Imprimatur THO. WYKES. Martij 18. 1639. Satyrae seriae: OR, The Secrets of things; written in Moral and Politic Observations. Vtilius libri scribuntur ad incrementum literarum, & literae frequentius habentur ad augmentum librorum. LONDON: Printed by J. Okes, for Abel Roper, and are to be sold at his shop at the black spread Eagle over against St. Dunstan's Church in Fleetstreet. 1640. TO THE READER. SOME advise to put one's Thoughts into Words, lest they prove ungrateful & smother their owner: Others to put a Man's Words into Writing, lest they pass for what they are not: So that like unto those I have unfolded my thoughts, to see what complexion they are of in the open light; since nothing is more prejudicial to a discreet value of things, than to see them at half and counterfeit shadows. I have not delivered them with insinuations, or advantages of Art, for Essays are but the Images of affairs, which being quickened with the life and vigour of profit or pleasure, may add motion to your liking: and these are only Speeches, the representation of men's thoughts, and therefore may challenge an easier access unto them, being of their own nature insinuating, and returning into men's bosoms, whence they came. Farewell. The Heads of the chiefest things contained in this Book. 1 OF Ceremonies and civil Compliments. 2 Of multiplicity of books. 3 Of Fortune. 4 Of the wisdom of speech. 5 Of trust and distrust. 6 Of Jests. 7 Of Love. 8 Of Contemplation and Action. 9 Of Deceits and errors. 10 Of Content. 11 Of Friendship. 12 Of Silence. 13 Of Questions. 14 Of Life. 15 Of Sciences. 16 Of Dangers. 17 Of precepts of Policy. Satyrae seriae: OR, The Secrets of things; written in Moral and Politic Discourses. 1 Of Ceremonies and civil Compliments. ONE saith wisely, that Ceremonies are but the translation of Virtue into the known Tongue, the distinctions and full points, without which they could not be understood: If we be so careful in the set forms of Speech and Language, why not in Action & Gesture? the one speaks to the eye, the other to the ear: They are but Transitory Hyeroglyphicks; and not to use them, bespeaks neglect to others, when themselves are best expressed by a seeming neglect. It is the mind that is capable of a decent carriage, which if you first make expert, they will be better expressed to the life, than only by an apish imitation of corporal action. To use them too much towards inferiors, is popularity: to use them towards equals, is civility and love: towards superiors, they become reverence and companions of their honour; for bowed heads, bare caps, ceremonies and respects do make honour so ; and the weakest look no farther than to these outward accidents; never thinking that true bravery and honour conststs in Honerante, non honorato, not only in formality of worship, but a mental reverence to their virtue, which is the most worthy part of dignity. Though of themselves they be light and vain, yet they have that command in the respects of men, by reason of that which they use to signify; that some whose minds are below the performance of nobler virtues, do seek reputation by comeliness of going: it is good to have a commanded carriage, and not to let the errors of the mind be discovered by the negligence of looks: it appears by the truth of the old Adage, that they are significative, and not only Mutes: Nil interest habere ostium apertum, vultum clausum. 2 Of the Multiplicity of Books. THe most Books add rather bulk to the body of Learning, than spirit and quickness of inventions, as a soul answerable, which by diffusion weakens and makes slow the course of knowledge. In Books, the relations of affairs are framed in the mould of the understanding, by way of expression, which makes those things that are writ have a shape and appearance of a more perfection than those things which are done. They endeavour to be either Delian divers of Questions, or to have the ilumination of an Interpreter or the name of an exact Methodist: and for the variety of them and their adulatory Dedications, I may say of them as of our Farthings, the impression makes them go the curranter, though the matter debaseth them: books are only freed from the power of Oblivion, which is the occasion the Poets did promise to themselves an immortality of name; esteeming all other things as subject to the inconstancy of affair and period of time. Pectoris exceptis ingeniijque bonis. Which is the meaning of that Fable of theirs, how that in the end of the thread of every man's life there is a certain coin affixed, upon which is writ the name of the dead party; which as soon as the Sister hath cut, she throws them into the River Lethe; but about the River there flies a great company of Birds, which do carry the coin a little way in their beaks, and afterward carelessly let them fall again: but amongst those Birds there are found some Swans, which if they light with a Coin upon ones name on it, they presently carry it to the Temple, devoting it to perpetuity: Books are the Coins on which men's names are writ; those of an ordinary flight, they endure for a time, but presently are forgot; but if there be one who can sing well, they are carried on the wings of true Fame, and as Swans leave the sweetest notes to posterity. Books are the best Councillors, the best Companions, and the best heirs of a man's knowledge; they be the Monuments wherein lie hid the sacred relics of Knowledge & Wisdom; and the reason, why the multiplicity of Books yields not advancement to learning is, because they are but as rivulets, drawn as it were from the Fountain of some Author, and conveied by the secret passages of men's understandings and fancies, return to it again; keeping still the same level with the Wellspring, which denies a further rise. It is a good rule in Natural Philosophy, Interitus rei arcetur per reductionem ejus ad principia, which is a good rule also in the course of Learning; for commonly for prevention of corruption in Letters, there needs the reducing of the understanding to the first Original: and sometimes if they begin not again the scent will grow cold: To write in that in which there is no beaten path, is most honourable; for he that leads hath this advantage above others, (saith learned Hooker) if others follow him, he hath the glory of it: if not, he hath the excuse of prejudice. 