a female personification of prudence holding a bird in one hand and three entwined snakes in the other, with another bird on her shoulder 
PRUDENCE The first of the Four Cardinal Virtues.  
Written by Sr. Miles Sandis K t.  
Printed for W: Sheares, in Britain's Burse  
W.M. scu:    

GYNDANES TO ABAUCUS; That is, MILES SANDYS Presents his best Love, Respect, Service, or what you will in this Sense, to Henry Sandys.  
My Altar Ego,  
IF it may stand with Truth, that the Emperor Vespasian, for every day through the year, made some good Law for the Commonwealth, excepting two days in the month of February, in which he was led away by the sensuality of pleasures from the Public good; (the remembrance of which neglect, caused the industrious Prince to abridge the Month of two days:) Or that Tostatus (for which Story fame's him) did, from the day of his Birth, to the day of his Death, pen a sheet of Paper for every day, through his life at least; meaning, That wherein his Youth had been defective, his Age had made it good; And, that the fruits of his riper years had supplied the slips of his Minority. If either of these Instances will carry truth, then, questionless, I am not to be blamed for that small space of late, wherein I have been wholly addicted to Study, and Reading: And amongst my busied thoughts, have made choice of Apelles Poesy, Nulla dies sine lineâ; which cannot be taxed, unless it be by those, who will say, there was Nulla linea sine die. What to write of, I made my Books my Counselors: for they were ever so open hearted to me, that they would acquaint me with others, and inform me of mine own Faults without Flattery. They told me, Divinity was too deep for my Capacity, Geography too laborious, History so various, and so full fraught with uncertainties, that once begun, never at an end. And so ab Arte ad Artem, à Scientiâ ad Scientiam, etc. At last, in this time of scarcity, they advised me to write De Moribus. And herein I conceived, the Four Cardinal Virtues were most necessary, since they are the Heads of Moral Philosophy. But, because the name of Philosophy seemeth odious to ignorant ears, I think it not amiss to instruct their Simplicity, in telling them in the words of Saint Augustine, If Philosophers have spoken that which is true, we ought not only to believe it, but retain it as our own.  
There is a Divine, a Natural, and a Moral Philosophy.  
The Theological Philosophy is that Knowledge, or Rudiment of Knowledge concerning God, which may be obtained by the Contemplation of his Creatures, which Knowledge may be truly termed Divine in respect of the Object. As for the Natural, I will leave it, for the most part, to the Naturalists. And for the Moral; If it please you to observe it in its sapiential part. Read quod sequitur, I doubt not to give some satisfaction herein, since all Professions are from Philosophy served and supplied.  
That I have intermingled my Discourse, I want not Authority for it: Plato mixed Philosophy with Theology: Aristotle with Logic: Proclus with the Mathematics. Read Saint Augustine, Bernard, Gregory, I dare say, almost all the Fathers have linked Morality with Divinity. Nay go to the sacred Text, and you shall find golden Philosophy inserted in holy Writ: I have heard it delivered in the Pulpit by a reverend Penman, That Solomon reduced his three Divine Tracts to the order of Philosophy: As if in his Proverbs he had tutored his Son with Morality; In his Ecclesiastes, by a didactical Discourse, he had read a Natural Philosophy Lecture; And in his Diviner Canticles, had framed a speculative supernatural Dialogue: Nor was his Reason to be disallowed of, since it did proceed from that learned Expositor, Hugo de Sancto Victore.  
Now first, if it should be asked wherefore I writ, since I have begun to build my House, before my stones are gathered; like an ill Cook, serving up my Dishes before they be seasoned. I answer, that the Activest part of Man is his Mind; I thought it not fit, that it should be eaten away with the Rust of Idleness; Idleness being the Grave of Living Man, a thing wherein life dieth; the use of Books being to increase Knowledge, and to bring forth the Dead speaking with the Living The Dew of Heaven looseth itself in the Earth, unless it be collected into some Receptacle: So learning, and Knowledge soon perish, and vanish into Oblivion, if they be not preserved in Books. Secondly, why I quote my Authors, it being thought by some Pedantical. I answer, I would not be beholding to so many Creditors, without giving them some note under my hand. And if mistaken Critics will but look back, and search Antiquity, they may find that in those flourishing years in the nonage of Nero, the Commonwealth was never better governed, than it was by Seneca a Pedant: So was it in the minority of Gordianus by Mesellinus: Nay go to the Bishops of Rome, you may find Pius Quintus, and Sixtus Quintus, were both Pedantical Friars, and never better government then in their times. I have endeavoured to hit the Truth, thereby to muzzle the Mouth of Contradiction: For as I would not please any in their faults, so I would not be faulty to please any. Lastly, why I direct this Virtue to you; It is not because I think you want it, but, by reason of your familiarity with it, I supposed you to be a fit judge of it. True it is, the vanity of most Writers hath been to throw their wit in Ink, as Mad men do stones in the Air, not caring whom they hit; Being free of the Wit-brokers, uttering none but stolen Wares, without Acknowledgement; making their Brains Quivers of jests, travelling in their studies till they are delivered of the Air. What I have done, I think I may avouch, since I was so thrifty, as not to purchase papers, lest I should be forced to pay more for the Silence, then for the Worke.  
In that I writ not Great words, nor High-born Language, it is, because I have seldom found a Verbalist a Materialist; great Words being commonly attended on by little judgements. To please all men in one thing is impossible; For the same cause, that made Democritus laugh, made Heraclitus weep. The skilfullest Fisherman, that ever was, could never please all Fish with one bait; Nor the solidest Writer all men with one Book. The general Fancy of the World being like Plutarch's Moon, who desired her Tailor to make her a Petticoat, but before the Tailor had brought it home, the Moon was in another Quarter.  
Now are there not some detracting Momusses, who (like the Bookworm) live only to destroy Learning, lending long ears against them they love not? And perhaps supposing me to be like a Statue in the Highway, directing others, but not following one step myself: Or like Noah's Carpenter, building an Ark to save others, yet cannot help myself, taxing me as Diogenes did Musicians, saying, They could skilfully tune, and order the strings of their Instruments; but the affections of their Mind were disordered, and quite out of tune. I am apt to believe this and more: For what Flower hath entered into the hive of their hearts, which they have not converted into poison? Nor is this any wonder, Truth had ever but ill-favoured Attendants; Veritas odium parit. Go on then; dart your quills of Censure, with the Porcupine, at him, that toucheth you not. I must rest satisfied, since it is not in my power to tie lose Tongues; yet I wish, That all Malicious power may lose its sting: That Envy may fly men's Souls, That it be blind. Yet I shall neither fear, nor care. Only I will say to them that use it, as Damodoclus said to the Milesians, That they were no Fools, yet they did the same things, that Fools did.  
As for you, unto whom I Dedicate it, if my pains should be so fortunate, as to bring forth such issues, as may imprint the least Consolation in your heart, then, perhaps, I will go on with the three latter Cardinals; knowing, that my Pen is but as a cipher in Arithmetic, which, without the Figure of your Approbation, adds nothing. If not, that Pen, that wrote this, shall ever be confined to a Standish. If it please you, I am pleased. Howsoever, I have given Satisfaction to one, that herein approoves that Martial Resolution: 
Haec, si displicui, fuerint solatia nobis:  
Haec fuerint nobis praemia, si placui.   
CHRON.  
PIUS JESUS  
HENRICUM SANDYS  
AB HOSTIBUS  
TVEATUR.  
MDCWWWIIII.  
1634.  
Miles Sandys.   

TO MY HONOURED TUTOR Doctor Astley Warden of All Souls College in Oxford.  
SIR,  
IT is not unknown to scholars, and among them approvedly received for Truth; That Children are more obliged for Education, then for Birth; the one giving the bare Being, the other the wellbeing. The first I had by Nature: As for the other, In those Annis pube scentibus, when I was under your Protection, you advised, and set me forward with that care, which might have made me enjoyed it by Art, had I been so diligent a Scholar, as to have followed your highly to be commended Instructions. What I have now wrote, you know, is all in Generals, which none should take exceptions at. Yet lest surmising judgements should endeavour to rivet Generals into the narrow and forced compass of Particulars, I have purposely for borne diverse notes of consequence. Yet whether in those now urged, or in the other suppressed, I vow and protest the sincerity of my intent, that I never meant to make any particular person the subject of them, to whom, either by the laws of God or Nature, I stand bound either in duty or service: though false murmurs have traduced me so fare, I call my Judge in heaven to the witness of what my Pen sets forth, that it was (without any obliqne glancing toward them) but a bare innocent Essay of my weak endeavours, and a testimony, that you sent me not from ●he University so illiterate, as not to speak (though but imperfectly) my Mother tongue. Nay let ignominy light on me, and mine ad perpetuum, if I deliver not the naked Truth of my harmless Intention. And further satisfaction than this, if I would, I could not give. And as for others, if there be any so simple, as to demand it, they shall have no other than this. That I slight their thoughts more, than they can, or dare my words. Yet let them know, that, if I had been bend to have wrote Spleen, I would have penned it with such Characters of blood, as should have caused another Deluge to have washed them out,  
Nor should my prudence have presented herself to a public view without her Associates, had not the usurped liberty of some endeavoured to have wronged me in her, her in me; Traducing the Author, because they have little acquaintance with the Subject.  
True it is, where injuries are done, men's thoughts are commonly of ill digestion: the nature of wrong being not of an easy concoction. Yet none should wound Reputation, nor set too high price on weakness. Detractors venomous speeches are as Figures drawn in water, whose malicious words not prevailing are but like the Fool's bolts shot upright, which in the fall in danger their own heads. For such Malefactors, I conceive, neglect is the best revenge, it being greater glory to avoid Injuries by Silence, then to overcome them by Replying. And here I will make choice of Plato's answer (if need require it) who receiving opprobrious words from his Enemies, being desired, he should not return the like injury, answered, He had not so much idle time, as to remember them.  
But concerning yourself, for your pains and care for my instruction, tàm moribus, quàm doctrinâ, I must give thankes. Thanks I render as freely from my Heart as can be expressed by Tongue or Pen.  
May then the content of your mind enjoy what it most desires, or deserves. May you live till time shall sicken with your age, And when Death comes, May you possess the hope of your well spent life in Heaven. Such is the Prayer of your quondam Pupil, and ever servant,  
Miles Sandys.   

To the Reader.  
REader, I here send forth Prudence to your view; if you be wise, you may embrace it, If not, you may let it alone. If you commend it, I am not therewith puffed up: If you dispraise it, I am not therewith dejected. An Essay it is of some few stolen hours, that might have been otherwise lost, or worse spent: And if distasteful Critics shall misinterpret the innocence of my harmless meaning, I shall but reply, and play with their sporting Censures, as doth Ben johnson in his Play-workes.  

Their Praise or Dispraise is to me alike,  
Th'one doth not stroke me, nor the other strike.   
M. S.   

Imprimatur.  
Tho: Weeks R: P: D. Episcopo Lond: Cap.: Domest.   
AN INTRODUCTION to the four Cardinal VIRTVES.  

