man in his body subject to fortune. certain and assured; (I mean) in that which is the most principal, the noblest, and greatest part in him. Demetrius having taken the town of Megara asked Stilpo the Philosopher, if any thing of his had been spoiled, or rifled from him? Stilpo answered, I saw no man which took away any thing that was The mind the best part of man is above fortune's reach. mine. Even so when fortune hath ransacked, and rob us of all the rest: yet in despite of her we have some thing in ourselves. Whereof we can be neither robbed, nor spoiled, And therefore we ought not so greedily to devour, & so injuriously to depress the nature of man, as though it had nothing in it firm, stable, & of continuance, but contrariwise knowing that part whereby we are subject to fortune to be the least worst, being frail and wormeeaten and that in the better and more worthy part we are Lords, and Masters (in that part I mean) wherein the best qualities that be in us are seated and grounded, is sound judgement, arts, and sciences, matters of discourse tending to virtue, which are of an incorruptible substance, that cannot be stolen from us: we ought (I say) to be resolved and to show ourselves invincible hereafter saying, against fortune as Socrates did against his accusers, in speaking to the judges. Amstus and Melitus may cause me to be put to death but they cannot hurt me: so fortune may afflict me with sickness, take away my goods, bring me in disgrace with the Prince and people. But she cannot make a virtuous, valiant and courageous man, vicious, cowardlike, baseminded, or envious, not take from him his disposition, being grounded Fortune cannot alter the mind. upon prudence and discretion, of whose aid and presence, the life of man hath always more need than the ship on the sea of a Pilot. For the Pilot cannot when he will assuage the tempest, and appease the violence of the winds, nor get the haven at all times, when it were needful, nor stoutly without trembling expect what may happen: howbeit, he giveth not over all despairing of ability to use his art, but He labours still, the sail being pulled down The mast, while nothing may the winds appease, Is scarcely seen about the troubled Seas. This done, he sitteth trembling and shaking for fear. But the disposition of a Continency, sober diet, exercise preserve health. discrete man, besides that it bringeth lightsomeness, health and quiet to the body in preventing for the most the preparatives of diseases by continency, sober diet, exercise and moderate labour: if yet in outward accidents there should be some indisposition caused by fortune it fleeteth over it with a light, and swift vessel (as Asclepiades saith) like a ship passing over a Rock that is hidden with the water. But if peradventure some great inconvenience past all hope shall befall us, in such sort that the power of man can not compass or sustain it; the haven is at hand, and we may save The body is a rotten boat wherein the mind saileth. ourselves by swimming out of the body as out of a rotten boat, that continually leaketh and taketh water. For it is not desire of life, but fear of death which holdeth fools so fast tied, and bound to the body, which they embrace so straightly as Ulysses in Homer doth the wild fig tree for fear of falling into the gulf Charybdis that was underneath him, Whereas the wind would neither let him stay, Nor suffer him from thence to sail away, The nature of the Soul to be known and considered. being marvelously displeased for the one, and astonished with fear of the other. But he which hath albeit but a little knowledge of the nature of the soul, reasoning and considering in himself, that by death this life is changed into a better, or at least not into a worse: surely this resolution availeth much to the peace and quiet of the mind, and banisheth all fear of death from it. For he which can behave himself joyfully, while virtue the princely and proper part of man is in greatest power and force: and again courageously and stoutly forsake the world, when the adverse enemy of nature prevaileth and hath the upper hand, saying. When myself will, God will deliver me. What can we imagine that may grieve, trouble, and offend him, that is thus affected, and resolved. For he which can say, Fortune I have prevented thee. I have withstood thy coming, I have stopped thine entrance, this man trusteth not, or planteth his assurance upon Philosophy is the fortress of good minds. bars, or bolts, or gates locked with keys, or walls fortified with munition, but upon the sweet sentences of philosophy, and the sound persuasions of reason, (whereof all men that will are capable) which we ought not to doubt, or distrust, but rather with admiration to love & esteem even with the ravishment of spirit through affection, proving, and making trial of ourselves first in small matters, that we may the better compass greater, and not resusing, or casting behind us the due care and diligence, that are requisite for the good order, and exercise of The mind to be exercised. the mind. And in so doing men shall not find so much difficulty herein, as they ween. For the wanton niceness of the mind betaking itself naturally to ease and pleasure, flying back strait in imagination from trouble and sorrow to rest and delight, maketh it tender & unexercised against delicacy, & grief. But the mind which is taught by reason, and envied by custom to endure a conceit of ficknes, banishment, or any other kind of adversity, and enforceth itself with reason to fight against these, & such like accidents, shall find by experience, that there is much deceit, vanitic, and weakness in those things, which through error of opinion seem painful, grievous, and fearful. So that reason showeth this plainly to him that will think hereof, & particularly consider of every one of these. And notwithstanding there are many which greatly fear this saying of Menander, No man can truly say, what ere he be This chance could never have befallen me. Not knowing how much this practice availeth to the quiet, and contentment