3. Of Fortune. I Will not speak of the actions of men, as they are the children of Divine providence: Nor will I ascribe an Apotheosis to Fortune; but will only view the power and activity of man's reason, in the nimble apprehension and taking hold of occasions, to see how fare outward Circumstances do conduce to the making of a man's own Fortune. It was the saying of a great one, that however he knew that rule, that quisque fortunae suae faber, yet the most in number were those, who spoiled their own fortunes. It is an Art which most men's invention have flowed into; & yet is still capable of renovation, as it were, by the incertainty of affairs so curiously involved by mutual relation, which is Tacitus his observation of a too superstitious Constancy in that Emperor to his old way, in which once he proved fortunate, idem manebat, & idem dicebat: So that some through an imbecility of mind, not knowing to make a departure from the gravity of their usual pace, do oftentime, with that Spaniard in the story, undergo the lash of Fortune: Qui respicit adventos non seminat, saith Solomon; so that there is required a judicious observance of time, as well as a prudent making of occasions. He that would be a Master in the Art, must discern his Elogium, who was said to be adeo versatilis ingenij, ut quocunque loco viveret; fortunam sibi fabricare visus est. There are some of that temper; the pulse of whose affection still beats after the motion of honour, who had rather be not good than not great; & therefore will cast about the mist of deceit, to blind the eye of your apprehension, and by corrupt counsels endeavour to rise from the clouds of disgrace, to see the sun of honour; but apparent rari. Others will bring all their Eulogies of their worth upon the stage of honour, where they would gladly display themselves; they will cry after Fortune, and court her, like a peevish Mistress, into disdain of them, till at last they prove but swollen bubbles, which the least wind of adversity makes them evapourate into their own element. Honour is virtue's reward, and is no more than the reflexive beams of the sun of virtue, and gives only to good wills in a larger extent to exercise themselves in, as an open field; & therefore it must be used as in the open region of the Commonwealth, not in the enclosures of one's own particular ends and respects: He must study well the nature of the present times, who would be an instrument of state; for otherwise his understanding may prove an unfit match for service of Majesty; impar congressus Vlysi. He must know himself as well as the times, and others as well as himself: Qui sapit innumeris moribus aptus orit; and as Tully saith proprium hoc esse prudentiae statuit, conciliare sibi animos hominum, & ad usus suos adjungere. To prostitute a man's time too much to the fleshy thoughts of Fortune, tastes of the stomach of the Israelite: and surely those thoughts spent on riches, will devour those which should be for the Temple: whence comes those corrupt axioms, Prosperun & felix scelus virtus vocatur. Aesop saith wittily, multa novit vulpes, sed nuum magnum felis; which is no more than the certainty of a friend for ones fortune, and honesty for ones self: it's like the Sun which gives a great light; whereas the Stars, though more in number, do not all shine so bright, sapiens dominabitur astris. It is no small part of policy to distinguish of fortune and occasion, it's easier to see the one than retain the other: faciliùs for tunam reperias, quam retineas: Riches are sometimes virtues ornament, sometimes vices punishment; and surely it hath a divers operation, according to the difference of the materials it meets withal; The prosperity of fools shall slay them; Lincus nt hic durescit, etc. Some in the making of their own fortunes, are well studied in men, but know not the nature of businesses, nor worth of favours: others only wise by rule; and maxims of particular government look not into the nature and quality of their competitors, and those whom they have to deal with: so that betwixt these two observations of extremes, one might extract an exact pattern: take some of both, and it will prove a good composition; as well some of the knowledge of persons, as excellency of art of policy. 