CAP. I.  
I Am to write like to the report of a superficial Traveller, who, passing thorough the confines of ignote Countries, registers only the continents. I in like manner, being but superficially read, and presenting that which slight knowledge cannot exactly perform, like to such a Traveller must record by view, by reading, and something by report; report of Centauris and Gorgon's I list not, I have seen no new found Land, nor read of Magellanick Earth, I speak of no such Parts. Parts hominum mihi sunt, my Treatise shall be reasonable and confined only to the faculties of reasonable man, such as inchoats his happiness in this world, and consummates his bliss hereafter. Virtutes sunt, and those Cardinal; Cardinal if Peraldus mistake not for four Causes. 
Peral.  Primò propter stabilitatem, ut Cardo stabilis manet licet ostium in eo vertatur: sic hae quatuor virtutes stabiles sunt, licet ea circa quae versantur sint instabilia. Secundò quia sicut ostium Cardini innititur: Sic tota conversatio bona his quatuor virtutibus innititur. Tertiò propter praeeminentiam primae sunt respectu aliarum. Quartò propter principalitatem: caeterae enim virtutes ad has aliquo modo reducuntur. First, for the stability, for as the hinge of a door remaineth firm and unmoveable, although the door be turned thereon: So these four Virtues are firm and unmoveable, although those things about which they are conversant, are movable, uncertain and instable. Secondly, because as the door hangs on the hinge, so all good conversation depends on these four Virtues. Thirdly, for their Praeeminence, these being the first in respect of other Virtues. Fourthly, for their Principality: for other virtues some way or other are reducible unto these. 
D. Hier. D. Ambr.  Dicuntur hae quatuor virtutes Cardinales ab Hieronymo & Ambrosio, propterea quod ut fores Cardinibus, Sic illis omnis moralis vitae honestas, & sanctitas fulciatur. Saint Ambrose and Saint Hierome called these four Virtues Cardinal, because that as gates are supported by hinges, so is the honesty and sanctity of all moral life by these Cardinal virtues.  
But here the opinion of Menedemus, Ariston, and others, who abolishing all plurality and difference of Virtues, suppose there is but one only Virtue, which is Prudence, and the same is known by diverse names. For, consider we what ought to be done, or not done, than it carrieth the name Prudence. Consider we what is due in commerce, it hath the name of Justice. What in suffering, than Fortitude; and when we govern our lusts and affections, than we call it Temperance. For as fire, though it work upon diverse subjects, yet it is one and the self same fire; or as a knife, though it cut now one thing, now another, altars not its property: no more doth a good man, being tanquam ipsa virtus, though he be conversant in diverse matters, and sundry affairs. True it is, no one Virtue can be without another. 
D. Ambr.  Saint Ambrose saith, when they are perfect, then are they joined, but disjoyntly, no way can they be perfect. Because Prudence cannot be true, which is not just, valiant and temperate; nor Temperance perfect, which is not prudent, valiant and just; According to that of Saint Gregory, 
D. Greg.  Istae virtutes ita in quadro sunt, ut una aliam non excedat, magna quippe est Prudentia, sed, si minùs est à voluptatibus temperans, minùs in periculis fortis, minùs in operationibus justa, profectò minùs est Prudens. Magna est Temperantia, sed, si minùs intelligit undè se temperate, si adversa sustinere per fortitudinem minùs valet, atque in timore animum deijcit, si per praeceptionem suam aliquandò ad injustitiae opera prorumpit, minùs est temperans. Magna est Fortitudo sed si minùs intelligit, quae bona custodiat, quibus malis resistat, si minus à voluptatis appetitu se temperate, Sed vincitur delectatione; si justitiae opera minùs tenet, atque aliquandò ad injustitiae opera dominatione superatur, minùs est fortis. Magna est justitia, sed si minùs quàm debet, inter justa & injusta opera discernit, si minùs cor a mundi delectatione temperate, si minùs se contra adversa confortat, minùs est justa. Mensuretur ergo perfectorum fidelium vita per quadrum, & tantum habeat spiritualis atrij latus unum, quantùm latera singula, quia unusquisque tantùm prudens est, quantùm temperans; & justus tantùm, quantùm prudens, temperans & fortis fuerit. And to this purpose saith Saint Bernard.  
But if I have run too long in Saint Gregory's Quadrature, his Elegance invited me to it, nor will I make him to speak English, lest I should prejudice his better Dialect. The whole scope of what I have urged from him, is to show, Concentum & harmoniam, the harmonious consent and agreement of those virtues among themselves, and the mutual dependency of each one upon the other, by way of union and communion, till they all (as it were) conspire and meet in one and the same unity, which unity Aristotle conceiteth, 
Arist.  when he sayeth Prudence alone, and by itself is no way perfect, according to that saying, He that is prudent, is constant, and he that is constant, is without molestation, and he that is without molestation, is without sorrow, he that is without sorrow is blessed; therefore a Prudent man is a blessed man, and Prudence is sufficient for a blessed life. These virtues are so conjoined together among themselves, with a certain mutual copulation, as the members of our body, and so agree in amiable concord as musical harmony, that I may say, this is that manifold order of rings, which Plato writeth to be drawn out of the Loadstone, 
Plato.  and hence it may be, that they are termed, Matres virtutum, connexae sunt sibi virtutes & coordinatae, ita ut, qui unam habet, habeat omnes. Prima ratio est largitas Dei dantis: quia non dat unam sine aliâ. Secunda ratio est: quia sicut unum membrum indiget alio, sic est in virtutibus. Tertia ratio est, quia sicut in Citharâ, si defuerit una chorda, non erit harmonia perfecta: ita nec in animâ erit spiritualis melodia, nisi adsint omnes virtutes. Quarta ratio est, quia contra singula vitia sunt aliquae virtutes, unde oportet omnes virtutes habere, ut omnia vitia impugnentur: nam sicut miles mundi non est expeditus, nisi omnia sua arma habeat: ita nec Miles Christi, si aliqua virtus sibi defuerit. Quinta ratio est, quia sicut Stellae & Planetae semper sunt in sphaeris suis: ita virtutes in animâ esse debeant. Sexta ratio est, quia anima est sicut vas auri solidum, ornatum lapide precioso, id est virtutibus. Septima ratio est, quia anima est sicut hortus nobilis, cui non deest decor alicujus floris, vel arboris. Octava, quia anima est sicut Apotheca, cui deesse non debet alicujus radicis vel pigmenti Medicina. These virtues are so knit together by connexion and coordination among themselves, that whosoever hath one, hath all, saith johannes de Combis, 
joh. d. Comb.  and adds the eight following reasons, or at least, Illustrations for the same. The first reason is, The bounty of God the giver, because he doth not give the one without the other. The second reason is, because as in the state of the Body, one member needeth another: so is it in the dependency of Virtues. The third reason is, because as in a Harp, if one string be wanting, there will not be a perfect harmony: so neither will there be a Spiritual melody in the soul, unless all Virtues are present. The fourth reason is, because against several vices, there are several Virtues: wherefore it behooveth to have all Virtues, that they may resist all vices: for as the Soldier of the world is not skilful unless he have all his weapons: so neither the Soldier of Christ, if he want any Virtue. The fifth reason is, because as Stars and Planets ever are in their Spheres; so virtues ought to be in the soul. The sixth reason is, because the soul is (as it were) a sound vessel of gold, beautified with precious stones, that is, with Virtues. The seventh reason is, because the soul is (as it were) a fruitful Garden, wherein the comeliness of any tree or flower ought not to be absent. Eightly, because the soul is, as it were, an Apothecary's shop, where there ought no herb or roots fit for medicine to be deficient.  
Now that there are but four Cardinal Virtues, Tully hath done me the office to prove it; 
Tully.  because Honesty (saith he) stands upon four parts; One of Knowledge, another of Community, the third of Magnanimity, the fourth of Moderation. Knowledge belongs to Prudence, Community to Justice, Magnanimity to Fortitude, Moderation to Temperance. These four according to Beda, 
Beda.  seem to be against Ignorance, Malice, Infirmity, and Concupiscence. There are four Cardinal Virtues (saith Thomas Aquinas) whereof Prudence belongs to Reason, 
Tho. Aquin.  Justice to Will, Temperance to Appetite, and Fortitude to Anger; and each hath his reference, peculiari quadam ratione, after a certain peculiar manner; thus he argues: Every moral Virtue either belongs to Reason, or to Appetite; if unto Reason, it is Prudence; if unto Appetite, it doth either incline to an others, or to our own good; if to an others, it is Justice; if to our own, it appears either in bridling our Concupiscence, which is Temperance, or our Anger, which is Fortitude. To this purpose Saint Augustine, 
D. Aug. D. Greg. D. Ambr.  Gregory and Ambrose: Quatuor Paradisi fluminibus totam terram intersecantibus comparant has quatuor virtutes, quae uberrimis fluentis honestarum rerum vitam nostram irrigant. If this suffice not, five arrows may be drawn out of the quiver of holy Writ; the first, from the four Rivers of Paradise: The four Rivers water Paradise; so by these four Virtues the heart is watered, till it be made fruitful, and is also tempered from the heat of carnal desires. The second, from the four colours, with which the hangings of the Tabernacle were graced, which signify these four Virtues, in which the ornament of the Church consists. The Hyacinthian belongs to Prudence, being of an a rial or celestial colour, whereby we imitate God and Angels. The Flaxy, having whiteness, appertains to Temperance, because it makes Candidam & mundam animam. The Purple, to Fortitude, which is prepared Sanguinem pro Christo fundere. The Scarlet, to Justice, propter zelum ipsius. The third, from the four ingredients wherewith the Ointment was made, which anointed the Tabernacle, the Vessels and Ministers thereof. The Myrrh belongs to Prudence, the Cinnamon to Humility, which is altogether Justice, according to that in Matth. For thus it becometh all righteousness, that is, perfect Humility. Cassia, which grows in waters, to Prudence, which is nourished in the waters of knowledge. Calamus, that odoriferous tree, to Fortitude. These four (the Oil of divine love being added) make that most sweet smelling savour of a good name, according to that of Ecclesiastes, A good name is better than precious ointment. The fourth from Elias his Chariot, the four Virtues being (as it were) the four wheels in that fiery Chariot, by which the friends of God are taken up on high. The fifth, from the figures of Ezekiels' four Creatures, the Eagle, the Calf, the Lion, the Man. In the Eagle is figured Prudence, whose property it is, to watch in discerning things: In the Calf temperance, the Calf being ordained for Holy Sacrifice in the Law; in the Lion Fortitude, and in the man Justice, which is the bond of humane society. 
Bellarm.  Nor is Cardinal Bellarmine's musical comparison altogether untuneable, who, writing on the ninety eighth Psalm, applies the four Instruments therein mentioned, to the four Cardinal Virtues. For saith he, Cithara Prudentiae similis est, psalterium justitiae, tuba ductilis Fortitudini, tuba cornea Temperantiae. Cithara variarüm chordarum sonos miscens, unum dulcem concentum efficit: Sic Prudentia, varias circumstantias operis boni conjungens, perfectum opus reddit. Psalterium decem chordis instructum decalogum nobis representat, id est, omnia praecepta justitiae. Tuba ductilis malleorum ictibus extenditur, & formatur, ut sonum suavissimum edat; Sic Fortitudo, tribulationes, & angustias patientèr ferendo, ita extendit & perficit hominem dei, ut suavem sonum edat: Denique Temperantia quasi durum cornu carnem mollem excedens, & superans, id est, Corpus castigans jejunijs, atque vigilijs, & in servitutem Spiritus redigens, tubam Spiritualem efficit. He apples the Harp to Prudence, the psaltery to justice, the Trumpet to Fortitude, the Cornet to Temperance. For as the Harp sending out the sound of diverse strings, makes one melodious consent; So Prudence joining together diverse circumstances of well-doing, makes up the perfection of good works. The psaltery adorned with ten strings, represents the ten Commandments, that is, all the precepts of Divine and Moral justice. The Trumpet, as it is extended forth, and fashioned by the strokes of the hammer, that it might give a sweet sound, so Fortitude bearing patiently tribulations, and troubles enlargeth and perfects the man of God in such manner, that he utters a perfect sound to all hearers. Finally, as the Cornet is made of hard horn, that grows forth, and overtops the flesh; so Temperance, as if it were of a hornish composure, is too hard for the flesh, by keeping under the body with fastings and watchings, till it bring it in obedience, and make a spiritual harmony between the flesh and the spirit. Neither will I forget that lucky observation of Prosper, 
Prosp.  who writing of the four Cardinal Virtues, hath it thus: Principales quatuor esse virtutes, non solum Philosophi sentiunt sed etiam nostri consentiunt, siquidem totus orbis Oriente, & Occidente, Aquilone, & Meridie. Et ipse Adam vel generale nomen, quod dicitur homo, quatuor in literis: Corpus quoque quatuor elementis, & anima ipsius quatuor affectionibus explicatur; ideò virtutes istas, quae tantam perfectionem in numero habent, sollicitè considerare debemus, quia nihil perfectionis uspiàm sit, quod in istis virtutibus non sit. That there are four principal Virtues is the consent, not only of Philosophers, but of us Divines also (which the Father manifests thus:) The whole world is expressed within the circumference of East, West, North, and South. And Adam himself, as also his general name, which is Homo, is expressed in four letters. His body likewise by four Elements, and his soul by four Affections. Therefore we ought diligently to consider of these Virtues, which have in number so great perfection, because indeed no perfection is any where to be found, which is not found in these Virtues. Now to quarter out the Quaternion with Saint Bernard, 
D Bern. Hugo de S. Victore.  and Hugo de sancto victore; justitia quaerit, Prudentia invenit, Fortitudo vindicat, & Temperantia possidet. Prudentia docet & informat, justitia ornat, & consummate, Fortitudo retinet & roborat, Temperantia moderatur & discernit. Prudence instructs, justice beautifies, Fortitude strengthens, Temperance moderates. Prudence in elegendis, justice in distribuendis, Temperance in utendis, Fortitude in tolerandis. And this is that fourfold link, that chaineth man to eternity. The last invites me on the left hand, Non succumbere in adversis, the third on the right hand, Non elevari in Prosperis: the second, a Posteriori, to satisfy de Praeteritis, and now my ensuing Prudence gives me a Caveat defuturis.  
Though it is held preposterous in the Schools, to divide before we define, yet let us know from whom, to whom, and then to my Definition, What this Virtue is, 
Chrysip.  because as Chrysippus tells me, each hath a peculiar quality, and therefore needeth a several Definition.   

The Original of all virtue, whence it springs. CHAP. II.  
FOr the à Quo, whence Virtue is derived, Deum esse multis modis ostenditur, hoc enim fides recta testatur, sacra scriptura loquitur, comparatio rerum ad ipsum idipsum indicat, sancti praedicant, creaturae clamant, ratio naturalis dictat. And if all these proofs were silent, yet the heathens would confess a Divinity in its Original, 
Plat.  Totius rerum natura, origo & causa deus est; God is the cause and beginning of all things, saith Plato, the Philosophical Divine. Socrates, 
Soc.  no less a Divine Philosopher, held, that there was but one God, and that was Alpha and Omega: Deus in unâ existentiâ omnia habet; God in one existence hath all things, 
Dio.  (said Dionysius) Esse omnium est ipsa divinitas, omne quod vides, & quod non vides, the very being of all things, whether of things visible or invisible is the Godhead itself. And Plato affirms, 
Pla.  that virtue is given us from God, and not from men. Mercurius Trismegistus tells us, 
Tris.  that God is, Principium universorum, the original of the Universe. 
Arist.  Aristotle confessed, Quod omnes antiquide-creverunt, quasi quoddam rerum principium, ipsumque infinitum; That all antiquities have decreed as it were, a certain beginning of things, & the same infinite. For God, whosoever he be (saith Pliny) and in what place soever resident, 
Plin.  is all Science, all Light, all Life, all Soul, and all of himself. As Philosopher's conjecture, so the Fathers of the Church with all modern Divines justify, that there is a Celestial power from which all goodness flows. Among the rest saith Raimundus Sabundus by way of similitude: Sicut homo non dedit inferiori rei esse, 
Sab.  ita neque sentire, neque intelligere, ergo eadem manus omnia fecit, idem dominus, idem artifex omnia ordinavit, proportionavit, & limitavit; Even as a man hath not given power to any inferior thing, either to live, or to perceive: so neither doth man give unto himself, either to be, either to live, either to perceive, or to understand; therefore the same hand hath made all things, the same Lord, the same builder, hath ordained, proportioned, and limited all things. Again, Deus est author & conditor omnium rerum; God is the author and founder of all things. If of all things, then of all goodness. Omnia bona, quae in hoc seculo habemus, per gratiam dei habemus; All the goods, 
Bern.  which we have in this world (saith S. Bernard) we have by the grace of God. Certainly he is the beginning of all things; the Idea and Pattern of all Good. He is that Almighty which wanteth beginning and ending, which, being made of none, hath by his power created all things, and therefore by some he is termed a Well, both because he hath all good things from himself, and also, for that he doth communicate all good things from thence unto his creatures, without any hindrance to himself. Superior verò, ratione, authoritate, virtute, sapientiâ, omnibus Deus est, sub quo voluntariè vel invitè curvantur omnes, qui regunt, vel regere cupiunt orbem. Quorum leges, velut aranearum telae sunt, Si divinis legibus adversantur: imò (ut arctiùs astringam) si non obsequuntur; God is, verily superior to all, in Reason, Authority, Virtue, Sapience, under whom voluntarily, or against their will, all are kerbed, who govern, or desire to govern the world, whose laws are as the webs of Spiders, if they but cross divine laws: yea (that I may speak more closely) if they accord not with them (if Simon de Cassia err not.) Sir Thomas eliot, 
Sim. de Cass. Ell.  in his Dialogue between Plato and Aristippus, urgeth, That Philosophers spoke too little of God, since they did not conclude, that all goodness proceeded from him, and that he was the Fountain and Principal thereof. For although they did, almost all, acknowledge a deity, yet the Philosophers diverse opinions have justified that old Proverb: Quot homines tot sententiae. To which purpose Lactantius writes very pithily, 
Lactan.  Horum omnium sententia, quamvis sit incerta,, eodem tamen spectat, ut providentiam unam esse consentiunt: sive enim natura, sive aether, sive ratio, sive mens, sive fatalis necessitas, sive divina lex, idem est, quod a nobis dicitur Deus; All these opinions, though uncertain, come to this, that they agree upon one providence, whether the same be Nature, or Light, or Understanding, or Destiny, or divine Ordinance, and that it is the same, which is called of us God. Dicitur Dominus quasi dans munus; & nota, quod dicitur dominus propter triplex munus: Propter 

terrae fertilitatem,  
aëris claritatem,  
temporis tranquilliltatem.    
Primum munus datur divinitùs propter nostram sustenstationem;  
Secundum propter actionem;  
Tertium propter contemplationem.  
He is called the Lord, 
Bonaven.  (saith Bonaventure) because (as the Psalmist acknowledgeth) he loadeth us with benefits; and note, that he is called the Lord for a threefold benefit given us: for the fertility of Earth, the clearness of light, and the tranquillity of time. The first gift is given us from above for our sustentation; the second, for our action; the third, for our contemplation. Omnes Corporis & animi vires, omnia membra nostra, Oculi, Aures, Lingua, Manus, Pedes, Affectus, & quicquid modò in nobis, ejus dilectioni, et obsequio totum intrà et extrà mancipetur, et syncerè consecretur. All the strength of Body & Mind; all our members, Eyes, Ears, Tongue, Hands, Affections, and whatsoever is in us either intrinsical or extrinsecall, aught to obey, and sincerely consecrate themselves to his will and pleasure (saith Theodoricus. 
Theod. ) Volumes might be written to this purpose, yet all would be but so many Items to make up one sum, which are included in these words of Clemens Alexandrinus, 
Clem. Al●xand.  which serve my turn to conclude this point, Laudemus unum Patrem, & Filium, unà cum Spiritu sancto, qui unus est omnia, in quo omnia, per quem omnia, qui est undequáque bonus, undequáque pulcher, undequáque sapiens, undequáque justus, cui gloria nunc est, & in secula.   

The true Subject of Virtue, to whom it properly belongs. CAP. III.  
NOw let us determine the Quibus, and consider of Virtues subject aright: for here some scruple may arise from the different opinion of Philosophers and Divines: For, (saith Aristotle) this one Province belongs to a prudent man, 
Arist.   rectè prospiciat. Therefore certain beasts may be said to be prudent, to wit, all those that seem to be endued with an eager desire of providing those things, which do belong to the defending of their life, to which purpose saith one: 
Nor are these creatures to be thought to be  
Quite void of th'intellectual faculty;  
But that they can discern and understand  
The language spoken in their native land,  
And might discourse, if to so strange a wit,  
Nature had lent them but due organs fit.   
Lucan saith, It is reported, that Elephants come out of the Rabathaean woods, 
Lucan.  and in a flood near adjoining wash themselves, (as if to purify) then prostrating fall down, & adore the Moon, and with joy return unto the woods again.  
What if I should compare this Story of the Elephants with that of Pliny? 
Plin.  (perhaps you would judge these beasts wiser than some men) who in his natural History thus rebukes men for their plurality of gods; to believe that there be gods innumerable, and those according to men's virtues or vices, to wit, Charity, Concord, Understanding Hope, Honour, Clemency, Faith, or (as Democritus was of opinion) that there were two Gods only, Punishment, and Reward, makes men's idleness the greater. Hereupon it is (saith he) that sundry Nations have gods named according to their devotion; nay, sometimes hurts unto men have been reckoned gods, which superstition hath caused a Chapel to be dedicated to the Fever in the mount Palatium, even by public order from the State; Likewise an altar to Orbona, near the temple of Lar; Besides an other erected to bad Fortune in Esquiliae, which would argue, that there were more gods in heaven, than men on earth.  
And what of those, that account beasts, and some filthy things for their gods. If all the ridiculous idolatry mentioned in the old Scripture were let slip, 
Godw.  yet Godwin in his Antiquities will tell us, that at the last, inferior creatures were canonised for gods, in way of thankfulness for benefits received from them; For which reason, these, as the Winds, the Air, the Earth, the Fruits of the earth, became deified. At last, well deserving men, nay Crocodiles, Serpents, Rats, Cats, Dogs, Garlic, and Onions were reputed gods.  

Lactan.  Lactantius writing of the variety of the Roman, Egyptian, and Lacedaemonian gods, not only blames them, because they did, Deos sibi ex eventis fingere, feign gods to themselves from each several accident, according to their own imaginations, but falleth fowler on them in these words, Quid, qui lapidem colunt informem atque rudem? What of those, that worship a rude and unbeautified stone? And in another place he thus explains himself, Quid de ijs dicam, qui colunt talia, nisi ipsos potissimum lapides, ac sripites esse? What shall I say of those that worship senseless stocks and stones, unless they, in the highest degree, were stocks and stones? Is it not then safer to live more pecudum, after the manner of savage beasts, then to be the authors of such idolatry. But the Scripture tells us, we must not expect grapes of thorns, nor figs from thistles. It is no wonder then, that these things be, since they proceed from Barbarians, Quorum religio cum moribus congruit. Some perhaps admire these Stories, others blame me for urging them; but all must like that ingenious translation of May on Lucan, 
May.  who concerning that of the Elephants, thus writes; 
Should this be true of Elephants, much more  
Wise in Religion are these beasts than men.  
But, if this a Fiction be, why then  
Did men's Invention feign them to be  
Wiser than are themselves in piety?   
Though beasts in the act of generation will accompany with none other, but such as be of their own proper kind, (though congruous in proportion, and shape) as Wolves and Mastiffs, Hares and Coneys, etc. Though the Bee suffer not another, that is not of the same kind, to enter into her Hive, though dogs at the voice of the Falconer, or Huntsman, seem to joy, as if they should enjoy pastime; yet this is not prudence. Doth the horse know that he is a horse, or, that he is a beast, and thou a man? or the Bee when her hive is broken, whether it be a man, or a beast that takes her honey combs, and puts her out of her lodging? or doth the Dog (which of all beasts is man's chief attendant) know, whether thou art a man, or a beast? no certainly. What think you of your Fauni, your Satyri, your Hippocentauri, and diverse other beasts, some having the visage, others the whole figure of man's body, are these endued with Prudence? no; for they want a reasonable soul, which is the sole difference between man and beast, which soul makes man prudent and wise unto salvation: do they know that they are such beasts? or, that they do resemble man? no verily: only man knows that he is man, and every beast in his several kind, according to that of Socrates; 
Socrat.  Wisdom is in man, and not in a beast, and all wisdom is concluded in him in this word, [Nosce teipsum.] Though beasts observe order, yet, I can no way conceive, that to be otherwise, than an imagination engendered by custom. For that knowledge which is in beasts, is by a natural influence, if you add thereunto their senses. In this I refer you to Piccolomineus his judgement, 
Piccol.  who saith, that Prudence is twofold, one divine, the other proper to mortality; divine prudence is eminent, separated from all indagation, and imperfection, which is given to God, Et separatis mentibus. The Prudence of Mortality is twofold, either natural, or humane: that which is natural, is not a true Prudence, but a shadow thereof: insomuch as by nature, and the instinct of nature, beasts do choose those things which also wise men do. So Aunts gather their grain, Bees make their combs, and follow their King, and Birds for variety of time change their places. Now humane Prudence is also twofold, either in spe & semine, which are children, when by nature they show themselves facile to Prudence, and yield a future hope thereof: or in habitu & formâ, which is used for calidity or craft, such are Devils, subtle Machevilians, and those which are frequently called the prudent or wise men of this world, but the true humane prudence, properly taken, joined with moral virtue, seeking means to attain unto honesty, is my ensuing discourse, which bids me Quaere fored Quid est.   