of the mind, whereby we may be able with open eyes firmly to look against Fortune, making our conceits and imaginations, not idle, or effeminate in themselves, as being nourished only by a shadow, under such kind of hope, as yieldeth, & bendeth, when they are pressed down by their contraries, & never standing stiff or unflexible against any one of them. But we may also object & say against Menander, It is true, that no man living can say. This shall never happen to me. And yet I may say; As long as I live I will never do this, I will never tell untruth, I will never deceive, I will never falsify my faith, I will never surprise any man. For this being in our power is no small mean, but a great help to the quietness of the mind. As contrariwise the remorse of conscience (I know that I have committed such a heinous Remorse of conscience worketh repentance. offence) doth leave repentance in the soul, which grateth, tormenteth, and bloodieth itself, even as a wound in the flesh. For reason taking away, and wiping out all other griefs, sorrows, and anguishs doth engender this repentance, which with shame nippeth and biteth, and with horror afflicteth and punisheth itself continually. Even as they who being sick of an ague do either shake for cold or burn with heat, are more grieved and tormented, than they which endure the same passions by outward causes of winter's cold, or summers heat: so casual and accidental mishaps make our griefs more easy, and tolerable, as proceeding from external causes, and from without us. But when one saith, None other is to be blamed for this, myself alone am the cause hereof. This is a custom, and kind of sorrow, & lamentation coming from the bottom of the heart, when we know ourselves guilty of some public crime, whereby the grief is so much the greater, in that it is conjoined with shame, and infamy. And therefore there is neither house nor lands, nor great store of gold & silver, nor honour and nobleness of blood, nor greatness of office, and estate, nor the grace and vehemency of speech, which doth so much lighten, and so sweetly becalm the life of man, as an undefiled A pure mind maketh a sweet contented life. conscience, to have the mind pure, neat, and clean of all lewd deeds, motions, and devices, and our names which are the spring from whence all virtuous, and commendable actions do follow, to be honest, and impolluted, not troubled, or infected with any vice. This is it, which giveth a cheerful force, and vigour, as it were divinely inspired with a greatness and constancy of courage, and with a more joyful and assured remembrance, than the hope which Pindarus describethto be the nurse of old age. For even as the bottles wherein there hath been frankincense put (as saith Carneades) albeit they be empty yet keep the sweet savour thereof long after, so good and virtuous actions proceeding from the mind of a wise man, do always leave behind a pleasing and fresh remembrance whereby his joy and delight being watered doth flourish and increase, and himself contemneth those who bemoan and diffame this life, as if it were a hell or place of torments and of continual abode, where wretched and miserable souls are to be chained and tortured. And herein I cannot but greatly commend the saying of Diogenes, who upon a time seeing a certain stranger in Lacedaemon that decked and trimmed himself against a feast day, what? (saith he) doth not an honest man think, that all days are feast-days for him? yea surely and a great and solemn feast, if he be wise. For this world is a most sacred, and What the world is. religious temple, whereinto Man is brought at his birth to behold therein the portraitures, & images, not wrought and carved with men's hands, but those forms, and figures, which the Divine mover hath made sensible to represent unto us the forms intelligible, (as Plato faith) having in them the principal impressions of life, and motien, (that is is say.) the Sun, the Moon, the Stars, the running streams, casting sweet fresh water out of the body of the earth, which continually like a kind mother, yieldeth and provideth nourishment for living creatures, and plants. So we ought to esteem this life as a profession, and entrance into a most perfect and united religion. And therefore it were convenient, that it should be replenished with great tranquitlity and never ending joy not as the common sort do at this day, in solemnizing the feast of Saturn, Bacchus, or Minerna to delight, and sport themselves with laughter bought with money, which they give to dancers, counterfeits, and stage players, that enforce them to laugh. And now at these feasts we sit very mannerly and orderly, not being troubled or disquieted with any thing. For there is no man, that sorroweth, when he cometh to a meeting of good fellows, or that lamenteth in beholding the games of Apollo, Pythius, or that fasteth at Saturn's feasts; And notwithstanding we deface the feasts, which God himself hath appointed, and commanded, in weeping, sighing, and bewailing, or at least wise in painful cares and continual discontentmentes. We take pleasure in hearing musical instrmentes, whose sound pleaseth the ear, and we delight in birds, that sing sweetly, and willingly behold other living creatures prettily sporting, skipping and frisking with jollity of heart, and contrariwise we dislike them which howl, whine, and groan, and which look heavily, ugly, and fearfully; How be it, seeing the whole course of our own life to be sorrowful, pensive, painful, oppressed with most grievous passions, most laborious business, and ever endless cares and thoughts we will not give ourselves any rest, comfort, or time of breathing, but (that which is worse) we are unwilling to receive the good counsel, and advise of our friends, and kindred, that warn, and exhort us hereunto, which if we would with patience hear, and in practice follow, we might behave ourselves blameless for the time present, with joy, and pleasure recount the time passed, and boldly without distrust in cheerful and lively hope attend the time to come. FINIS.