4 Of Wisdom of Speech. SPeech (saith Scaliger) being but a Sarment of Nature, covereth either the soldier as with Arms for necessity; or as a Gown the Senator for profit; or as a more dainty garment the curious Citizen for pleasure: it consociateth the remotest regions of men's hearts, by the participation of one another's thoughts: and therefore I can call Discourse by no apt title, than to be the vehicula cogitationum, and therefore they should still run even with the wheels of their thoughts. These were the ancient decrees of truth, they counted it an happiness of the understanding to be enlightened with it, a weight of labour to search it, but the glory of humane nature to speak it. Ante omnia mi fili custodi cor tuum, thoughts are but the children of the heart, as speech is of the thoughts; the prudency of whose direction is of excellent use, view it either in the glass of Divinity or Policy: and even in the building up of the fabric of a man's own fortune, there is no small wisdom in polishing and framing the materials of ordinary talk: Every speech acquaints us either with the matter which we ask, or the mind of the speaker which he delivers: the perfection of the art of speech to others, consists in a volubility of application, and as one saith, if a man would come to an excellency of it, if he were to speak with a hundred persons, he should vary his stile to each: which Art Alexander seems well to have known: whilst he animates his Soldiers, some with the hope of Wealth, incensed the ambitious with the heat of Honour, provoked the malicious, with the remembrance of the former grudges betwixt the two Nations: Thus speeches which have an edge, enter sooner the affections; than dull and slow expression. It would not be unuseful to have the knowledge of the several forms of speech; of sudden questions, of suspended answers, and a great variety of others, in which they think▪ not small policy consists: together with the apprehension of the colours of praise and dispraise of vice and virtue: but in the use of these a man should have rather a largeness of understanding, to turn themselves in with dexterity, than to be tied to the straightness of a few rules of remembrance. To have wisdom grounded in the heart, and no too much in the tongue, becomes policy: Loquendum ut vulgus, sentiendum ut sapientes. Words ought to become the person who useth them: which Tacitus intimates, speaking of Augustus: Augusto profluens & quae principē deceret, fuit oratio. Seneca notes also a danger, when words are not quickened with the life of reasons; but are only uttered with a kind of plausibility of the speaker. Nocet illis eloquentia quibus amorem facit sui, non orationis: imitation of others, however useful, yet is servile; because it should come from the fluency of a happy imitation: but this is rather to be referred to the characters of stile and oratory, than to a serious observation: Eloquence makes for the credit of the matter; but to speak agreeably to whom you direct your speech, shows more of the wisdom of the person: Those who have the stile of eloquence, do rather use the applause of it for pardon of faults, than for suffrage to virtue's merits. Thus to know the parts of speech, is not only the part of a good Grammarian, but a Polique. 5 Of Trust and Distrust. IT cannot be denied but that the safest rule to trust to, not to be deceived, is to to distrust. A Religious suspicion is a good antidote against the poison of Vice, which still the devil instills into us with a deceitful pleasure, putting an imposture upon their understanding. Our Saviour's prophecy of the latter times enjoins this Caution: Cum venerit filius hominis, non inveniet fidem super terram. There is a distrust commanded to Doctrines, to Men, to Times: and however we be all from one common lump of the earth, that we might seem to keep a greater distance from men, than the common Relation of Nature doth require, he who said love one another, which is Charity's Rule, the same bids us join the innocency of the Dove with the wisdom of the Serpent; which is Prudence Rule. It is a digression from the ordinary Law of Charity, to entertertaine suspicions, which only fly in the night of a man's ignorance. It's the stile of Policy to distrust, where by probability of appearance it may give security. To let every thing receive a man's own additions; which are form in the weak model of a doubtful fancy, distracts judgement; and though men that are most sensible of their own imperfections, will soon expect deficiencies from others: yet it is safe to think there is somewhat lies hid, which he doth not apprehend; for it collects the understanding, admits not of any thing without due examination; for many through want of venting the ecstasies of their breasts, have turned, died with the paleness of envy, which have put the whole frame of their composition out of joint▪ and we may well decline from the trust to others, when it is not always safe to trust: ourselves. The heart of man is deceitful, which like a Magic glass, represents the forms of things which are not: Therefore first proceed from a knowledge and caution to yourself, to that of others; so it may prove a wholesome exorcism, lest you might swell too great in self esteem: the flatterer composeth the model of your own desires, yourself being the Archetype: therefore first let them be viewed in reasons light, & the others as things imperfectly mixed, are obscured: pall scunt phoebo radios jaculante cometae. Machiavelli doth well to acquaint the world with the common practice of men: for it induceth vigilancy to fair seeming actions and gestures pretending to amity, which are nothing but the alimenta socordiae: For you shall have a man give you the smoothness of his countenance to be taken hold of; whilst he studies evasion by the sliperinesse of his fancy. A fairer look than ordinary towards the Spaniard, puts him into a present suspicion of his own safety. In friendship it is a good rule odi tanquam amaturus, & ama tanquam oditurus. Insinuations of amity are dangerous symptoms of a perfidious disposition. It is an ordinary custom for one man to build his fortunes out of the ruins of another: we see the manner of Nature's production of things, how commonly the corruption of one thing, is the generation of another: and how many have generated their own fortunes, for taxing the corruptions of other men: And ever note, that where there is too great a facility of believing, there is also a willingness of deceiving: and although belief carries with it a colour of innocency, yet distrust still carries strength off safety. Tutius peccat qui diffidit, innocentius qui credit. 