The Definition of Prudence, the first of the four Cardinal Virtues. CHAP. IU.  
THE Stoics say, that it is Scientia bonorum, malorum, & mediorum. Speusip pus is of opinion, 
Spen.  that it is only Scientia bonorum & malorum. Whereby we judge, what is to be done, and what not: and so saith Cicero. Plotinus informs us, 
Plot.  that Prudence is an understanding, declining inferior things, and directing the mind to supernal. But the Genus of Prudence is found in none of these definitions, according to Piccolomineus, 
Pieco.  for eligere divina & negligere mortalia, is not the office of Prudence, as it is universal, but as it is heroical; neither is Prudentia, Scientia et Intelligentia, 
Arist.  according to Aristotle. 
Eurip.  Euripides and others say that it is Habitus mentis, whereby every one doth seek that which is profitable to himself, which also is not to be approved, because the principal gift of Prudence, is to seek out that, which is most good for the public, not our own proper good, the end whereof is rather to be accounted honest then profitable: but Audi Philosophum, Prudence is a habit directing to do those things with true reason which are good to man; whereupon saith one, the habit is the Genus, and the form thereof, it is added (with true reason) by which is showed that Prudence, doth belong to Understanding, and to that faculty of Understanding, which is called Rationatrix, according to that in Aristotle, those are prudent, 
Arist.  who can rightly take Council in those things, which are good and profitable to themselves, not which is ad valetudinem aut vires, but altogether to reason of our well living: Again he terms it a virtue of the understanding, by which we may well consult of Good and Evil things which belong unto Felicity. 
Gol.  Gollius closeth with him, and thus he sayeth: Prudentia est habitus mentis secundum veram rationem consultandi, & agendi ea, quae homini in universâ vitâ sunt bona vel mala. Prudens est is, qui potest benè consultare de ijs, quae ipsi, vel alijs sunt bona, & utilia, non ex parte solùm aliquâ, sed ad totam benè vivendi rationem; Prudence is a habit of the understanding, according to the true reason of consulting, and doing those things which are good, or evil, during man's life. He is Prudent, who can well consult concerning those things, which are good, and profitable for himself or others, not alone for some particular part, but for the whole course of well living. Macrobius confesseth, 
Macr.  That it is a Virtue directing all things to the rule of reason, which doth think and do nothing, besides what is right and laudable. And Thomas Aquinas will tell us, 
Thom.  That true and perfect Prudence is, whereby we counsel, judge, and obey what things belong Ad finem bonorum, to the end of all good things in humane conversation. As for the precedency, I approve of Gregory's opinion among Divines, and Plato's among Philosophers, The first instructs us, That Prudence, inter reliquas Principem locum obtinet, docet alias virtutes, nisi, quae agunt, Prudenter agant, virtutes esse neutiquàm posse. 
D. Greg.  Amongst other virtues, Prudence obtains the precedency, and teacheth the rest, that unless, what things they do, they do wisely, they cannot be virtues. And Plato, Virtutes omnes ad Prudentiam revocabat, 
Plat.  illasque sine hujus praesidio, quasi Daedali statuas solutas, fugaces, & instabiles esse aiebat. Plato reduced all virtues unto Prudence, and affirmed that those, without its aid, are but, as it were, the statues of Daedalus, weakened, fading, and unstable. Well then hath Charowne termed it, 
Char.  The superintendent, and guide of all other virtues; Aurigam virtutum, without which nothing is good; The knowledge and choice of those things, which we desire or fly, The just estimation and trial of things, the eye, that seethe all, directeth and ordaineth all. Better is that of Tully in his Tusculans: 
Tul.  Non potest esse jucunda vita, à quâ abest Prudentia: But best of all, sayeth jamblicus, 
jamb.  after a long commendation of this virtue: Meritò Dei similes facit sui possessores Prudentia. I need not incite any to the desire thereof, for it is Gratuita virtus (as Peraldus noteth) as it is Gratuita, 
Per.  so ought it to be Amabilis, every way as much to be beloved, as it is freely bestowed on us. 
Bon●v.  Bonaventure urgeth four Reasons, wherefore it is Amabilis.  
1. Because it is Luminosa in quantum temporum discretiva.  
2. Fructuosa in quantum futurorum provisiva.  
3. Studiosa in quantum praeteritorum recordativa.  
4. Operosa in quantum praesentium ordinativa.  
And now you have read so many Definitions, or Descriptions, take your choice; yet this of Saint Augustine I must approve of, 
D. Aug.  which is, Scire quid anima debet facere. And here a division would be demanded; yet before I come to it, a word or two of the difference between Prudentia, & Sapientia. True it is, in holy Writ, the words are promiscuously handled; An instance or two of the congruity of the words. Prudentia carnis mors est, prudentia autem Spiritus vita, & pax; quoniam sapientia carnis inimica est Deo; The wisdom of the flesh is death, but the wisdom of the spirit is life, and peace; because the wisdom of the flesh is enmity against God. Qui sapiens est cord, appellabitur Prudens: The wise in heart shall be called Prudent. And again, Os meum loquitur sapientiam, & meditatio cordis mei prudentiam, saith the Psalmist. 
Damas'.  Damascene dividing the Rational soul into two parts, into that, which is Active, and into that, which is Contemplative, sayeth, that the Contemplative belongs to Sapience, the Active to Prudence. But how will this agree with Aristotle. 
Arist.  Sapientiam, in ipsis artibus, ijs tribuere solemus, qui in quâque arte excellunt maximè, ut Phydiam sapientem lapidum sculptorem, & Polycletum statuarium sapientem nominamus; We are accustomed, saith he, to attribute Sapience to those, which do in the highest degree excel in any kind of Art, As we call Phydias a wise Carver of Stones, Polycletus a wise maker of Images, which name of Sapience signifies no other thing, than the virtue or excellency of Art; and in another place, Quod sapientis nomine appellatur, quod verò prudentis nomine dicitur, aliud atque aliud: What is called by the name of a sapiential man, is one thing, what of a Prudent man▪ is another thing: And here he gives another Example; Anaxagoram, Thaletem, caterosque tales sapientes nominamus, prudentes non itèm: We call Anaxagoras, Thales, and such men wise, but not prudent. His reason follows, because they do not perceive, but are ignorant of those things, which are profitable to themselves. Sapientia est de rebus humanis & divinis cognitio, Prudentia de moribus; Sapience (saith Tully) is a knowledge of divine and humane things, 
Tul.  Prudence appertains unto manners. Est in ratione quiddam, ad superna & coelestia incendens, & id dicitur Sapientia, & est quiddam ad transitoria, & caduca respiciens, & id vocatur Prudentia: haec duo ex ratione sunt, & in ratione consistunt; & dividit se ratio in duo, scilicet, in sursùm, & deorsùm; sursùm in Sapientiam, & deorsùm in Prudentiam; 
D. Aug.  There is in Reason (saith S. Augustine) a certain thing bending towards supernal, and heavenly things, and that is called Sapience: there is a certain thing respecting ttansitorie and fleeting things, and this is called Prudence: These two are from Reason, and consist in Reason, and Reason divideth itself into two, to wit, upward, and downward; upward into Sapience, downward into Prudence. There he gives a similitude, Quasi in virum & mulierem, ut vir sit superior, et regat; mulier inferior, & regatur: As it were between a man and a woman; the man being superior, in the active voice governs, the woman inferior, in the passive, is governed: so that I might liken Sapience, and Prudence to those two great and heavenly Lights, the Sun, and the Moon; for as the Moon receives her splendour from the Sun; so Prudence it's from Sapience: and as the Moon rules the night, and the Sun the day; so Prudence rules this, Moral Sapience the divine life. And now descend we in the next place to a Division.   

The Division, and several Branches of Prudence. CAP. V.  
COncerning the Division of Prudence, I find too too much division in opinions. Thomas Aquinas brancheth it into more parts, 
Thom.  than any other mention, to wit, Memoria Intelligentia, Docilitas, Solertia, Ratio, Providentia, Circumspectio & Cautio. But these may be drawn into a lesser circle, 
Per.  Peraldus approves the opinion of Tully and Seneca, 
Tul.  
Sen.  who say the parts thereof, are three, Memoria, Intelligentia, et Providentia, and so is the opinion of others, no less learned in Divinity, than they in Morality. Others would add one wheel more, to make it a complete Chariot, which is Astutia mentis; But in mine own opinion, I conceive it to be, rather an Appendix on the three former parts, then to challenge any part thereof; and so intent to handle it. 
Aug.  Saint Augustine I believe will clear all, (whose opinion Peter Martyr confirmeth) who speaking of the parts of Prudence, sayeth thus: Parts ejus Memoria, Intelligentia & Providentia; Memoria est per quam animus repetit illa quae fuerunt; Intelligentia per quam ea perspicit, quae sunt, Providentia per quam futurum aliquid videtur, antequàm est; The parts thereof are Memory, Understanding, Providence; Memory is by which the mind repeats those things, which were; Understanding, by which she sees those things which are; Providence by which any thing to come is seen before it cometh; Memory hath reference to things past, Understanding to things present, but he is provident, who can appoint, from things past, and things present, that which hereafter shall come to pass, saith Peter Martyr. 
Pet. Mar.  And now, if my memory fail me not, I will relate what I have read de Memoriâ.   

Of Memory, the first part of Prudence. CHAP. VI  
MEmoria sumitur triplicitèr: primò, pro ipsâ facultate, ceu potentiâ quâ recordamur; secundò, pro recordandi actu; tertio, pro habitu: Memory is taken three manner of ways (saith Albertus): First, 
Alb.  for the very faculty or power, by which we remember, Secondly, for the act of remembering, Thirdly, for the habit; but to my definition: Memoria est, quâ repetit animus quae fuerunt, Memory is, by which the mind repeats what things were (saith Cicero) 
Cic.  Memoria est vis animae accepta retinens, praeterita repetens, elapsa recolligens; Memory is a force of the Understanding, retaining things received, repeating things past, recollecting things let slip; According so Saint Augustine and Hugo de sancto victore. 
Aug.  
Hug.  Memoria est ad mentis intuitum imaginaria quaedam representatio praeteritorum; Memory is a certain imaginary representation of things past, according to the intimation of the Understanding. Memory is the treasury of innumerable imaginations, 
Aug.  (saith St. Augustine) Memoria thesaurus cognoscibilium, 
Per.  saith Peraldus. Omnium rerum thesaurus & custos memoria est, 
Hug.  saith Hugo. Memory is the consort and fellow-worker of reason, because without it, reason neither can proceed to known things, nor retain the knowledge of things known. Ingenium requirit incognita, memoria recondit dijudicata, ratio judicat inventa: ingenium quod invenit, rationi adducit, ratio memoriae, memoria recondit: Wit (saith Bonaventure) seeketh unknown things; 
Bonaven.  Memory puts up things that be judged; Reason judges things, that be found out: what Wit finds out, it brings to Reason, Reason to Memory, Memory keeps it safeguarded. Memory is in place of a Notary, and Secretary, and, as it were, a Register Book, in which is entered, whatsoever is ordained, and decreed by Reason: For, as we have need of such a Judge, as Reason, to conclude, and determine finally in the Mind whatsoever may be called into question, and doubted of: so it is requisite, that the Conclusion, and definitive sentence, should be registered in Memory, as it were in a roll, or book of Accounts, that it may be always ready and found, when need requires. 
Arist.  Memoria species omnes sensibiles judicatas, & cogitatas, tanquam depositum, recondit, ac servat, ut eas, cum opus fuerit, exhibeat; Memory keeps and hides (saith Aristotle) as it were a thing deposited, all sensible species judged, and thought one; that she may use them, when need requires. Sicut lux atque omnes colores, formaeque corporum per oculos discernuntur; per aures omnia genera sonroun: omnes odores per aditum narium: omnes sapores per oris aditum: per sensum autèm totius corporis, quid durum, quid molle, quid calidum, frigidumve, lean aut asperum, grave seu leve, sive extrinsecùs, sive intrinsecùs corpori; haec omnia recipit recolenda (cum opus est) & retractanda grandis memoriae recessus; As Light and all colours, and shapes of bodies are discerned by the eyes; by the ears all kinds of sounds; all odours by the passage of the nose; all tastes by that of the mouth, and by the sense of the whole body, what is hard, what soft, what warm or cold, gentle or sharp, heavy or light, either extrinsecally or intrinsically: so all these things doth that grand receptacle of the memory receive; yea she restores and calls them back to mind at pleasure: 
Aug.  And here this holy Father is almost puzzled betwixt ignorance and wonder, Adding, & nescio, qui secreti atque ineffabiles ejus sinus, I know not, saith he, her secret and unspeakable ways of receipt, so infinite is the memories capacity. You may, by these words of Saint Augustine, perceive, that all species of things extrinsecally, and intrinsically belonging to the body of man, are comprehended within this great receptacle Memory, yet let me advise that none hoard up all their treasure in memory, lest time should lessen their stock. Now Memory is twofold, as some would have it, one Sensitive, the other Intellective: according to this distinction, Memoria est iterata resumpsio alicujus apprehensi sensu vel intellectu: Memory is an iterated resumption of some thing apprehended by Sense or Understanding. Others well learned, think there is only a Sensitive memory; and good reason for it, it being one of the internal senses, Memoria in parte sensitiuâ ponitur, quia est alicujus, prout cadit sub determinato tempore; non enim est nisi praeteriti, & cum non abstrahatur, nisi à singularibus conditionibus, non pertinet ad partem intellectivam, quae est universalium; Memory is placed in the sensitive part (saith Thomas Aqui: 
D. Tho. ) because it is of some thing, even as it chanceth in a determinate time; for it is not but of things past, and since it is not drawn but from singular and particular conditions, it doth not belong to the Intellective part, which is of universals. And Albertus speaks to the same purpose. 
Alb.  Others would have an Intellective memory, Memoria intellectiva soli homini pèculiaris est, & custos & conservatrix fidissima conceptuum & imaginum, vel rerum, quarum species sunt ab intellectu perceptae; The Intellective memory (say they) is peculiar only to man, it is the faithfullest keeper of conceits and imaginations, or of things, whose species are perceived by the Understanding: But, by their own confession, this is not Organical. And this, I conceive, to be that Memory, which by the Philosopher is called Pars integralis prudentiae. Evident is the opinion of Pliny, that Dogs, Kine, Oxen, 
Plin.  and Goats, etc. do dream, Non somniarent bruta nisi haberent in somnis, etc. Brute beasts would not dream, unless they had in their sleeps encountering imaginations kept in the inward sense; which, if it hold true, what shall we conceive of Tully's saying, 
Tull.  that Inter hominem & belluam hoc maximè interest, quod haec tantùm, quantùm movetur sensu, ad id solum, quod adest, quodque praesens est, se accommodat; Paululum admodum sentiens praeterium, vel futurum? Between man and beast this is a special difference, that a Beast, only as fare as he is moved by sense, applieth himself to that alone, which is present, very little perceiving a thing past, or to come. Alij authores manifesta indicia memoriae probant, quae in brutis deprehenduntur; certa loca, nidos, latibula, & sobolem suam dignoscunt; Other Authors prove manifest shows of Memory, which are discerned in brute Beasts; they know certain places, their nests, their dens, and their offsprings, this opinion causeth the distinction between Memoria and Reminiscentia; quod illa brutis animantibus competat solus verò homo reminiscendi facultatem habeat; Because Memory (as some think) appertains to brute creatures, but only man hath the faculty of reminiscence. Or better thus, Memoria differt à reminiscentiâ, quia memoria discretè, & distinctè revertitur ad res, componendo intentiones distinctas cum imaginibus; reminiscentia antem siuè recordatio est motus quasi interceptus, & abscissus per oblivionem, et est cum collatione temporis, & loci, & hujusmodi: Memory differs from reminiscence, because Memory discerningly, & distinctly reverts unto things, by comparing distinct intentions with imaginations, but Reminiscence, or recordation, is a motion, as it were, intercepted, and quite lost through oblivion, but is attained again by collation of time, and place, and the like; 
joh. de Comb  as johannes de Combis observes. Now Memoriae est retinere species intelligibiles, Reminiscentiae est mortuas species resuscitare, & oblivioni tradita recordari; It is Memories office, to retain intelligible species, whereas Reminiscence doth renew lost species, and, as it were, recall to memory things delivered over to oblivion. To this purpose we may find by common experience, that, those things which we have heard, seen, or known, and for a little space kept in memory, when once oblivion hath got the superiority, we think no more of, then if we had never known them: nor could remember them, were there not some body, or evident token to put us in mind again thereof. Saint Augustine tells us, 
D. Aug. Arist.  Memory is in beasts; Aristotle confesseth it, but withal, That the memory that is in beasts, is imperfect, and (in mine own opinion) so imperfect, that I rather think it a customary imagination, helped by the external senses, than any memory at all.  
And now inquire we where it is seated. Tres, tanquàm, ventriculi cerebri demonstrantur; Vnus anterior ad faciem, à quo sensus omnis: Alter posterior ad cervicem, à quo omnis motus: Tertius inter utrumque, in quo memoriam vigere demonstrant; There are, as it were, three Ventricles of the Brain demonstrated (saith Saint Augustine) One before, 
D. Aug.  towards the face, from which all sense; Another behind, towards the hinder part of the neck, from which all motion; A third between both, in which they show that Memory flourisheth. But the truth is, Divines, as well as Philosophers, do conclude, That Memory is seated in the hinder part of the head. And thus they prove it, by a threefold reason. Primò, quià, laesa illâ parte offenditur memoria, &, eo loco percusso, rerum caepit oblivio: Secundò, quta ejus partis soliditas, ad id videtùr potissimùm procurata à naturâ, ut tenacius haereant infixae species: Postremò, quià, cùm recordari volumus, quasi naturâ nos docente, occipitium scalpimus, ut memorandi vim quodammodò excitemus, & acuamus; First of all, because, that part being hurt, the Memory is offended; and blows or hurts on that place beget oblivion: Secondly, because the solidity of that place, especially, seems to be procured from nature: that the infixed species may take the more sound hold: Last of all, because, when we would remember, as it were by nature's instinct) we scratch the hinder part of the head, that after a sort we may stir up, or sharpen the faculty of remembering. If these reasons serve not. 
Fr. Ac.  The French Academy will tell you, That God hath assigned Memories seat, or lodging in the hindermost part of the brain; to the end, that after such things, as are to be committed to it, have passed all the other senses, they should be kept there, as by a Secretary; and for this cause that part of the brain is most solid and firm. His reason you may read at large in his Chapter of Reason and Memory. Now there are four things necessary to whet the Memory. The First is, to dispose with good order, things committed to Memory; Then attentively to meditate, and ruminate of the same; Afterwards to fasten the thing to be remembered by some certain peculiar affection of joy, or grief; Last of all, when things are infixed, often to repeat and commend them to Memory. Debemus habere memoriam trium (saith Bonaventure) primorum, mediorum, infimorum: Data sunt enim nobis.  
Tria 