6 jests. IT is the best composition of speech to use gravity of matter, and reserve a liberty of stile: which is no more than to turn aside from the ordinary ways of expressions to certain pleasant walks made for the recreation of the mind. Jests in the wiser sort of men, serves as ornament; in the weaker they be but levity; if you use them concerning persons, the truest nature of a jest, is to want truth, for they should have somewhat of the invention: but if they taste of malignity, and begin to fly on the wings of insolency, they draw too nigh the nature of Libels. Therefore the State, and those heavenly bodies of Majesty, admits not the presence of humane audacity: Nemo ad Deorum convivium admittitur, nisi ad ludibrium: too much use of them in serious affairs, relishes of the spirit of vanity: for Jests never penetrate farther than the superficies of the matter; which as one notes is the properplace of a Jest. They may come to the esteem of light bodies, which ever swim on the top, but never with solidity goes to the depth of knowledge. They should never look towards the Temple, for then the Jesuit meets with him in his Epigram, Tu cave sed fiat ni io●●s iste focus: they ought not to pass over greatness of business with a slight of the mind; but they enjoy their use, when they mollify sharpness of words, with sweetness of conceit: they are good companions in discourse, & are most facetious, when attended with a happy concurrence of circumstances. It is a Poetical virtue, and where this kind of ingenuity lights in men of more solid professions, it is a happy conjunction; for the one makes him useful, the other delightful: they must be used like Physic; you must not accustom others ears with them too much: for they lose their operation, by reason of the too much familiarity they have with the hearers. But touching these kind of elegancies, I shall use the words of the learned Verulam, who saith, That of all the excellencies of the gifts of the Mind, as to repeat after another a great number of names at once reciting: to write many Verses ex tempore of a Theme: to be quick in Satirical similitudes: or ready to turn jest into Earnest, or Earnest into jest: these and the like I esteem no more than the agility of a Dancer of the Ropes, or a Pantomime: for they are the like things: the one abuses the strength of the body, the other of the mind. 7 Of Love. THere is no precept commands that application over a man, as the power of Love; It draws the affections by a kind of sweetness; whereas rules do it by distortion. Sometimes it's like Circe's wand, sometimes like Mercury's Caduceus: sometimes it corrupts, sometimes it makes chaste: beauty commonly as it is either found or apprehended, is the object of that fancy, which still proves like a Gorgon, which while men admire, it makes them blind in the eyes of the understanding; which causes one to extol the virtues of the party loved so fare above truth. Virtue itself is fair, (which made him say) that if it could be seen, it would stir up a great many lovers of it: Virtus nil aliud nisi internaforma, forma externa virtus. It is the strongest of the passions, and often found in the weakest minds; whose breasts not fortified by the strength of Counsels; such amorous conceits have the easier access to. Every soul is imprinted with the character of this desire, which being turned from the love of the Creatures to piety, it becomes divinity: it makes all things seem pleasant: and therefore it is the advice of a great one, not to be without some strong affection: for sine proposito vita languida est: Glances and gestures do often procure affection, whether it be by strengthening the imagination or not I know not: it is most fervent when most opposed: nor is it without a Mystery in Nature the secret attracting of affections betwixt particulars, without any knowledge or apprehension of their conditions; for there are certain virtues which want a name, which is the cause some hardly can give a reason of their love. It is prevalent, sometimes in the wisest men, which shows it hath a proximity with good. Saepe latet vitium proximitate boni. Youth is most subject to those inclinations, which shows that it is for the most part the Child of Vanity; whilst he is steeped in his affections, it becomes like a Dew which falls in the morning of his Youth, scarce got out of the night of his ignorance; and is expelled by the rising of the Sun of his Knowledge. Young men are amoumorous, middle-age affectionate, old men doting. 8 Of Action, Meditation, and Contemplation. THere is as much difference betwixt meditation, and Action in civil knowledge, as is betwixt Dreams and things really performed: the one hath the apprehension of a thing by the view of the understanding, the other the knowledge of the particulars by the guide of experience. And although God and Angels must be only spectactors, yet a nigh conjunction of Action and Meditation hath ever been esteemed as a thing full fraught with virtues: for as Action would cease if it received not nourishment by Meditation; so Meditation, if not put in practice, would lose its virtue towards man. The public commands the best of every man's thoughts: even as in nature, Quod est conservativum formae majoris, id activitate potentius. Yet certainly they have all felt the influence of heavenly joy in the quiet repose of their own thoughts. Observation is the companion of meditation, as experience is of action: in the framing of a man's own fortune, actions do most conduce: the worth of which is expressed by