Prima▪ ad gubernandum  
Media ad conservandum  
Infima ad sustentandum.    
As there are four things necessary to sharpen Memory, and three things to have in Memory: so there are ten things (as Peraldus noteth) for retaining of which, 
Per.  Memory is especially to be praised. First, the memory of benefits is to be commended, especially, the Memory of the Creator and Redeemer: Memento Creatoris tui. Secondly, the Memory of the Commandments of God, Et memores sint mandaterum ipsius ad faciendum ea. Thirdly, the Memory of the justice, which God doth excercise against the transgression of his commandments, Memor esto judicij mei, sic enim erit & tuum. Fourthly, the Memory of spiritual war, Memento belli. Fiftly, the Memory of Divine mercy, Memoratus sum misericordiae tuae, Domine. Sixtly, the Memory of the laudable lives of the Saints, which we ought to imitate; Facta praecedentium patrum consideremus. Seventhly, the Memory of adversity in prosperity, Memento paupertatis in die abundantiae. Eightly, the Memory of the Rock, whence we were hewed, or the Root, whence we did spring, Attendite ad Petram, de quâ excisi estis. Ninthly, the Memory of others wants, when we ourselves are in prosperity, Memento mei, cum benè tibi fuerit. Lastly, the Memory of private sins, to grieve for them, Recogitabo tibi omnes annos, in amaritudine animae meae. The contrary to this is Oblivion, which, 
Greg.  though it be (as Gregory would have it) quaedam mors: yet in some things to be approved of. First, the oblivion of injuries. Secondly, the forgetting a good turn done to another. Thirdly, the not remembering of delights in former sins. And last of all, the non-recordation of temporal things, To this purpose was the answer of Themistocles to Symmachus; to whom, being desirous to teach him the art of memory, he answered, he had rather learn the art of forgetfulness. A contradictory answer, yet a reason tolerable, Meaning, that there was no defect in his memory, but that he could not forget those things that were requisite to be buried in oblivion. I might here tell you what constitutions are subject to the best Memories, and that you shall seldom see a quick wit, and a strong memory meet, and hold: What are the causes of good and bad memories; That surfeits, and colds, according to Galen, 
Gal.  confound the memory; That the matter of the instrument of the Memory, if too soft, will cause a quick entertaining, but not a good retaining; if hard, not easily imprinted, but, when it is once settled, hardly removed. The reasons might evidently appear, were they not fitter for a natural Philosophy Lecture, then for my Moral information. And thus have I done with memory, Quae non est fututurorum nec praesentium, sed praeteritorum tantùm: sensus praesentium, spes futurorum; which is not of things to come, nor of things present, but only of things past, sense only having to do with things present; Hope alone being in expectation of things to come.   

Of the Understanding, the Intellectual part, and second Branch of Prudence. CHAP. VII.  
HEre I will not be so scrupulous, as to make a difference between Intellectus and Intelligentia, the one being taken by some for the Understanding faculty, the other for the Act of the Understanding; but both twofold, Divine, and Humane. The Divine Intellect is a property of God, whereby he knows all things most perfectly in himself. Which Divine Intellect of his, may be understood four manner of ways. First, the understanding of God is a most simple act, therefore God doth not understand discurrendo à noto ad ignotum; but by apprehending the matter simply, and by itself. Secondly, the Understanding of God, understandeth God himself directly, and by himself: but other things, Tanquàm in exemplari, as they are certain Images of God. Thirdly, all distinctions of times God doth understand at one act, Simùl & Semèl, those things, which we call things past, present, and to come. Lastly, the Understanding of God understands all things necessarily, nothing contingently, or by Opinion.  
Many have been of opinion, that Intellectus, and Opinio are all one. To confute this, Saint Bernard saith, 
D. Bern.  that Multi suam opinionem, intellectum putaverunt, & erraverunt: & quaedam opinio potest putari intellectus, intellectus opinio non potest ● unde hoc accidit profectò, quia haec falli, & fallere potest, ille non potest: aut si falli potuit, intellectus non fuit, sed opinio. Verus nempè intellectus certam habet non modò veritatem, sed notitiam veritatis; Many have thought their opinion to be Understanding, and have erred; And some opinion may be thought to be Understanding; but understanding cannot be taken for opinion, which cometh to pass certainly, because Opinion may deceive, and be deceived: Understanding cannot: or, if it could be deceived, it were not Understanding, but Opinion. For true Understanding hath not only a certain truth: but a knowledge of the truth: But Divine Intellect is no part of my Prudence; mine is Humane, which is defined by Saint Bernard, 
D. Bern.  to be Rei cujuscunque invisibilis, certa, & manifesta notitia. An invisible, certain, and manifest knowledge of any thing. Others think that the understanding is a power of the Rational soul, whereby man doth perceive, judge and know Intelligibles, especially Vniversalls: and here is unfolded the Triple office of the Understanding, Percipere, judicare, & Cognoscere. Thus (according to Saint Augustine) Intellectus est vis animae, 
Aug.  quae sub visu non cadentia percipit: quemadmodùm ipsa quoque anima, sensus adminiculo, corporatas formas intuetur; The Understanding is a faculty of the soul, which doth perceive things beyond the apprehension of sight, or sense: as the soul itself doth behold corporeal forms by the assistance of the senses. Here Philosophical insights raise a difference Inter animum, & animam. Nor is the distinction to be slighted, for Animus est, quo sapimus, anima, quâ vivimus; the mind is it whereby we consider, and grow wise, the soul whereby we live, and grow men. Divers trouble themselves with divisions of the Intellect; In mine own opinion, 
Pet Mar.  Peter Martyr gives it the plainest, and the best: Vnus vocatur practicus, & alter speculativus, non quasi sint duae vires aut facultates animae, sed, quia circa objecta sua speculativa vel practica versatur intellectus, aut speculativus, aut practicus; The one is called (saith he) the Practice, the other the Speculative, not, as if they were two distinct faculties of the mind, but, because about those things that are Speculative, or Practice, the Understanding is busied or conversant. 
Mag.  Magirus jumps with Aristotle in the division; but doth add further, That the Understanding is first separated in specie from the other faculties of the soul, next it is separated from the body, for we can understand without the body, and the Understanding useth not any Organ of the body, but is freed Ab omni consortio ejus. Lastly, the Understanding is separable from the same, not only according to operation, but also according to subsistence: because, the body being taken away, the Understanding subsists, and remains permanent by itself. It being therefore plain, that the Understanding is a faculty of the soul, that it hath no certain Organ in the body, and can subsist without the body, it must be, as the soul is. That there is a Vegetative, a Sensitive, and a Rational Soul, I think few so irrational, but know it. The Vegetative Soul, Trees, and Plants partake of; The Vegetative, and Sensitive Beasts, Birds, and Fishes; The Vegetative, Sensitive, and a Rational Soul is in Man alone. Concerning which Rational Soul, there is a  opinion: The first is, That it is transferred, and brought forth, as a part of the Substance of God, who inspireth it into the Body, according to that of Moses; Inspiravit in faciem ejus spiraculum vitae. The second is, That it proceedeth from the souls of our Parents, and is transferred, even as, and when the seed is. The third, That the souls of men have been from the beginning all created of God, made of nothing, and reserved in heaven, afterwards to be sent into the lower parts, as need should require, and that the bodies of men are form, and disposed to receive them. The last opinion is, That all souls are created of God, and infused into Men, and that the Creation and Infusion is effected Vno eodemque tempore. But among all Opinions, mine is, That it is a Mystery beyond the Philosopher's reach, and not to be understood Absque Numine, I need not have troubled myself with a definition of the Rational Soul, since I am to write only, 
Arist.  where it is placed. Aristotle saith. That it is Tota in toto, & tota in qualibet parte; Which is true concerning the souls energetical information, but not concerning her Royal Palace of chief habitation. Charown is of opinion, 
Char.  That the souls Chief or Tribunal Seat is in the head, and not in the heart, forgetting, it seems That Cor est primum vivens, & ultimum Moriens: but about her chiefest place of residence, I find a threefold, and different opinion. The Physicians hold her Principal seat in the brain: the Philosophers in the heart: & some Divines (that believe the soul to be Ex traduce) in the blood.  
By reason of this variety in opinion concerning the proper seat of the soul, Rawlins, an ingenious Friar, 
Raw.  takes occasion to wonder at the learned, and (as it were) laboured Malice of the jews, in pursuing the very soul of Christ, even till it left his body; For (saith he) there being three chief opinions, where the soul is chiefly seated: to wit,  
1. Either in the Blood, according to that in Leviticus, Anima omnis Carnis in sanguine est.  
2. Or in the Brain, as many noted Physicians think.  
3. Or in the Heart, as your best and soundest Philosophers hold.  
That maliciously-wicked rabble of Priests, Scribes, and Pharisees (as if they had been studied and expert in the several subtleties, and varieties of those several opinions) sought to force the soul of Christ out of his body, through those the tenderest and liveliest parts of his body; seeking, if they could, to let it out  
First, Through his Head, and Brain, by a twisted Crown of sharpe-pointed Thornes.  
Secondly, Through his Blood by Whips & Nails, in piercing, and tearing the veins of his body, especially his hands and feet.  
Thirdly, Through his very Heart, when that bloody Soldier, Longinus so named, if Rome mistake not, ran him through the side with his deadly Lance.  
These several opinions do all carry Truth with them in their several kinds. For the soul hath its seat both in the blood, and in the brain; but Principally, and most Radically in the heart. Plain it is, That the Understanding is seated with the Soul, and the Soul seated in the Heart, and both of them, necessarily, joined together. Saint Basil observes, 
D. Basil.  That the Court hath got the attributes of the Queen, that dwells in it, the Queen the name of the Court; the Heart the attributes of the Soul, the Soul the name of the Heart; so that the Soul is where the Heart is, the Understanding inhabiting with them both; According to the words of God to Solomon, For I have given thee an Understanding Heart. 
Sir Tho. Ell.  Sir Thomas eliot, in his disputation Platonic, saith, That the Heart of Man is the Souls book, wherein all Thoughts are written. And we know there are two Veins in the Tongue, the one (as it is thought) hath recourse to the Heart, the other to the Head: that of the Heart, what it suggests, it brings up to the Head, where both meet, and deliver over their joint, and several errands to the Tongue; According to that in the Gospel, Ex abundantia Cordis os loquitur. And now will I close up this Point with the words of the ever to be honoured for Learning, Viscount Saint Alban, who, 
Vic. St. Alb.  in his Book entitled The Advancement of Learning, thus saith; The Arts Intellectual are four in number, divided according to the ends, whereunto they are referred; For Man's labour is to invent that, which is sought, and propounded; or to judge that, which is invented; or to retain that, which is judged; or to deliver over that, which is retained, so that the Arts must be four; Art of Enquirie, or Invention; Art of Examination, or Judgement; Art of Custody, or Memory; And Art of Elocution, or Tradition. Thus cursorily have I run over the Understanding. In the next place I am to Writ De Providentia.   

Of Providence, the third part of Prudence. CAP. VIII.  
THere are three Opinions concerning Providence. The first is the Epicureans, altogether ; Who deny, That there is a God, not plainly in Words, but in Heart; and in like manner, deny the Providence of God. The second, is of the Stoics, Who rightly allow, That all things are by the Providence of God; because nothing is done without the Divine care and knowledge: yet, will they have all things fall out by a fatal necessity. The third Opinion is of the Peripatetics (which carrieth more truth than the former) who rightly Judge, That all things are done by the Providence of God; and yet that some things fall out casually and fatally both; and those were the Aristotelians, Platonists, and many Schoolmen at this day. And now give me leave to branch forth a division, before I give you the Defini-nition. There is a Divine, and an Humane Providence. 
Pet. Mar.  Divine Providence is defined by Peter Martyr to be Ratio quâ deus utitur in rebus dirigendis ad suos fines, in quâ definitione non modo notitia, sed voluntas, & vis id faciendi comprehensa est; It is (saith he) a reason which God useth in directing things to his own ends; in which definition not only the knowledge, but the will, & power of his doing is comprehended. Providentia dei est ipsa divina ratio, in summo omnium Principe (Deo) constituta, quâ is cuncta praeterita & futura videt, & praecognoscit: Hoc est, Providentia Dei est Scientia Dei certa, in ejus ment concepta ab aeterno, de ijs, quae olim facta, & unquàm futura sunt necessariò & contingentèr; The Providence of God is the very divine reason constituted in God the chief Prince of all things, whereby he sees and foreknows all things past, and to come; That is, The Providence of God is the certain knowledge of God, conceived in his Understanding from eternity, concerning those things which were necessarily and contingently done in times past, or which any time are to come. Peter Martyr hath it thus; Est facultas Dei, 
Pet. Mar  quâ res omnes dirigit, & adducit ad suos fines; 'tis a faculty of God, whereby he directs, and reduces all things to his own ends. Trelcatius tells us, 
Trel.  That Providence is an outward action of God, whereby he keepeth all and several things that are done, to that end, which he hath determined according to the liberty of his will, and that, to the end, he might in all and several things be glorified. The efficient cause of this Providence or government is the same, which is of creation, sith one, and the self same beginning is of both, from, and by which all things do proceed, and are conserved, to wit, God the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. The Father, or the love and goodness of the Father, is the first beginning cause: the Son, in that he is the Wisdom and Word, is the working cause, the Holy Ghost, in that he is the virtue and power of the Father, and Son, is the finishing cause, Sicut Adam a nullo homine, Evah ex solo homine, & Seth ex utroque; ita Deus pater a nullo, filius ex solo patre, & Spiritus Sanctus ex utroque; Even as Adam was from none, Eve from man alone, and Seth from them both; so God the Father is from none, the Son from the Father alone, and the Holy Ghost from them both. Now the works of God summarily are two; That of the Creation, & that of the Redemption; both these works, as, in the total, they may appertain to the Unity of the Godhead, so, in their parts, they may be referred to the three Persons. That of the Creation, in the Mass of the matter   

he may be in all his undertake Magnanimus actu, That British tongues may triumphantly say, Charolus ille Magnus: & as in my Sovereign's cause, I have played the Priest, So let the British World be my Clerks, and say, Amen. That I may also pray for them. Otherwise, I shall but curse that soul, that will not say so. But herein I am loath to divulge the utmost of my thoughts; yet I fear, that tongue will burn in unquenchable fire, that dare presume to scandalise his Sovereign's name, or detract from his worth. And this dare I justify. For he cannot be a true servant to God, that bears not a true heart to his King; But, me thinks I hear Blesensis say, 
Ble.  Pro regibus orare est nova traditio, To pray for Kings is a new tradition; I wonder he, or any dare broach such new Heresy, since we are commanded by S. Peter, and S. Paul, to pray for them which are in Authority, especially for our Supreme Sovereign. Pro Rege quasi praecellenti. When Abishai would have slain Saul, the mortal enemy of David, David said to Abishai, Destroy him not, for who can stretch forth his hand against the Lords Anointed, and be guiltless, It was King john's very case in the viewing the Castle of Rochester, as is to be seen in our History. And thus much for the Reciprocal Duties betwixt Kings and their Subjects.   

The mutual Duties between Parents and their Children. CAP. X.  
THE Children, saith S. Paul, are not for the Parents, but the Parents for the children; Begin we therefore with their Office and Duty, since theirs is the Precedency. When the Child is borne, let not the Mother (though good in disposition) nurse any unless she nurse all. I am not against the general Opinion, as if it were not meet for a Mother to nurse her own Child: Yet this I conceive, that if she should nurse one, and refuse another, she should with much partiality incline to one, rather than another. For women's affections are many times transported beyond Judgement, And let the Father's intentions be never so upright, yet the Mother's survivorship may find out new inventions to perform her Natural Affections. Choose, if you be droven to a choice for your Nurse, a Woman Witty, Handsome, and if you can (having the two former qualities) Honest; For that Child, that receiveth nutriment from his Foster Mother, will go near to Sympathise with her in condition. And now the Hornbook appears. If thou hast Daughters, Music, Dancing, Needle-working may serve turn to keep them from Idleness; They are hardly got, and quickly lost. To make them scholars, were frivolous, it being by some observed, That Learning in a Woman, is like a Sundial in a Grave. And we have a Caveat given us from our late Solomon in his Proverbs; 
King james  It hath like operation to make Women learned, as to make Foxes tame, which only teacheth them to steal more cunningly. The possibility is not equal, for where it doth one good, it doth twenty harm. True it is, diverse Women have been very well learned. I have read, that Zenobia Queen of the Palmerians, being skilful in the Greek, Latin, & Egyptian tongues, taught them to her two sons, and wrote an Epitome of the Eastern parts. Cornelia taught her two sons the Gracchis, the Latin tongue. And Aretia taught her son Aristippus philosophy, but he proved a Sycophantical Philosopher. Indeed knowledge in a Woman commonly purchaseth more Inconvenience than profit. Exempli gratia. A Roman and a Grecian Ambassador, meeting in the Senate of the Rhodians; the Grecian spoke these words; True it is, Roman, you are bold in Arms, but unskilful in Sciences, for the Women of Greece are more skilful in Learning, than the Men of Rome in Weapons. These words caused War in Sicily. At last the Rhodians persuaded, that those Wars should be ended, not by Weapons, but by Feminine Disputations. It was like to be a solid Piece, when Women took it in hand, Stout Warriors they are, to end Ambassadors Quarrels. The Arguments my Author noteth not; Nor do I know his Reason, But certainly, as fare as they tended to a Logical Disputation, over and over excellent. Looking-glasses, are the fittest Books for women's Studies; For there they may rectify their Deformities, and take Counsel, which may be the best way to show that part, which is best. Yet I would have no Woman so fare dote on those Books, as to offer up her Morning Sacrifice to them, Eyeing herself so long, till Narcissus like, she fall in love with her own Shadow, I do hate this Face Physic. 
Diog.  Diogenes said to one, that had perfumed his Locks, Be careful your odoriferous Head procure you not a stinking Life. Beware, with Absalon, you take no Pride in your Locks, lest you be ensnared by them; For I believe these Daubed once are in easy possibility, to be Polluted once. 
Laert.  I like Laertius Observation, Optimi sunt odores, qui odorant Moors, alitèr non sunt flores, sed faetores; Strong perfumes argue guiltiness of some loathsome Savour; Glorious outsides, imply some inward Filthiness, that would fain escape notice: overmuch Ornament: importing Deformity; If she be Fair, she must be Proud, and she cannot be Proud unless she love her Face, which is the better beloved, when represented in a flattering Glass. In a word, the Learnedest Woman, that ever was, her knowledge being Weighed with an indifferent Man's, will prove like the Woman and the Feather in the Cardinal's Scales, 
Where if the Cardinal played right,  
The Woman was three Grains too light.   
Yet, for all this, I must confess, I would not have them altogether Illiterate. Let them Read, and Writ, but not Indite: Casket them not up for Holy Relics; but when nature hath made them fit for the Rites of Marriage, marry them, lest they save you a labour. And there is an end with them, and their Education.  
If thou hast Sons, in the first place, be careful of their Pedagogue, That he be Modest, Sober, Learned; And be sure that he have a good Form of Teaching, lest the succeeding Masters should have more to do, to Vnteach, then to Teach. Dimo the Musician demanded always a greater reward of them whom others taught, then of them, who never learned any thing. In this Provision of Tutors, the Gentry are fare short of their Inferiors, as it will appear by the words of Quintilian, 
Quin.  urged by Sir Thomas eliot. And these are they, Common Experience teacheth, That no Man will put his Son to a Butcher, to learn; or bind him Apprentice to a Traveller, if he intent to make him a Scholar: or if he will have him a cunning Goldsmith, will first bind him Apprentice to a Tinker; These things Poor Men are circumspect in, and the Nobles and Gentlemen (who would have their Sons by excellent learning come to Honour) or for sparing of Cost, or for lack of diligent search for a good Schoolmaster, wilfully destroy their Children; causing them to be taught that Learning, which would require six or seven Years to be forgotten; By which time the most part of that Age is spent, wherein the chiefest sharpness of Wit, and also then approacheth the stubborn Age, when the Child brought up in Pleasure, disdaineth Correction. And herein Poor men and Great men differ, the one esteeming Learning an Honour, the other (too often) rather a Disparagement then an Ornament.  

Diod.  Diodorus the Sicilian Writeth, That the Lawmaker Charondas appointed, that all the Children of the City should learn their Letters at the charges of the Commonwealth, which was to maintain Public Masters, to teach both Poor and Rich. Like to this custom are our Free-schooles in England, where, though perhaps the Schoolmaster or Schoolmasters may very well instruct a multitude in learning, Yet he or they can hardly order them in good marners. For what are two men, or three, at the most, to a giddy-headed company of Boys? My opinion is (if conveniency) will permit) Let them learn first at home, in those annis pubescentibus. Then your own eyes may see their education. Lycurgus his whelps, both of a Litter, may give sufficient satisfaction, The one being well educated, would kill a Hare; The other instead of hunting, would fall to gnawing of bones which he found in the Highway. When Antipater demanded of the Spartans' fifty Children for Hostages, they replied, That they had rather let him have a double portion of those which were at their full years; For they knew the ingenuity of their Men, but not (by reason of good education) what their children might come to Education is Prima, Secunda, Tertia pars vitae. That crookedness which a Tree hath in its tender growth, increaseth daily with the growth of the Tree, season them well in their Infancy, they will Savour of it in their Age, According to the Poet.  
Quo Semèl est imbuta recens  
Servabit odorem  
Testa diù.—  
And now, I suppose, my Striplings are formally clad, and togated, newly arrived at the University, where before they are well acquainted with, the Colleges and Halls, they must be sent for home, to be cockered up in their Father's parlours; if they suffer them to stay so long, as to see the Library, they suppose they are able to discourse of the Universities great Learning, in that very hour they eyed the Books, though not profited their Understandings. But every man may take notice; That perfect scholars are perfect Men, half scholars half Men, no Scholars no Men. For the illiterate are like Statues, or like a picture, which causeth this Motto, This is the Effigies of such a man. What a lamentable sight is it, to see a good proportion of Body want an Head-piece? O quale Caput, sed non habet Cerebrum. Nature without Learning hath lost its eyesight; And certainly it is less pain to learn in youth, then to be ignorant in old age; Vita hominis sine literis mors est, & vivi hominis is sepultura: The life of a man without knowledge is a death, and the sepulchre of a living man (saith Cicero. 
Cic. ) Wit without Learning is like a Tree without fruit; As an untilled field, so is the mind without Learning. William the Conqueror, finding the defect of Learning in himself, uttered these words to his son, That an unlearned Prince was a Crowned Ass. If it be so with Kings, what is it with Inferiors? Now there are some Pretenders to Learning, who by their silken Outsides would have the World suppose they had Golden Insides, whose Cringed knees, Antic gestures, with a whole rabble of Superlative fooleries (prating as amply, as unnecessarily, their Tongues being Gentleman-ushers to their Wits, still going before) lead vulgar Judgements into Labyrinths of amazements, Who only measure Inward Sufficiencies by Outward Forms, or Fortunes, Esteeming them most Wise, who are most Fantastically decked, Rich, Honourable; As if these things without an Estate Magnified their Wits, and with an Estate did put the World in mind of their Fortunes. But what hath my Pen to do with Folly? Yet why should I say so? Since the common Opinion is (urge what I can to the contrary) No Wisdom without Wealth.  
Yet I like not to see insulting Ignorance domineer over poor Scholars, Who are forced to come sneaking in with Paradoxes of Poverty. But if you observe what is said by Syracides in his Ecclesiasticus, You shall find the words and actions of the Rich fare surpassing those of the poor; So that, make me Rich, I must be Just, Valiant, Honourable, Wise, Et quid non. For Virtue in poverty is like a goodly Ship ready rigged, but cannot sail for want of Wind. But Quo vado.  
To tell you of all the Kings, and Emperors, that were Scholars, and Favourers of Learning, were but to fill up my Papers with Proper Names. I reserve them for some other, though not for my better uses. I will only urge the Emperor Claudius Caesar, Cosroes King of the Persians, the Vespasians, Ptolemy King of the Egyptians, and the good Emperor Trajane, who at his own charges maintained five Hundred Children at School, thereby to banish Ignorance. It is observed, That, from the death of Domitianus the Emperor, until the reign of Commodus (comprehending the reign of six Princes) all were Learned, or singular Favourers, and Advancers of Learning. It was a wise answer of Alexander, when question was made, what should be put into the rich Cabinet of Darius, he answered, Homer's Works. And reason good; For Homer hath given more men their Living, than Sylla, Caesar, and Augustus. Happy then is it, when Kings are Philosophers, or Philosopher's Kings. It was Varroes' good fortune to light upon Anthony, who, being condemned to die, for his Learning was pardoned by him, uttering these words, Vivat Varro vir doctiss mus; And Alexander was never more renowned in all his Conquests, than he was in that of Thebes, when he sold all the Freemen (Priests only excepted) and in the greatness of that Massacre, not only gave charge for the saving of Pindarus the Poet; but also s●w himself, both him, his house, and family undamnified. Whosoever hath but seen History, shall not only find the Learning of these, and many more, but their well wishing, and bounty towards it. I conceive therefore, that Parents are bound to lend their helping hands, that their Children may be instructed, Tàm Moribus, quàm Doctrinâ: tàm Doctrinâ quàm Moribus; Otherwise the children's faults will light upon the Parent's heads. And by the Law Falcidia, if the Child commit an offence, the Father should be punished. To this purpose was that of Diogenes, who being to buy commodities of the Father, and the Son, the Son swore, that Diogenes offered less, than it cost his Father. Diogenes struck the Father for the Son's oath, the Father demanded wherefore he struck him; Diogenes replied because he had not instructed his Son better, then to commit such an offence. But in point of Scholarship I might here urge Architrenius; 
Archi.  
At dijs paulò minor plebes Phaebeia secund'os  
Vix metit eventus, quicquid serit undique tortu  
Vapulat adversis.—   
The Labourer blisters but his Hands, but the Scholar his Brains; And when all is done, he is but as a Fish cast upon the sands, that must stay, till the Tide of others  flows. Indeed there are too many Politics, that hold it a needless thing to be any way indulgent to Scholars, (Poverty being thought to be their Natural Patrimony) terming them by the title of Scholastici. And some others think scholarship to be but the Emblem of beggary (though I hold it but a beggarly opinion) so that Scholar's merits, like cyphers, stand for nothing. It is reported, that one of the Philosophers delivered a stock of money to a friend of his upon this condition; That if it should happen his Children should be Fools, he should deliver it unto them; but if Philosophers, then to the Common-people. A strange resolution from so wise a Man, which perhaps drove an other of the Philosophers into a Passion, the World so industriously heaping up Treasure, and being so negligent, whom to leave it to. And here abruptly I break off, lest the prosecution of my Discourse should beget offence, where I meant none; For by a due proceeding, I should fall upon some points which are Orthodoxal, if the Fathers of the Church, and Modern Writers of the best sort, as also Expositors as well of Antiquity, as of latter times, of several religions, and of all sorts near an hundred be of validity to have steered my several silenced Tenets.  
I choose rather to embrace that grand Politicians advise, who bids me not to come, etc.  
A And thus I pass from the descendent to the ascendent duty.  
And here, in respect of mine own obedience, as well as others, I will be more freely bold to set down truth, knowing that none but Children and Fools can take exception. Where then lies this duty ascendent? Undoubtedly in the Childs awful service and observance, both of his Parents persons, and Precepts: For thereto are Children bound, both by natural instinct, and supernatural injunction. Nature teacheth their respect and obedience towards those, who gave them being: And the God of nature enjoins them no less in the first Commandment of the Second Table. And the elder of the two Sons in the Gospel shows by the expression of his duteous behaviour there, what is due from the Son to the Father, that is service, and obedience to his Commandemen. If therefore Parents perform their duties, a curse will light the heavier on the Children, that do not really act theirs; And let them be sure to receive it corporally in this, or spiritually in the World to come.  
Yet Plutarch, 
Plut.  that great Moralist saith; That the Child is not bound to his Parents, of whom he hath not received some good thing. In which point, I doubt whether it holds truth on the Child's part, for he is bound absolutely to obey: But certainly 'tis true on the Parents, they ought to do good to their Children, and not to grieve, or provoke them, (if Saint Paul be to be believed) but howsoever to do them all manner of good, unless they will be worse than the worst of the jews; For even of them hath our Saviour said, Ye yourselves being evil know how to give good gifts to your Children. But I proceed in children's duties, 
Bast.  and must tell them, that Bastingius reduces the duties of Children towards their Parents unto three principal Heads: The first is, De Obedientiâ, quam liberi debent ipsorum fidelibus, & pijs praeceptis; The Second de Fide, nempe, ne illos pauperes negligant, sed ut vicissim ijs praemia nutricationis retribuant; The Third, de Amore, hoc est,  eorum vitia & mores tolerent, & piâ quâdam indulgentiâ ad senectutis sordes, & errata conniveant; I leave this for the Reader to translate, and come to the words of Herolt, 
Her.  who determines their duties in six things, Filij in sex tenentur parentibus suis, sive sint vivi, sive mortui. Primò, Tenentur servire eye corporalitèr, scilicet, cum proprio suo corpore: secundo, Tenentur filij parentes eorum diligere ex cord, contra hoc faciunt, qui parentes odorunt, & optant ijs mortem, ut eorum haereditatem participent; Quod est valdè reprehensibile, & grave peccatum. Tertiò, Tenentur parentibus dulcitèr, & reverentèr respondere, cum ab ipsis corripiuntur. Quartò, Filij tenentur parentibus in temporalibus & corporalibus subvenire. Quintò, Filij tenentur parentibus, in his, quae ad bonum & salutem ipsorum pertinent. Sextò, Tenentur filij parentibus defunctis subvenire, & animas parentum suorum cum Missis, Eleëmosynis, & Orationibus de Purgatorio liberare; Sons in six things are bound to their Parents, whether they be alive or dead; First, they are bound to serve them Corporally, to wit, with their own Body. Secondly, Children are bound to love their Parents, with their Heart: Against this they transgress which hate their Parents, and wish their death, that they may participate of their inheritance; Which is exceedingly to be reprehended, and a Grievous Sin; (and in my opinion such a Sin as will hardly be forgiven.) Thirdly, they are bound mildly, and reverently to render an answer, when they are corrected of them. Fourthly, they are bound to relieve their Parents in Temporal, and Corporal things. Fiftly, Children are bound to obey their Parents in those things, which belong unto their good and safety. Sixtly, Children are bound to help their dead Parents, to free their Souls out of Purgatory by saying Mass, giving Alms, and making Prayers; The Fourth I believe if need requires. The last shall never be any part of my Creed. Howsoever let all Children remember the first Commandment of the Second Table, dividing itself into two particulars; into a Precept, and a Reason, or rather a Reward, which is annexed unto this Commandment, and none else. The Precept (Honour thy Father and thy Mother) the Reason or the Reward [That thy days may be long in the Land, which the Lord thy God giveth thee:] Now, the word for Honour in the Original signifies Aggravare; So that we must Addere Pretium and Addere Pondus, and so Honorem: make it a matter of weight to honour them. And seeing they bear the persons of God, they must not be set slightly by. 
Phil.  And here by the way Philo the jew conceiveth this Commandment to be half Divine, half Humane; and so would have that, which concerns God, to be in the first Table, that which belongs to our Neighbour in the second Table. Parents questionless ought to be reverenced and obeyed; As it is in Leviticus, the Kings, Luke, the Epistle to the Ephesians, etc. Taurus the Philosopher, when the Father and the Son came to him about a Controversy, the Son being a Magistrate, the Father none, appointed, that the Father should sit on that one stool he had, till the Question were decided, whether of them ought to have the place. Sufficient might be urged for the manifestation of this point, but all to this purpose. Offend not thy Parents in Thought, Word, or Deed; In thy Thoughts harbour not the least conceit against them; In thy Deeds do not any thing to grieve them; In thy Words speak not amiss of them. Remember what Chrysologus saith, 
Chrys.  Lingua in capite est caput mali; The Tongue in the Head is the Head of evil; especially in this case. And this Duty stands as well in the Action, as in the Manner of the Action; And neither to be omitted, and in both be sure thou art not arraigned at the Bar, and proved guilty: for my part, I had better; nay, rather undergo Isaakes Burden, then offend my Father Abraham. Thus have I shown the respective duties, both from Parents to their Children, and from Children to their Parents. And thus I shake hands on both sides, wishing both Parents and Children answerable unto what I have wrote; Children especially: For by the Mosaical Law, You shall fear every Man his Mother, and his Father. And in the Proverbes you may find, Honour thy Father, that begat thee, and thy Mother that bore thee: Certainly then, the Child is in a little deeper bond of duty, than the Parents, if the Wisdom of Solomon failed him not, when he thus advised, Honour thy Father with thy whole Heart, and forget not the sorrows of thy Mother. Remember that thou wast begot of them, and how canst thou recompense them the things that they have done for thee? And thus much for this part of Providence.   