our Saviour: opera sequuntur eos. Those who wholly dedicate themselves to be their own readers, must know they are not at all times politic: and those who meddle in multiplicity of action, will find they are sometimes not wise: but the praise of Contemplation, I leave as a subject to some Friar, and will view the virtues of both: Public actions are commonly uncertain, which do put on several countenances, according to the variety of occasions: the Notions which we may get of men's thoughts are most credible: for commonly we are most prone to think of that which we are naturally inclined to. Natural Palates do disgust the meditation of the Scriptures, till they be fed at Christ's Table, they be sharpened for these heavenly joys: the corrupt opinion of Politics have cast no little darkness on the glory of letters, esteeming them but as the Patrons of idleness, and that they do reduce a man's mind from greatness of works, to smallness of speculation: when as every thought is an internal act of reason, and first settles the mind with the knowledge of its duty, before it put it forward to execute; for otherwise they may exercise their errors as well as virtues. In civil conversation it is commonly said, that actionem esse cum stultis; lectionem cum sapientibus: Meditations in civil matters do too much abstract the mind, when it is a good Rule; Minus pecuniae, minus fidei, minus prudentiae in mundo, quam homines cogitent: The best rules in Prudence: consists in the apprehension of the smallest affairs; and yet makes up the body of one of the greatest knowledges. The best instances give the securest information, as Aristotle affirms, Optima cujus que rei natura in portionibus ejus minimis observatur. Meditations in envious men are to be feared: Pallidos timeo, rubicundos amo: in religious men it is capable of divinity; in politic men, it is generative of Counsels. Actions are like precedency of place, most honourable when they lead: Things that have been once done, though they have more difficulty, yet they have less praise: in the one you must not be too stupid, in the other not too pragmatical. Meditations are like parents, which do generate: Post varios usus meditando extunderet arts. Actions are like children which do perpetuate; ut non solum fuisse videantur, sed vixisse. 9 Of Errors and Deceits. ERrors be the cunning Artists of Vice, as Deceit is of Errors. Cunning men are most dangerous; when they seem most wise, Serpens putredo magis contagiosa, quam matura: they take no more of virtue than serves for their turn; and desires only an opinion of honesty, to procure him other men's faith, a chief instrument for him to work by: those whose minds are not capable of virtuous intentions, they divert to sinister & by ways, to cousin the simplicity of other men's belief: thus true & solid wisdom often degenerates into poor slights of the mind, while they wrap all their actions in deceit, the better to carry them invisible: so that they are grown to that subtlety of the Art, that as one wittily saith, Qui indissimulantèr omnia agit, aeque decepit; nam plurimi aut non capiunt, aut non credunt: so that it is become a hard matter not to deceive: the greatest advantage of deceit is other men's imperfections: they practise them in words, in gestures; in the composing of which, they are so curious, that if you should look into the realty of their actions, they would prove but a poor labyrinth of vanity: which having found out by the even thread of truth, and having unfolded them, you will find them to be but a poor rabble of deceit: Qui fraudum minutijs negotiorum frangunt soliditatem. You never heard of any man of more than ordinary worth, but whose wisdoms were made of the same stuff as the Soldier's credit was: è telâ crassiore, and not admirable for its fine thinness: To use them to others, is the way to make them take the like liberty in the use of them to you again: so that you will hinder yourself so much of the knowledge of the certainty of their intentions. There are three Characters noted of deceit in the Scriptures: Devita prophanas vocum novitates, & oppositiones falsi nominis scientiae; ineptas & aniles fabulas devita. Nemo vos decipiat in sublimitate sermonum. Cunning men soon deceive, when not known; therefore I may well change the Poet's Verse. Politici est virtus maxima nosse dolos. 10 Of Content. Our endeavours in the pursuit of this, resembles the Sun, which gives us light into the knowledge of these terrestrial bodies; but again obscures those Stars and the heavenly globe: so we still dive into the practices and works of men on earth, while we never think of the glorified bodies of the Saints in heaven: it is a mystery in nature, that all men do desire some stay or pole upon which the rest of their thoughts may be turned: and how happily a man may make this Religion, I appeal to the joy it affords: a general view of the understanding of the whole world, and all that dwell upon it, makes much for the nature of Content. This was Solomon's prospect, when he looked upon all the works of his hands, he pronounced them to be vanity and vexation of spirit: Men (according to the divine Aphorism) are borne to trouble, as sparks fly upwards: and thus we may best obscure the false light of worldly delights with the sun of true wisdom and knowledge. The place of content, is the content of the place you are in: the highest feet of honour, may be below the true sense of it: for ambition is like a Fever, which ever seeks to heal and perfect itself by changing of place, when it is not the local person, but the mind that is capable of serenity. It is an axiom in the Physics: Quod corpus non ponderare nisi extra locum suum: The stone weighs