Of the mutual Duties between Masters and their Servants. CAP. XI.  
ANd now a word or two between Masters of Families, and their Servants. And First for the Master. The Master of a Family, according to Aristotle, 
Arist.  exerciseth a threefold Power; A Power Regal over his Children; A Power Magisteriall over his Servants; And a Power Aristocratical over his Wife; which is not after his own Will, but agreeable to the Honour and Dignity of the Married estate. But this is not the Duty, which is urged in Saint Paul's Epistle to Timothy, If any provide not for his own, especially those of his own Household, he hath denied his Faith, and is worse than an Infidel. A single provision of Victuals is not sufficient to supply this want; There is a care to be had of their Souls; (For the greatest part of them have little of their own) I mean not Puritanically to Catechise them; For that is Officium Sacerdotis; But, as near as you can, to beat down Sin in them, Especially, that of Swearing. Suffer them not to enterlard their Discourse with Oaths: For believe it, the hand of God will light heavy upon that House, where Blasphemers dwell. O Bar not then thy Servant of his due. If he can say unto thee, as jacob did unto Laban, These twenty years have I been with thee; thy Ewes and thy Shee-goats have not cast their Young, and the Rams of thy flock have I not eaten; That which was torn of Beasts, I brought not unto thee, I bore the loss of it. Of my hand didst thou require it, whether stolen by day, or stolen by night. Thus I was, in the day the Drought consumed me, and the Frost by night, and my sleep departed from mine Eyes. Thus have I been twenty years in the House, I served thee fourteen years for thy two Daughters, and six years for thy Cattles; and thou hast changed my wages ten times. If he can say thus, give him not then a blear-eyed Leah, for a beautiful Rachel: In a word, bar him not of aught, that is his due.  
Now, for the Servants Duty towards his Master, it is fourfold. First, In executing well his Masters Commands, and Acting them diligently. Secondly, In not beguiling. Thirdly, In not reporting that before his face, which he will not justify behind his back. Lastly, In seeking all things for his Master's good, in his Goods, and otherwise. This last Duty in the chiefest Points thereof is twofold. First, In not harshly replying to his Master's words, (for nothing is so odious as a scurrilous Answer, especially, from an Inferior.) Secondly, In keeping his Master's secrets at home and abroad: But by the way, He shall not lock up his Secrets safely, that makes choice of his Servants Heart for a Cabinet. I must confess he is like a Ladder, ascending and descending; bound like a Shadow, neither to be longer nor shorter: His Livery being rather a badge of Servitude, than Devotion; And when all is done, he is but like him, who in a Winter's night takes a long slumber over a dying fire, as loath to depatt from it; yet parts thence as cold, as when he first 〈◊〉 down. As for his Duty, you may read it 〈◊〉 diverse places of Holy Writ, especially▪ in Genesis, the Epistle to the Ephesians, Colossians, Titus, etc. I might here give them a Moral Instruction, but they will perform what they list, say what you will, they will do what they please. And thus much for Providence.   

Of Subtlety of Understanding, by some esteemed a Branch of Prudence, but indeed an Appendix to its Intellectual part. CAP. XII.  
I Come now to write De Astutiâ mentis, which (as was formerly said) I conceived to be an Appendix of the three former Species of Prudence: Yet will I allow it a distinct Definition, Astutia mentis est, quâ in rebus industrijs cautum captatur consilium, & acutè discernitur, quid bonum, quid malum, quid utile, quid incommodum; The Subtlety of the Understanding is that, whereby we take wary Counsel in industrious matters, and punctually discern, what is good, what evil, what profitable, what incommodious. But such is our broken-bellied Age, that this Astutia is turned into Versutia, and we term those most Astute, which are most Versute. 
D. Aug.  Saint Augustine maketh a difference between them. For (saith he) Astutia est quiddam, quod nùnc in bonam, nùnc in malam partem accipitur; Versutia est observatio nostri commodi in aliquâ re cum alterius detrimento; Astutia is a subtlety, which is taken sometime in a good Sense, sometime in in a bad. Versutia is a crafty heeding our own profit with another's damage; And this is called calidity. The end of this base craft is, First to get Riches, than Honour. The way to attain unto these is, by that ugly, uncouth Monster (Dissimulation or Flattery) which because it lights casually on my Pen. A word or two of it.   

Of diverse ends of the Understandings Subtlety, and means thereto, and first of the Highway Flattery. CAP. XIII.  
THis is the old Sickness of the Roman Commonwealth, and the most Pestilent contagion of our British Nation.  
The Original of this Flattery first came from the Devil, the Devil put it over to the Serpent, the Serpent left it to the Woman: Where it had its beginning, it is probable, it will have its ending. And here, 
Com.  by the way, Petrus Comestor, in his Scholastical History, gives us this note; That at the time, when the Serpent tempted the Woman, he was strait, and upright like a man, but afterwards by the Curse he was cast down to the Earth to glide along thereon. To this purpose (saith Beda) the Devil chose a Serpent, 
Bed.  that had a face like a Woman, because Similia similibus applaudant, that like may be pleasing to like. And Saint Cyril observes, 
Cyr.  That Man's first destruction was in Paradise, when the Rib was taken out of him to make Woman: So that the fashioning of our first Mother, hath caused multitudes of her Sons to lose their hearts; For ever since that time Sin assails the heart there, where it wants that Rib for defence. And the holy Father Ambrose seems to be very angry with our Grandmother Eve, 
D. Ambr.  wishing that either Eves Tongue had been out, or both hers, and Adam's ears stopped, before either the Woman had listened to the Serpent, or the Man to the beguiled Woman, utinam aut surdus Adam fuisset, aut Eva obmutuisset, ille ne vocem uxoris audiret; ista ne loquatur marito; Would to God, saith he, Adam had been deaf, or Eve dumb, he deaf in not listening to his Wives Serpentine Tongue, or she Tonguetied, that she could not have spoken the Serpent's Language to her Husband, Vicissemus, si Eva tacuisset; We had been happy, saith he, and still kept Paradise, could the Woman but have kept her Tongue in her Head, which Tongue hath so sorely broken Man's head, that all the Balsam in the World can never heal so deep a Wound. But to the purpose. Adulatio est excessus delectandi alios verbis, vel factis; Flattery is an excess of delighting others by Words, or Deeds; or, Adulatio est peccatum ex sermone vanae laudis alicui exhibitae, intention complacendi; laudare enim aliquem, qui non est laudandus, vel plus quam est laudandus, vel non eo fine, quo fieri debet, peccatum est, secundum Alexandrum; 
Alex.  Adulation is a Sin used to any with the speech of vain praise, and an intention of pleasing; For to praise any one, which is not to be praised, or more than he is praiseworthy, or not to that end, whereto it ought to be done, is a sin, if the Author err not. 
D. Greg.  Saint Gregory speaking of the Egyptian Locusts, saith, Locustae vocabulo linguae adulantis exprimitur; By the name of the Locust, the Tongue of the Flatterer is expressed, Devorata est herba terrae, et quicquid pomorum in arboribus fuit; By the first was only devoured the Grass of the Earth, and the fertility of Trees; But these Flatterers, Terrenorum hominum mentes si bona aliqua proferre conspiciant, haec immoderatiùs laudando corrumpunt, Corrupt by immoderate praising the Understanding of Men, if they regard to publish aught that is good. The Locusts lasted in Egypt but three days; this is the customary vice of every day. The Locusts were blown away with a West Wind into the Red Sea: no one Wind, no not all the Winds can blow these Diabolicke Servants to their Master the Devil, till there be no more Posterity upon Earth.  
But some may allege Saint Paul for authority of dissimulation, because he would please the jews in Timothy, and not circumcise Titus to please the Gentiles. A Question needing no Answer; For it was to save all, Non simulantis astu, sed compatientis affectu; Not by feigned Dissimulation, but by compassionate Affection. I would willingly here shake hands with it, but I am loath to part with it, many do so dear love it, which makes me tell you, It is the poisoning of Man's Understanding, the Feeder of humours, the whole Volume of it is bound up in the Vellome Cover of Deceit; its actions are worse than Ravenous Beasts or Birds, the one do prey but upon the dead Bodies, the other upon the living Souls. The Reports thereof are like Echoes, still imperfect, such shadows that gainsay nothing, yielding with your Body, the Looking-glasses that represent every thing, that is set against them: Camelion like, having all colours but White, all Points but Honesty. A Flatterer, as some say, is either an Ape by imitation; For he will soothe a Man, till he have got somewhat by him: or a Shadow by Deceit; For he quickly passeth by: Or a Basilisk by stinging; For with his very sight he woundeth a Man: He is that Must campestris, that still nibles on the hard Rind of sour Lemons, but when he cometh to those, that are sweet and wholesome, his Stomach falls into a loathing. Indeed Flatterers are like Tailors, who will tell you, that your Clothes are fit, when you must needs know better than they. We might therefore paint out Flattery, as the Philosophers did Fortune, diversely, as she was to them, but certainly good to none. Eele-like, never yielding good holdfast. They do, as joab did to Amasa, embrace to kill. It is the Asp, that kills us sleeping, that Siren's voice, whose Ravishing is Murdering. Those then, that take delight to be commended by Flatterers, one may take their Understandings in Pursenets. Yet I grieve with Pity, and pity them with Grief, who had rather be soothed, then advised: subscribing more willingly to the Tongue of Flattery, then to the Heart of Honesty, so that a Non-meritorious parasite shall obtain a Sunshine admission, when dejected desert shall be forced to freeze in attendance, and pine away in fruitless Expectation.  
But let each Wise man scorn those, the Clock of whose Tongue is not answerable to the Dial of their Hearts. Let him banish such Trencher-flies, that wait more for Lucre, then for Love; For my part it shall always be in my Litany, From them all the Lord deliver me. But now a days I muse the Mystery of Flattery is not made a Science, since it is so Liberally professed. The time hath been, when Flatterers have been altogether ruinated; Philip, and Constantine banished them from their Courts. The Athenians put Tymagoras to death, because to insinuate with Darius he saluted after the Persian manner. Augustus contemned it so much, that he would not suffer his Servants to kneel, nor Tiberius suffer his Servants to call him Lord. King Canutus being, as it were, Deified by Flatterers, walked one day on the Sands, at a flowing Water, and commanded the Waves, that they should not touch his feet, no sooner had he spoken, but the Sea dashed him: Ye see now my Lords (saith he) what reason you have to extol me, that am not able to stop one Wave. Atheneus reports, 
Athen.  that the Thessalians clean razed down a City of the Meleans, because it was named Flattery. I confess, it were better with Diogenes to bid Alexander stand out of his light, and not deprive him of that, he could not give him, then with Aristippus to speak to Dionysius his heels, instead of his ears. The World is full of Dionysius his Scholars: We know too many Clisophi, that will imitate Philip; And will not our Platonists array themselves with Impudency instead of Modesty?  
If our Ears must be in our Heels, there our Sycophants Tongues must dance attendance; If we could let them alone, where God hath placed them, they must pack up their Pipes, and remove their Siege. Now Flattery hath so enwrapped itself into the skirts of Honesty, that we are Oves in front, vulpes in cord; The Cloak of Sanctity covering the body of Iniquity, that makes me with the Poet, say 
Durum, sed levius fit patientiâ  
Quicquid corrigere est nefas.   
Where shall Gyndanes find another Abaucus, who will carry out his wounded Friend, and leave his Children to be burnt: His Reason for the Act is to be allowed of. Incertum (saith he) an high boni sint futuri, etc. It is uncertain, whether or no my Children will be good hereafter, He hath been long my Friend, and I shall hardly find out such another as Gyndanes; Or where shall we find another Damon and Pythias, whose love was such, that (before that Tyrant Dionysius) the one dares to be pledge for his Friend's life, the other fails not the day of his Return? What think you of Pylades, and Orestes? Nisus and Euryalus? Pirithous and Theseus, whom Death itself could not separate? or what of Castor and Pollux, who in respect of their realty of Friendship were translated into Stars? these were as the Verses are.  
Alter ego nisi sis, nec eris mihi verus amicus:  
Ni mihi sis, ut ego, non eris alter ego.  
And therefore a Friend is said to be Animi custos, True Friendship is like Quicksilver put to Gold, which adheres so close unto it, that it works into its Intrals, and so fare incorporates itself, that both Metals are become one Lump. Such Friendship there was in the Heroic times, But now, Friends are as scarce as Beacons, they stand alone, and fare off one another: Suspicion nowadays mars Friendship and almost dissolves Natural Affection: So that I may tell you, If you have a Friend, to suspect him unworthily, instructs him the next way to suspect you, and prompts him even to deceive you, Mistrust being that stifling Spirit, which insinuates itself into every Action, or Passion of the Mind. Suspicion proceeds from self defect, and if thou dost receive an Injury, Neglect destroys with swifter Wings than Revenge; Howsoever, all kind of jealousy is worse than Frenzy, there may be some end of the one, none of the other; Of all Passions no bitterer Potion. It begets unquietness in the Mind, hunting after every Whisper, and amplifying it with Interest, as that well skilled Master in Melancholy calls it.  
Burt.  
Pale Hag, infernal  
Fury, pleasures smart,  
Envies Observer, prying in every Part.  
Leave these superfluous Thoughts which beget Tormentors to thy Soul. Isocrates prayed, that he might be safe from the danger of his Friends, rather than his Enemies, For that he could beware of his enemies, because he would not trust them. I fear that now adays Friendship is like the journey of the two Friends in the Fable, whom if the Bear meet, the one will fly to the Tree; while the other falls to the ground. Such, as this Traveller, are those Friends, who whither in the Bud, before they come to the Blossom, not like the Indian Tree, which (as History reports) never flourisheth, but in the night, for whilst the Sun shineth it seemeth to Languish: nor resembling Glow-worms, which, darkened in the day of Prosperity, reserve their Splendour for the night of Adversity. Adversity being that Judge, which discovers our enemies, and unmasketh our Friends.  
But are none to be taxed with this Malady, but the Laity? He were no injurious Patron, that should herein tax the Clergy too: But I am loath to pinch on the Parson's side: nor mean I any Reverend Ministers, who make Conscience of their ways; but those who term themselves Professors, challenging that, which is none of their due, making Religion nothing, but a composition of Knavery. If their Habit caracterize them not, yet you may know them by their Use and Doctrine, and their Doctrine and Use, till there be no use of their Doctrine. Let them captivate the Illiterate, as Bees by the Basin, if they list, For my part, I have done with them: let them with Aesop's Ass get on the Lion's skin, and terrify the Flock, they shall never cousin me; I will play the Countryman in the same Fable, and tell him, whatsoever he be, Vae mi aselle, tàm benè novi, etc. If any preciser Idiot's quarrel at my distaste towards them, I pass them by as regardlessly, as Master Quarles in his Poem. 
Quar.   
'Tis not thine eyes, which (taught to weep by art)  
Look red with tears (not guilty of the heart)  
'Tis not the holding of thy hands so high,  
Nor yet the purer squinting of thine Eye:  
'Tis not your Mimic mouths, your Antic faces,  
Your Scripture-phrases, or Affected Graces.  
Nor Prodigal up-bending of thine eyes,  
Whose gashfull Balls do seem to pelt the Skies,  
'Tis not the strict reforming of your Hair  
So close, that all the Neighbour Skull is bare.  
'Tis not the drooping of the Head so low,  
Nor yet the lowering of the sullen Brow,  
Nor Woolvish howling, that disturbs the Air,  
Nor Repetitions of your tedious Prayer:  
No, no, 'tis none of these that God regards,  
Such sort of Fools their own Applause rewards;  
Such holy Madness God rejects and loathes,  
That sinks no deeper than the Skin and Clothes.  
These kind of Birds were hatched of addle Eggs else could they not have such idle Heads; making Religion like the Law of Procrustes among Thiefs, with the Iron Bed cutting off all that were too long, and stretching forth all that were too short. Their Conscience for the most part, is without Wit, and if they have any Wit, 'tis without Conscience making the sacred Art of Piety to be the Bond of Iniquity. But they may take notice of the ingenious Observation of one, that said Zeal without Wisdom was like Mettle in a blind Horse, which though it free the Rider from the toil of the Spur, yet it increaseth his labour in using the Reins, lest the jades mettle becometh his own, and his Rider's overthrow. Minerva put a Golden bridle upon Pegasus, that he should not fly too fast: and (perhaps upon this occasion) the Emperor Vespasian did stamp in his Coin a Dolphin, and an Anchor, with this Impress [Soon enough, if well enough.] A Dolphin outstrips the Ship, that's soon enough, an Anchor stays the Ship, that is well enough; a Dolphin and Anchor, Soon enough, if well enough. Their minds riding faster than their horses can gallop, must needs tyre; Nor could their madness so plainly appear, did not the pride of their own conceit raise up a dust, which blinds them, otherwise should I wonder that they should not see the senselessness of what they say, even whilst they are speaking. Whence comes it to pass, that our Pulpits are too often fraught rather with libellous Pasquil's, then with religious Meditations, but that these men have neither will to Learn, nor wit to Teach: outwardly demeaning themselves, as if Religion were quoted in their looks, and Sanctity obliged to their service. (Great difference there is between a gospeler, and a Libeler.) And perhaps from hence Saint Gregory groundeth his speech, 
D. Greg.  That when they neglected to be the Scholars of Truth, they became the Schoolmasters of Error. And thus much for the Religion of Railers.  
Yet I would have none think that I own a knee to the See of Rome, since I have read, she is full of Imperfections. Angelo the famous Artisan of Italy may sufficiently inform; who drawing the Pictures of Saint Peter and Saint Paul, for a Cardinal, a good Friend, and Benefactor of his, portrayed them with very red, and high coloured faces, whereas neither the Scripture, nor any Ecclesiastical History, nor any Original Tablet described them by any such Complexions: And being asked the Reason, because (quoth he) if they were now living, they could not but blush at the Pomp of you Cardinals, the Pride of this Court, and the Abuses of the Church in general.  
Sir Edwin Sandys writing of the Roman Religion, 
Sir Edwin Sandys.  especially that of Italy, where it hath principally flourished; saith, That they communicating Divine Honour to Saints, and Angels, by building Churches, erecting Altars, by worshipping their Images, going in Pilgrimage to their Relics, attributing all kind of Miracles, both to the one, and the other, have wrought this general effect in those parts; That men have more Affiance, and assure unto themselves a greater conceit of comfort, in the Patronage of the Creatures, and Servants of God, then of God himself, the Prime, and Creator. And touching the blessed Virgin, the case is clear; That howsoever their Doctrine in Schools be otherwise, yet in all kind of outward Actions, the honour which they do her is double (for the most part) unto that, they do to our Saviour. Where one doth profess himself a Devoter, or peculiar Servant of our Lord, whole Towns sometimes (as Sienna by name) are Devoters of our Lady. Not much unlike this was the Story of Gyovandria, 
Hist. Flor.  when he killed Galiazzo Duke of Milan, who, after he had heard Mass, turned towards the Image of Saint Ambrose, and said, O Ambrose, Lord of our City, thou knowest our intentions, and the end, wherefore we will adventure ourselves to so many perils; Be favourable to this our Enterprise, and, by favouring of justice, show how much Injustice doth displease thee. If this will not serve turn, then harken to the long dispute between Ignatius and Machiavelli, 
Ig. Con.  for Superiority in Hell, which may satisfy sufficiently, the Devil himself being judge, who gave the Precedency to the Laity, and took it from the Clergy of Rome; he was forced to make much of the Machiavelians, because they came seldom; but for the jesuits, they tumbled down to Hell daily, easily, voluntarily, and by heaps, the Reason was added, because they were accustomed to sin against their own Consciences. More might be urged of this Religion, but enough, unless it were better: I will therefore close up this Chapter with the words of our late King of peaceable memory. 
K. james.  The Papists Religion is like Homer's Iliads of the Siege of Troy, or Virgil's Aeneads of the beginning of Rome; both of them had a Foundation of truth, so had the Papists the Bible, but they have added so much, that the first Truth is almost lost▪   

Of the first end whereunto Subtlety tends, Riches. CAP. XIIII.  
Quid non mortalia pectora cogis,  
Auri sacra fames?  
AND is it so, that we must have a voyage into Hell, with an Itum est in viscera terra? If thou hadst all the Treasures, that lie hid in the Bowels of the Earth, enveloped in the Concave of thine own Belly, what would it gain thee, thou Fool, if thou gain the whole World, and lose thine own Soul? I Remember a Story of a poor Man, who, for want of sustenance, took an Halter in his hand, with a resolution to hang himself; and coming to the place, where he intended to be his own Executioner, found a Bag of Gold, takes away the Gold, and leaves the Halter in the steed. He that hide the Gold, coming to the place, where he left it, found it metamorphosed into an Halter, takes the Halter, and hangs himself. Lord, what strange effects this Gold works: The one, for the want of it, would have hanged himself; the other for the loss of it, dispatching his work, did hang himself. Me thinks Midas his ears should forewarn us of such Hellish thrift. Midas the Image of a covetous Man, who, while he seeks to augment his Riches, denies to himself the use of his own, and starves in abundance. And of this Divine Verity, the Barbarous Indians had a natural notion, who imagined that Gold was the God of the Spaniards, in that they hunted after it so greedily. There is a Story in Plutarch, not unlike, 
Plut.  or unworthy the recital, of one Pithius, an avaricious Prince, in the days of Xerxes, who exhausted his Subjects in the diging and refining of Gold; whose Wife, commiserating the cries of the people, caused certain admirable Workmen, in the absence of her Husband, to make a golden Table with variety of Viands, all of the same Mettle, which at his return, she caused to be set before him: Who long feasting his eyes with so rare, and beloved a Spectacle, at length called for Meat to satisfy his hunger: When the like Artificial Food was set before him, he in rage crying out, that he was ready to famish, his Wife replied, we have nothing, Sir, to entertain you with but this; For while you employ the labour of the Citizens, and their Art in the getting of Gold, a number dye in the Mines, and all for that, which is least useful, the Fields lie unculturated, the Vineyards undressed, the Orchards unplanted; so that you must eat your Gold, or prevent the cause of this Scarcity. Add to this that of Catiphus, Governor of the City of Susa, who had therein a Tower full of Gold, and jewels; but for Avarice would not disperse bis heaped Treasure amongst his Soldiers; afterwards Alan King of the Tartarians, surprised his City, and taking Catiphus shut him up in his Tower, saying unto him; If thou hadst not so greedily walled up this Treasure, thou hadst saved thyself, and this City: Now therefore eat, and drink, and take thy fill of that, thou lovest so dear, So died he miserably through Famine in the midst of excessive Riches. Observe that of Solon to Croesus, who being asked of him, who was more happy than he, since he was Splendens auro & gemmis; Solon told three times, who was more happy: This threefold Answer of Solon caused a triple wrath in Croesus. Indeed it was with Croesus' then, as it is with too many now, making many simple Conversions, Fools Philosophers, and Philosophers Fools: but let them take heed with Croesus, that they be not taken by Cyrus, and led to the stake, and then being demanded of Cyrus; who that Solon is, must confess that he is not Vnus stultorum, but Vnus sapientum; And indeed his Answer was right; for 
Vltima semper  
Expectanda dies homini est, dicique beatus,  
Ante obitum nemo supremaque funera debet.   
Suppose then thou hadst the goods of Fortune fast locked in a Coffer; yet thy case may be, as was this Kings of Lydia, who thought both God, and Men his Friends. To tell you, what Riches are, perhaps were frivolous, since others are better acquainted with them then myself.  
To attain unto Riches. Many ways we know unto this Wood, but the ordinary way is Usury which, though it be forbidden in holy. Writ, and, I think, scarce allowed of by the Fathers; yet some good Authors have approved, that some kind of Usury may be tolerable; some (certain I am) is intolerable. I will not insist upon the Point; only acquaint you with the words of Bishop Andrew's. Vsuras cum dico, 
B. Andr.  hoc dico, pactum ex mutuo lucrum; Tria haec (mutuum, lucrum, pactum) vim omnem faenoris appositè circumscribunt. Yet I am not so precise, as he that told a Holy Sister, That she should lend, looking for nothing again. So to clear his Sister from the Sin of Usury, he kept the Principle.  
But I come to treat of those, which are Avaricious, whom I might yoke to Beggars; You will say, That the links are unfit, one being made of Gold, and the other of Iron; Yet their conditions hold a fit Correspondency, both not willing to part with any thing, before they die; Therefore I make this Comparison, because there are Multitudes, that Inter opes are mendici opum. 
S. Bernard.  Saint Bernard affirms, That Avarus esurit, ut Mendicus, Fidelis contemnit, ut Dominus; ille possidendo mendicat, iste contemnendo servat; The Covetous man hungers, as a Beggar, the Faithful contemns it as a Lord; He by possessing begs, the other by contemning possesseth. Or more properly to the Ostrich, 
Pliny.  That as Pliny reports, hath the wings of an Eagle, yet never mounts; Or they are like the Cardinal, who would not lose his part in Paris, for his part in Paradise. These men have an Itch, which hath always need of clawing, Never satisfied, like Tantalus in Hell; or like a Dog in a Wheel, which roasteth meat for others eating; or like jonathan, who for Hony-combs endangered his life. And were not unsatisfied desire too peremptory for Counsel, too confident for dislike, too potent for Remorse, I would advise a man to live, as Sallust prescribes,  nec sordidè custodiat, nec prodigè-spargat, That he neither Basely hoard up, nor Prodigally scatter it about, the one denominateth an ignoble mind, the other an improvident Indiscretion; Spare not then, where Reputation layeth claim for Expense, nor expend, where Frugality with Moderation will arraign, and condemn thee of Prodigality, lest thou be forced to look Necessity in the face; for to be a Bankrupt is to be a Thief in an Honourable kind. Living above Fortune is but to be a History to after times.  
Let those Lavishers then, that made the Covetous their Voiders, Live so thriftily, as to pay their debts in their life time, so may they deprive their Executors of a trouble. And here, by the way, I meet a difference among the Philosophers. The Aristotelians were of opinion, that Superfluity of Riches might cause a tumult in a Commonwealth; Because, if Arrogancy and Riches should chance to link together (as too often they do) then is great danger of Bellum ; I refer you for examples to the History of Florence: Your Platonists thought poverty the chiefest cause of Insurrection in a Commonwealth, according to that old Saying, Necessitas non habet legem; For examples hereof, we see them daily, though not dangerously: Both which tenets among them are as yet unreconciled; If I might judge, I should conceive the Golden mean the best: I need not here to bring in old Avarice to act its part, with Quo plus habet, eo plus cupit; or with Bonaventure, 
Bonav.  by way of comparison, to liken it Orco, sive Mari; Yet it might serve turn, since the Water of the one might quench the Fire of the other: I term it old Avarice; First, for its Antiquity; Next, because it is most subject to old Age. And here I will tell you a Tale; 
Guz.  When jove had made the Fabric of the Universe, all things being perfectly good, before he created Man, the asses eyes being newly opened, he gins to leap and bray; At last bethinking himself, why he was made an Ass (it being proper to Asses to take the ends of things into their consideration, when they are past remedy) he came to jupiter, to know wherefore he was created; jupiter told him, for the use of Man, and to perform his duty and service. The Ass, with his eyes set on the ground, demanded how long he should live in that slavery: jupiter told him thirty years: He besought jupiter that he might live but ten; and that he would bestow the other twenty years upon some other Creature, that were able to bear them: jupiter condescended to the request; The next living Creature that came to jupiter was the Dog, who partly understanding what had happened between jupiter & the Ass, after earnest soliciting for the curtailing of his days, it befell him, as it did the Ass; Whilst the Fact was doing, the Ape did the like, and the like did happen to the Ape: These things being finished, jupiter created Man, giving him power over all: Man, being desirous to know the period of his days, desired jove, that he might know how long he should live; jupiter told him, that he had ordained, ab Origine, thirty years to every living Creature, and that he was to enjoy no longer time; Man, being desirous of life, besought that those years, that these creatures had refused, might be conferred on him, jove yields to his request: So Man lives (according to the Tale) thirty years; Quatenus he is a Man, in all uprightness from the Preturbations of the World; from thirty to fifty, he leads the life of an Ass, tumbling and turmoiling for the things of this World; from fifty to seventy, the Dogs refused years, snarling, grumbling, and envying at others; and, if he chance to live from seventy to ninety, really possessed of the Apes twenty, he will counterfeit the defects of Nature, using foolish and fantastical Devises; and from thence I conceive the old Proverb to arise, Senex bis puer.  
But it may be asked, whether the Spirituality are not as well troubled with Avaricious Infections, as the Temporality? I am confident on the Negative part; for I think if Aesop's Dog should bequeath his fifty Pounds for a Legacy, he should never find any acceptance of the Clergy; yet Saint Ambrose found fault with Simoniacal Compositions in his days, 
Amb.  Quod dedit, cum Episcopus ordinaretur, aurum fuit, quod perdidit, anima fuit: cum alium ordinaret, quod accepit, pecunia fuit, quod dedit, lepra fuit; That which he gave (saith he) when he was ordained Bishop, was Gold, and that, which he lost, was his soul: That, which he took, when he ordained another, was money; and that which he gave, was Leprosy. It was stoutly, 
B. Sandys.  and honestly spoken by Bishop Sandys in a Sermon, whose words my wishes attend. If Simoniacal affection hath corrupted the heart of any Bishop, it is not amiss, if his heart were given him in his hand, it is easily dealt with him, if he be disbishoped. And here perhaps it will be expected, I should descend A majore ad minus, Something of the inferior Levits, for their Covetousness, if not rather for their Simoniacal contracts: So that he that hath the greatest Purse, shall have the best Living. But, I hope, of this fault very few are guilty. As for your ingenious Clergy, they so handle the Cause, that all their actions are not, Propter privatum lucrum, sed propter honorem Ecclesiae, howsoever such Ingenuity, for the most part, is deprived, and Ignorance preferred. Certainly, there is an error all over, but whether are most to blame, you may judge between the Donor, and the Donee; If one would not give, the other could not receive. But quo vado? I conclude on either side with a false verse, though true sense, Improbus ille Parson, crudelis tu quoque Patron.  
Let none set their hearts on worldly Riches, lest they be served, as the Rich Miser, who having filled a Chest with bags of Gold, wrote on the top of it, Hic est Deus meus; A mad Knave being desirous to see the Rich Man's God, broke open the Chest, and finding Gold, took it away; and, under Hic est Deus meus, wrote this Motto: Resurrexit, non est hic. Anxiè quaeruntur, difficilè custodiuntur, adultimum omninò relinquuntur; They are doubtfully got (as you see) hardly kept, and at last, whether you will or not, to be left. Si divitiae effluxerint, non auferant nisi semetipsas; If Riches pass away from thee, let them carry nothing with them, but themselves. Riches, without God's blessing, are but the Fountain of mishap, they make young men Fools, and old men Atheists- But, me thinks, we are like the Youngman in the Gospel: we can say, we can keep all the Commandments, but we are loath to part with our Possessions: But by his favour, though he would try a Nisi prius with our Saviour, yet he sent his Mittimus along with him. It is easier for a Camel, etc. Chrysologus observes, 
Chrys.  That Dives his Dogs were set to fear away Beggars, yet they licked Lazarus his sores; whence it may be noted, that Dogs are more naturally kind than some Rich Men. But all may take notice, that Misericordiam qui seminat inopi, sibi metit; coeli pluvia infundit terram, lachrymae pauperum coelum rigant; Who sows Mercy to the Poor, mows it to himself; the Rain of Heaven refresheth the Earth, the tears of the Poor water Heaven. I cannot here pass by Fulgentius his Comparison, 
Fulg.  betwixt the Rich Miser, and the poor Beggar, without observation. For Dives ille, saith he, purpurâ & bysso indutus, & quotidiè splendidè epulans, quam inanis fuit in illis epulis? quam pauper in multitudine divitiarum? quam nudus in pulchritudine vestium? quam infirmus in sanitate corporis? quam famelicus in saturitate ventris? quam miser in gaudijs? quam desolatus inter amicorum colloquia? quam dejectus inter obsequia servulorum? Attend contra Lazarum in paupertate divitem, in miseriâ beatum, in infoelicitate foelicem, invulneribus sanum, & quidem sine domo, sed non sine Domino; sine veste, sed non sine fide; sine bonâ valetudine corporis, sed non sine robore charitatis; sine cibo, sed non sine Christo; canibus expositum, sed socium Angelorum; qui non accipiebat de micis, quae cadeba●t de mensâ divitis, sed coelestem panem visceribus ructabat aeternis; The Rich man was clothed with Purple and fine Silk, and daily feasted gloriously, but how empty was he amidst his banqueting? how poor was he in his riches? how naked in his beautiful garments? how infirm in the sanity of his body? how empty in the fullness of his belly? how miserable in his joys? how desolate in the conference of his Friends? how destitute in the dutifulness of his Servants? Mark again Lazarus, Rich in Poverty, Blessed in Misery, Happy in Infelicity, Sound for all his Ulcers, not without the Lord, though without a Landlord; without Raiment, but not without Faith; without the outward health of the Body, but not without the inward strength of Charity; without Meat, but not without Christ; exposed to Dogs, yet accompanied with Angels; who did not receive the Crumbs, that fell from the Rich man's Table, but had his internal bowels glutted with the Bread of Heaven. Though the Leper be an Hospital of Diseases, yet (as Saint Cyprian very well observes) the flesh of the Leper is as fair to God, as he, that is bathed in Milk, and Spices. How often shall we read, Beati pauperes, in Holy Writ? but never, Totidem verbis, Beati divites. Mistake me nor, I am not of that common Opinion of those, who say, Quo auctior in divitijs, eo copiosior in vitijs. A man that is poor in Earthly treasure, may think himself rich in Heavenly; You may be both rich on Earth, and rich in Heaven, poor on Earth, and poor in Spirit towards Heaven. We know Abraham hath his poor, and his rich Sons in his bosom. But me thinks, I hear the words of a Reverend Father, Quisque Dives, quisque pauper; nemo Dives, nemo pauper, animus omnia facit; It is somewhat to be rich or poor, it is nothing to be rich or poor; it is as the mind is, the mind maketh all. 
D. Chrys.  Saint Chrysostome speaking of what mind Dives carried, gathered it out of Abraham's doubling and trebling, Tu, Tua, & Tuâ recepisti, tu, bona tua, in vitâ tuâ, which words are working words, as he conceiveth, and contain in them great Emphasis, understanding by Tua, not that so much, that he had in possession, as that, he had made special reckoning of: For that is most properly termed ours. In a word, once again, Animus omnia facit; Let me then give this Caveat, that no man so fare dote on them, as (with Ahab at the persuasion of jezebel) to sell himself to work wickedness in the sight of the Lord, though he be resolved to put on Sackcloth and Ashes to appease the wrath of God; lest the iniquity of the Father in the Son's days fall upon the house. Or, with Ananias and Sapphira, for gain to lie to the Holy-Ghost, lest they fall down dead at the Apostles feet. Or last of all, with judas, for a small Portion of Silver to sell his Master, lest they should with judas, buy a Halter, and hang themselves. I conclude this with Architrenius. 
Arch.   
Inopsque,  
Plus animae, quam dives, habet, levioribus alis  
Pauper ad astra volat, dulcique pecunia mole,  
Quos aluit, laesura premit, nec Craesus in auro  
Fata fugit, perdensque Deos non perditur umbris.   