not till it it be lifted off from the body to which it tends: no more doth the soul feel the weight of labour and care, while it hath its conversation in heaven (its proper place) from whence originally it came. Folly is joy to him who is destitute of understanding; but a man of understanding walketh uprightly. There is nothing so much breeds greatness of Spirit, as to know the smallness of the worth of things: for those men who are only intent upon the petty things of the world, do sacrifice themselves to the inconstancy of Fortune, by reason the object of their desires is so capable of vicissitudes; and do forfeit their content: but remove a little these Elysium's, the joys of Humane fancy, and those several motions of desires which may seem to arise even from the variety of our composure: and be ravished a little with a delectare ô anima mea in Deo: The sweetness of which music drowns all the lesser sounds of worldly delights: it settles all the distempers of the soul, and makes it smooth with a constant equality towards humane dangers. Thus, you may invert the order of humane delights, while the Worldling is taken with the riches of God's mercies; while we here build up the admirable Fabric of our salvation, wherein Christ is the chief corner stone. Here you may have your Gardens for meditation, and hence translate to your own breasts the flowers of Virtue, which may make it flourish as a paradise to itself: Here you may enjoy the prospect of the World's Vanities, beneath the high pitch of thy sublimer soul: where to be conscious of well-doing, is the perfection of Humane felicity. 11 Of Friendships. Friendship's are entertained for credit, for affection, for necessity: the chief use of them for credit is with great men: for affection with persons of moderate estate: for necessity with poor men. However men put on fair forms of friendship, yet parity was a thing much celebrated by the Ancients: rich men will be more cautious, because they have somewhat to lose; men of like fortunes will commonly stick closer to you: poor men will be ever suspicious of your love towards them. They are a remedy against solitude: if they be entered with good men, they restore the perfection of man; if with bad they corrupt it: crafty men abuse them, simple men know them not, wise men use them. One alone makes not a parradise; so let them be few but virtuous. For it is a thing wherein a man doth interpret himself, Nam qui amicitias arct as copulat novas necessitudines sibi imponit: In the making of a man's own fortune he is fittest; Qui sapit innumeris moribus. All the caution touching bad men, shall be like the learning of Sophisms, the better to avoid them: keeping of company hath still a kind of assimilation, as the Physicians speak, though it happens through divers distempers of the mind: some desires you through malice to defame you; others through corruption of manners to make you bad, some through cunning to have you feed their sins, which themselves are not able to maintain. In dealing with these men you must imitate that musical troop of deceiving the sense: ut cum jam adesse videatur, placide elabetur, because friends love not to have contempt cast upon their ways: good men enjoy, cunning men interpret, malicious avoid, scoffers neglect: these offer themselves to my pen, as they are commonly used in civil conversation. The knowledge of all persons reacheth but to this, to teach men to play their cards the better, and to perform business with more dexterity and readiness. 6 Of Silence. A Man had need to be very well versed in the parts of speech, that needs not the help of this Mute. To forbear to speak truth or piety, through too superstitious reverence to the goddess of Silence, were to make a man liable to his Paradox who told one who was silent, Si prudens sis, stultus es, si stultus prudens. Liberty of speech shows freedom of mind, and yields a man information by others answers. Silence is the virtue of a friend, for men love commonly to lay the things of most value in the surest place; which is the reason the secret man's bosom doth participate of so many Counsels: He who offends through Speech, offends rashly, who through silence safely. Wisdom resteth in the heart of him that hath understanding: but that which is amongst fools shall be made known. It hath a strange kind of virtue in it: and in the Pythagorean School was thought to breed knowledge, like those who in dreams receive influences: In matters of consequence qui silet est firmus; For Fame is like a river which gather strength by going. In some cases a thing not spoke doth express more, than if it had been spoke, saith Sophocles. Silence often shows a depth, though they say the Currant stream is most clear. Men very politic are noted by Tacitus to use a kind of freeness in opening of themselves. Caesar publicly professed that he had rather be first in a poor Cottage than second at Rome; but he knew them to be his friends to direct them, not his competitors to awake them. It is a kind of darkness, for it makes you walk in obscurity, and rather to be guest at then known. In discourse it is good to hear men first; for silence hath the same effect with authority, it procures a kind of respect to your words: Meritis si forte virum quem conspexere silent. Commonly they are well tuned, but gives the pleasantness of the music inwardly to themselves: and are as a shut book, which if you open and read, you may find much good discourse therein. It nourisheth Meditation, & is no more than that which Seneca expresses, Sapiens semper in se reconditur, but in case of devotion you must still use it, ut eo sis melior, non occultior. 13 Of Questions. SOme men do rather employ their inventions in raising of questions; then their judgements in determining them: the one makes learning fruitful of disputes, the other of works. Ask of questions proceeds commonly from some prenotion of that which he doth ask, which occasioned that opinion in Plato, to think that all knowledge was but only remembrance: Qui aliquid quaerit, generali quâdam notione comprehendit, aliter qui fieri potest, ut illud quod fuerat inventum agnoscas. It is a great part of learning not to teach only what to assert, or affirm, but prudently to ask. Men that are very froward in ask, do often use the same liberty in telling: Like Vessels which want a bottom, they receive most, because they vent most: in cunning men they are dangerous, for Questions in them are like Beggar's gifts, sua munera mittit in hamo, which are only to draw somewhat bacl again by way of answer, to betray you. Sudden Questions do often procure the truest relation of matters, which on considiration they do begin to colour: they must be warily raised in religion, for in it we have still more respect to the author of divinity, than the matter: and as delight in humane Learning is inferior to that which is divine, so faults committed in divine knowledge are more dangerous than those in humane. The ancients did raise them with a jealousy, which is God's attribute; not with the spirit of contention, which is the Devils: In the life of Christ it is observed that his humility did conquer all the vain practices of men; so in religion, which is the Christians life, humbleness of spirit doth often go beyond the subtilety of humane understanding: for a man may let his soul slip away, and yet dispute of the highest points of divinity: and therefore it is safer with some of the Saints to sit at Christ's feet with humility in meditation of his passion, than in the Chair of subtle controversy. 14 Of Life. MEn desire Life, as Children do the light: and as the love in the one is increased by the sight of glorious trifles, so is that in the other. The desire of humane honours, the glory of splendid miseries, the comforts of friends, and all the passions which we attract in the course of our life, by too much familiarity with them, do make it so . The consideration of life as it is a passage and journey is good and wholesome; but the fear of the brevity of it, tastes of a weak and vain spirit: there is some mixture of vanity in the contemplations of them, who would make the space of a whole life but a preparation for the pains of death; when we know it should be spent after the comforts of a better life; in hoc quod mortem prospicimus, fallimur; quicquid enim retr● est, mors est. And we follow a better Oracle, who hath told us that Death hath lost his sting, which might sharpen our fears. The Satirist speaks not only like a good Poet, but a good moralist: Quid Turpiùs esset, quam propter vitam, vivendi perdere causam: while we desire to advance our lives, we neglect the performance of those duties for which it was given us. The Ethnics did terminate the desires of life in the happiness of it: great men oft slight it in others, abuse it in themselves. Nero preferred Seneca's livings before his life, though he had formerly been his schoolmaster. Virtue's perfect life, innocency restores it, vices debase it: the passions contemn it: prosperity shows the riches of life, adversity the wealth of the mind: hunc volo, laudari qui sine morte potest. The true esteem of the worth of life, raises a man to the highest pitch of Heroical valour. This made john the Duke of Saxony, being condemned to die, esteem no more of his life than a game at Chess came to. This made Sir Thomas Moor (while he jested with the Barber about the Controversy between his head and the King) esteem so little of his life; I mean not the bare dissolution of his frame into their several elements; but in a true consideration of life, and her several stages, we may safely repose our thoughts in Solomon's Parable: una generatio migrat, & altera venit, sed terra manet in aeternum veluti the atrum in quo haec fabula pregitur: it is the best conjunction to be an old man in wisdom, and a child in innocency. Life commonly gives not that fame to men of excellency of parts, as Death which is the life of Fame, which rises out of her ashes; except some turn a lover of men, and devote themselves to the Commonwealth: then laudem mors alijs quam tibi vita dedit. 15 Of Sciences. SInce Learning is the perfecter of Humane reason; its happy when itself is perfected by reason of experience: Theology is the safest star to direct our course in the ways of the intellectual world, in which, as in other parts of the greater world, you shall meet with some places barren, some for use, others for delight: some Sciences are fruitless of works, others useful in direction, others pleasant in speculation. They should not be altogether Virgins, but should sometime bring forth and be generative; and as they be the improvement of humane reason, so its reason men should endeavour to improve them; multi pertransibunt, & augebitur scientia, was the prophecy of the last and worst times. To have Sciences still run after the stile of Master & Scholar, is Pedantical, to have them labour for production of works, is Philosophical. Disputes rise from the search into the understanding, works from the scrutiny into nature; wherefore saith Heraclitus, Let men seek the truth of things in the greater World, not in their own little Worlds. Elenches (the idols of men's brains) are come to that sinnesse of slight, as Seneca seems well to express them, whiles he compares them to the tricks of Jugglers; which we know not after what manner they be done; but we know sure enough that