Of the second end, whereunto Subtlety tends, Honour. CAP. XV.  
ANd now of Honour; which Aristotle terms Benefactivaes gloriae initium. 
Arist.  Aquinas saith, 
Aquin.  That Honour is Cujuslibet virtutis praemium; If I should here tell you, where this matchless Lady Honour keepeth her seat, you may marvel at my presumptuous Enterprise. Some think in the Soul only, or else in the Soul and Body together: some in Prudence, others in Goodness of manners; but I think all Nobility hath its Original from Virtue; True Nobility being composed of Blood, Virtue, and Power. Questionless, Kings never made any Nobleman Propter Lucrum; but as they thought, Propter Meritum; Perhaps some by Byways may buy Honour, but those, that enjoy it so, reap only the commendations of good Politicians: For what they give in Money, for the most part, they save in Hospitality. And herein (by the way) those Heralds may be blamed, who Honour, where it is not due, and shape so many new Coats for upstart Gentlemen. In this have they no way to avoid a Censure, but to compound with Africa and America to produce more Monsters, or else they must make fewer Gentlemen. Vain Honour is but the Idol of Fools, for no wise man ever sought felicity in shadows. 
Eurip.  Indeed Euripides saith, The honest-minded man is only Noble, and not he, that descendeth of ancient Race. For we know, in process of time, though the stallion be good, yet, by the Mare's fault, the breed may alter, and so prove Jades. To this purpose valiant Ephricates a Shoemaker's Son, being upbraided by Hermodius a Peer, told him, my blood takes its beginning from me, and thine from thee its farewell. Observe Seneca, 
Senec.  He first asks you a Question, then gives you his Resolution, Quis generosus? Ad virtutem a naturâ benè compositus animus facit nobilem, cui ex quacunque conditione supra fortunam licet surgere.  
But as I shall herein justly commend Seneca; so shall I not unjustly tax the too severe Censure of Sallust toward the Nobility of his time in general, 
Sallust.  When he thus upbraids them, Contemptor animus, & superbia commune nobilitatis malum; For where shall we see superlative Arrogancy more settled, then in an upstart Gentleman?  

Histor. Flor.  True it is, that the Nobility of Florence had once so ill behaved themselves, that the Citizens made a Decree; That, if any one had received a blow, or loss in goods, the party damnified might call him to the Counsels, and protest him for one of the Nobility; so odious was the name. Among the Heathenish Romans, they joined the Temple of Virtue to the Temple of Honour, and so linked them together, that whosoever would come to the Temple of Honour, must first pass through the Temple of Virtue. Boast not then thyself of thy Honourable place, but see, that thou be justly worthy of it; use rather the Spurs of Industry, than the Stirrups of Insolency.  
I must confess, Honour is a good Brooch to wear in a man's Hat yet in this▪ Wise men sometimes & fools, take their Fortune. Every man knows, that Lubrica est scala fortunae, Slippery is the Ladder of Fortune; and Quò altiùs scandis, eò graviùs cadis; The higher thou climbest, the more dangerous is thy fall; and the higher thou growest, the more subject to the danger of Winds; Why dost thou then wax proud, thou frail earth and ashes? We have read, that Caesar cum pompâ, Alexander cum Sceptro cecidit; Ambition is like a Torrent, that never looks back. Run then an easy Current, not over high, take not an Inventory of thine own worth, nor wing thy thoughts with too high flying Feathers, lest they spread themselves so wide, as to cover thy little world with their Shadows. Beware of Icarus. Was it not Pliny's Pride to find out the secrets of Aetna? and what became of him? we read it was his ruin. Observe what became of that Tyrant Dionysius, who, being stripped out of his Royalty, was glad to play the Schoolmaster at Corinth, and instead of a Sceptre, bore a Rod, so that of a cruel Tyrant, he became a frowning Pedant. Or that Ruler Bladud, or Baldud, 
Graft.  who by his Necromantic Art, and Daedalion-like endeavouring to fly, falling, broke his neck at Troy-novant, now London. Nay, go to the Text, and you shall find that Pride was the downfall of Babel, the Gallows for Haman, the butcher for Nichanor, the consumption of Herod, the destruction of Antiochus, and was not, for the same offence Pharaoh, and his host drowned in the red Sea? Remember the words of S. Bernard, 
D. Bernard.  Quid tu igitur superbis, terra et cinis? Si superbtentibus Angelis Deus non pepercit, quamtò minùs tibi, putredo et vermis? Nihil ille Lucifer fecit, nihil operatus est, tantùm cogitavit superbiam, & in momento, in ictu oculi irrecuperabiliter separatus est; What therefore wouldst thou have proud earth & ashes? If God hath not spared the Pride of Angels, how much less the pride of Man, who is but putrefaction and a worm? Lucifer did nothing, wrought nothing, only he had proud imaginations, and in a Moment, in the twinkling of an Eye, he is irrecoverably separated from the blessed society of the Angels, Si igitur Diabolus propter superbiam de coelo dejectus est, multò minùs, superbus illic non intrabit, 
Bad.  If therefore (saith Badeus) the Devil for Pride was cast out of Heaven, how then is it possible, that a proud man should enter therein?  
Neque enim deberent ultrà coelum aspicere, qui in creatorem coeli peccaverunt, & dominum Majestatis; Neither indeed (saith Origen) ought their Pride to behold Heaven, 
Orig.  who have sinned against Heaven, and the Lord of Majesty.  
And note, Superbia dicitur initium omnis peccati, triplici ratione. Primò, propter causam, quae invenitur in omni peccato, quia in omni peccato invenitur contemptus dei, qui est quaedam causa peccati, iste autem contemptus est aversio à creatore: secundò, quià primum peccatum fuit: Tertiò, quià ex eo nascuntur alia vitia, secundum prius & posterius, hoc est, mediatè, & immediatè; Pride is said to be the beginning of every sin, for a threefold reason. First, for the cause, which is found out in every sin, because in every sin appears the contempt of God, which is a certain cause of sin; and this contempt is a proud Aversion from the Creator. Secondly, because it was the first Sinne. Thirdly, because other vices are begot from this Secundum prius & posterius; That is, mediately, or immediately, as you may read more at large in johannes de Combis; 
joh. de Comb.  True happiness stands not either in Riches, or Honour, or any kind of terrestrial thing. Do not then like the Day-labourer lift up thy hands to Heaven, and strike thy Mattocke into the ground. Be not like Pliny's Eagle, having one Foot shut more Anseris, whereby he swims; another sharp after the manner of Eagles, whereby he snatcheth; have not Cum pede aquilino pedem anserinum; Worldly affections joined with spiritual.  
These two things do parallel as ill,  
As an eagle's Feather and a Goose quill  

joseph.  josephus is so fare from these feet of two Proportions, that Priusquàm incipias communem habere cibum, magnis execrationibus adjurat te primùm colere Deum; Before thou beginnest to take thy common sustenance, he adjures thee with great execrations, that thou first praise God. 
Theod.  And Theodoricus invites us to this Action by the example of the Dove, Columba, quùm singula grana rostro deglutit, rostrum & oculos in altum, Deo quasi gratias actura, extollit. Accipit unum granum, & oculos in altum elevat, accipit alterum, tertium, & quartum, & sic demùm similitèr ad singula grana facit; The Dove, when she takes up with her Beak several Grains, lifts up her Beak, and eyes towards Heaven, as if to give God thankes; she receives one Grain, and elevates her eyes on high, she receives an other, and again stirs up her eyes, she receives a third, and a fourth, and so in like manner she doth for every Grain: And now he comes with a Quidni ergo & nos, ad singula Dei beneficia, oculos, & corda sursùm attolleremus, & benefactori nostro optimo gratias ageremus? And shall not we then lift up our eyes and hearts for the several benefits, we have received from God, and give thankes to our best Benefactor? Hast thou with Adam, by the Woman's temptations offended in Paradise; Hast thou with Noah, by overmuch tippling, been overcome with Drunkenness; Hast thou with Herod for a Dancing Damsel cut off john Baptists Head; Hast thou with Solomon, by the allurement of strange Women worshipped Idols; Hast thou with Lot, taken so much: of the Grape, as to lead thee to an incestuous Bed; or hast thou with David, got a Pearl in one Eye, and the other blood-shotten: Pray then with him, that thy eyes be opened, that thou mayst see thy ways; For when thou seest another suffer for those sins, whereof thou art guilty, art thou not then executed by Attorney? Pray therefore in season, and (if it were possible) out of season; For how can it be presumed, that God ever thought of one, that never dreamt of him? Let not thy Prayer be like jonas Gourd; grow up in one day, and perish in another. Let not then the Cinque-ports of thy senses allow of such enticing inlets, as may make thee a Slave to Satan. Let not thine Iniquity be frozen in Error, nor benumbed in the custom thereof, lest from Suggestion should issue Cogitation; from Cogitation Affection; from Affection Delectation; from Delectation Consent; from Consent Action; from Action Custom; from Custom Obstinacy; from Obstinacy Hardness of heart; from Hardness of heart, Boasting; from Boasting Desperation; from Desperation Damnation. Man's Soul is a precious jewel, his Body the Cabinet, he the Keeper of both. And, since he is the Salt-celler of his own Soul (the Soul being imprisoned in the flesh) he should not suffer Ill-seasoned thoughts to usher him to ill Actions, lest by an hellish Arithmetic, he make one sin a thousand. For let him be assured, the first fruits of evil will be punished in this World, the After-crop he must leave to God. Serve then thy sins, 
Plin.  as Pliny's Pigmies do the Cranes, destroy them in the shells; or, at leastwise, as soon as they are hatched, lest they grow to multitudes, and then it will prove a hard matter to overcome them. 
Zanc.  Zanchy observes in his Book, De operibus Dei, that the Devil hath twelve several names in the Hebrew, and twenty and one in the Greek text, and all either of Seduciae or Astutiae. We know the Devil had four several fields, wherein he might exercise the part of a cunning Seedsman. In Heaven, as it is in Esayah; In Paradise with the Woman, as it is in Genesis; In the Church, as it is now; And lastly, in every Man's heart. 
D. Chrys.  Saint Chrysostome makes a Comparison between the Devil, and a Dog; for (saith he) as a Dog waiting at the Table, if you give him any thing, will still wait for more; if nothing, he will departed: So the Devil, if once you make much of him, he will wait diligently for farther Courtesies; but if you reject him, he will forbear his temptations. Man is in perpetual Action, where Non progredi est regredi; non procedere recedere est; For goodness without perseverance, is like an Almanac out of date. We are like Spring-locks, readier to shut, then to open, to shut goodness from us, then to receive it to us: Or like lose Stones on the tops of Hills, willing enough to tumble down, but slow enough to mount up without aid. Like the Bird, that Saint Anselme found tied to a Stone, 
D. Ansel.  which no sooner mounted, but presently was pulled back: The consideration whereof procured tears from this Holy Father, who bewailed the miserable estate of man, who endeavours by the Spirit to fly to Heaven, yet is stopped by the Flesh. It is with men, as it is with Raspisses, one Stalk growing, another grown up, and a third withered. Or as with Flowers: Grow up, Seed, and dye. Like the three Sisters of Destiny, Clotho, Lachesis, and Atropos: The first spinning, the second drawing out, and the third cutting off the Thread of man's life. Men are like billows of the Sea, which tumble, one after another, till they come to the Shore. Or like water poured out of a Bucket, which the earth quickly sucketh up, and it appeareth not again. Or (if you will) like a Glass-house, wherein no man knows what Glass shall first be broken, but he that owes the house. Plain then it is, That we must die; the Poet can tell us, That there is no Redemption from Death, 

Hor.  Non si tricenis, quotquot eunt dies,  
(Amice) places illachrymabilem  
Plutona tauris.   
Hence is it, 
juu.  that juvenal plays with the danger of Mariners, and concludes them not certain of an hour's Lease of their lives, because at all times there is but an Inch betwixt them, and Death. And aptly doth my Kinsman translate the danger of one under Shipwreck in his Ovid, 
George Sandys.  
Art fails, Hart sinks, on every rising Wave  
Death sits in Triumph, and presents a Grave.   
It is concluded, that we must dye; observe then the rule of Seneca, 
Sen.  Who, in his Youth, exercised the Art Benè vivendi; and in his Age, Benè moriendi; For thy life is like a Journey, the lighter thy Burden, the easier thy Journey. Life is but a Parenthesis in a long Period, and who knows, what will become of us, till we hear that Watchword, Venite Benedicti, or Abite maledicti; Let the heart then of each Christian embrace Saint Bernard's Legacy, which, if Story lie not, standeth in this manner on his Tomb,  
Tria vobis, fratres, observanda relinquo, quae, ut potui, observavi. Primò, nemini scandalum feci, si quando incidit, sedavi, ut potui. Secundò, Minùs semper sensui meo, quam alterius credidi. Tertiò, Laesus de laedente nunquàm vindictam petij. Ecce, Charitatem, Humilitatem. Patientiam vobis relinquo; Brethren (saith he) there be three things, that I bequeath to your observation, which, aswell as I could, I have observed myself; First, I never gave scandal to any person, if any scandal happened, I pacified the matter to my power. Secondly, I stood upon mine own conceit less, than I did upon other men's. Thirdly, when I was, wronged, I never sought Revenge. Behold, Charity, Humility, and Patience I bequeath unto you.  
What was said of all the Kings, that were mentioned in the Hebrew Text? They lived, they died, Well or Ill For our parts let us live, that we may dye; die, that we may live. For, as there is no Habeas Corpus from death; so, no Habeas Animam from Hell: that remains for ever.  
Each man is a Comedian, Acts his Part, then to the Tiring house, and there's an end; Snore not then supinely in the state of sin; Let us expect the first hour of the day to be the hour of our death; Brevis est hora passionis, sequitur gloria sempiterna; 
Fer.  As Ferus noteth. Let every Third thought be thy Grave, and climb up by the rounds of Contemplation into Heaven, Mentem in sublimi supra illum eximium coeli globum defixam habe. Death is but the Orient of Weale, and the Occident of Woe; The uprising of Consolation, and the downe-setting of Perturbation; The deliverer from Servitude, the curer of Cares, the Period to Pain, the Porter to Paradise, and the conductor to the Deity. Think not then of any worldly thing, for all comes within the compass of Vanity, and vexation of the Spirit; And whosoever thinks any Temporal thing to be Summum bonum, fasteneth felicity but to a rotten Cable. Only think thou of that ●ver blessed name, jesus, which is Mel in ore, In aure melos, & in cord jubilum. I conclude with those old but true Verses, 
Si tibi pulchra domus, si splendida mensa; quid inde?  
Si species auri, argenti quoque massa; quid inde?  
Si tibi sponsa decens, si sit generosa; quid inde?  
Si tibi sint nati, si praedia magna; quid inde?  
Si fueris pulcher, fortis, divesque; quid inde?  
Si longus servorum inserviat ordo; quid inde?  
Si doceas alios in qualibet arte; quid inde?  
Si faveat mundus, si prospera cuncta; quid inde?  
Si Prior, aut Abbas, si Rex, si Papa; quid inde?  
Si rota fortunae te tollat ad astra; quid inde?  
Annos si foelix regnes per mille; quid inde?  
Tam citò, tam citò praetereunt haec, & nihil inde,  
Sola manet virtus, quâ glorificabimur inde,  
Ergo Deo servi, quià tunc tibi provenit inde,  
Quod fecisse voles in tempore, quo morieris,  
Hoc facias juvenis, dum corpore sanus haberis.   
FINIS.   

THE CONTENTS OF each several Chapter.  
CHAP I. 
AN Introduction to the Four Cardinal Virtues. pag. 1.  CHAP. II. 
The Original of all Virtue, whence it springs. pag. 26.  CHAP. III. 
The true Subject of Virtue, to whom it properly belongs. pag. 36.  CHAP. IU. 
The Definition of Prudence, The first of the four Cardinal Virtues. pag. 47.  CHAP. V. 
The Definition and several Branches of Prudence. pag. 60.  CHAP. VI 
Of Memory the first part of Prudence. pag. 63.  CHAP. VII. 
Of the Understanding, the Intellectual part, and second Branch of Prudence. pag. 85.  CHAP. VIII. 
Of Providence; the third part of Prudence. pag. 100  CHAP. IX. 
Of the general Duties of Providence, and first of the Mutual Respect between Kings and their Subjects. pag. 112  CHAP. X. 
Of the Mutual Duties between Parents and their Children. pag. 126.  CHAP. XI. 
Of the Mutual Duties between Masters and their Servants. pag. 161.  CHAP. XII. 
Of the Subtlety of the Understanding, by some esteemed a Branch of Prudence, but indeed an Appendix to its Intellectual part. pag. 167  CHAP. XIII. 
Of diverse Ends of the Understandings Subtlety, and means thereto; and first of the Highway Flattery. pag. 170.  CHAP. XIV. 
Of the first End, whereunto Subtlety tends, Riches. pag. 199.  CHAP. XV. 
Of the second end, whereunto Subtlety tends, Honour. pag. 227.    

LONDON, Printed for WILLIAM SHEARES. 1634.