it is not so, as it seems to us to be. Rational studies do still sharpen the understanding for the orderly capacity and methodical apprehension of any matter. Moral Philosophy guides the affections, Logic the understanding, Policy the Commonwealth; Astrology is conjectural; Mathematics certain, Metaphysics sublime: Poetry rises from the strength of a Natural wit, Rhetoric from a dainty mind; Natural Philosophy from deep Caves and Minerals, saith a learned one: History springs from times, matters, persons. Knowledge and learning without experience, is like the statue of Polyphemus, which wants an eye: And therefore men who are wholly immersed in their own thoughts are less nimble for taking hold of occasions. To go always by the straightness of rule, doth not so well agree with the cross lines of fortune, which requires a fashioning head: so that little learning falling into men of strength of capacity, nimbleness of apprehension, ability of judgement, will produce greater effects than a continued study in an unexperienced man. Knowledge of Sciences, brings forth such works, which according to the parts of the receiver prove the Nobler. Cunning men, it makes them able to deceive: the judicious it makes them apply themselves to nobler ends and intentions: in Stoical natures they breed a neglect of things. Grave studies make a man learned, ingenious studies praised, religious happy; and sometimes the foolish studies most fortunate. 16 Of Dangers. ELegant was his observation of the gazing Philosopher, how that if he had looked down, he might have seen the stars in the water; but looking up he could not see the water in the stars: and commonly inspection into low matters, discover the knowledge of those things, which by the contemplation of themselves might expose us to danger; melior est oculi visio, quam animi progressio. Dangers have somewhat of the nature of the Cockatrice; and as the one is begot of prodigious mixture, so is the other of disparity of circumstances; whom if you chance to observe first the fear of danger is past; but if he penetrate you first, he endangers your safety. Some are more quick on the present to avoid the blow, than of foresight to prevent it; security is the Mother of them, so that they have the quality of an enemy, Dolus an virtus quis in host, they often deceive as well as overcome: to whom they seem light, they soon light into them: Changes and periods of Commonwealths, in some sort exceed the reach of humane Prudence: which as the Kingdom of heaven comes not by observation, but reaches to an high act of Providence. The avoiding of danger, altogether wants not danger; for sometimes Physic, which is given against the violency of one diseasese, inclines the body to a worse, and are so much the more hurtful, by how much the more secret. Dangers do show prudence, safety temperance. Some do vainly affect a kind of glory in running into them: but he that loves danger shall perish therein. They are well considered in private, but are ill feared in action; for than nil terribile nisi ipse timor. It's wisdom to oversee them, valour to overcome them, desperateness to run into them. 17 Of Precepts of Policy. THe extent of this discourse, is as large as the actions of men themselves: and Speeches in this kind being but the children of observation, have the liveliest representation of action, when experienced men writ them. Therefore I will borrow some from that King, whose heart was said to be like the sands of the Sea; and will set them without order, to show that they are still capable of additions. The turning away of the simple shall slay them, and the prosperity of fools shall destroy them. THis Parable describes the greatness of the misery of the weaker sort, and the weakness of the greater sort: the one whose mind being not truly settled in the apprehension of themselves and others; nor his thoughts poyzed with the weight of judgement, turns from the performance of his duty to crooked intentions, and slights of the mind, and cunning, which sacrifices him to the tyranny of misfortune, and not seasoned with divine Precepts, loseth his rest and content, and in the end proves miserable, when Solomon saith, Prudens advertit ad gressus suos, stultus divertit ad dolos. The other who consider not any thing after the rules of wisdom; but whose thoughts being below the ordinary things of fortune: a more prosperous aspect of good fortune puffes him up, and breeds an inequality in his mind, not knowing that every thing hath its worth from its use, but thinking them to have their glory from others esteem. Go into their order, Qui magnam felicitatem concoquere non possunt: and through a weakness of understanding sinks under the burden of his felicity. Let thine eyes look right on, & let thine eyelids look strait before thee. THis Parable taxes a vain curiosity in men, who not caring to go on with a caution to their own ways, but turns to observation of others speeches, rather caring what men might say, than what they ought to do; according to that of Solomon, cunctis sermonibus ne accommodes aurem tuam, etc. He who applies himself to the inspection of others manners and customs, rather than the government of his own, hath not well studied this precept. And again, he who looks not strait before him, with an insight into the present state of things, but doth by a wand'ring of the mind anticipate the joys of future comfort. It doth obscure and dull the true apprehension of the present, and makes men's minds uncertain, rather led by the hope of that which shall be, than content with the fruition of that which is. In another place he saith, Wisdom is before him that hath understanding: but the eyes of the fool are in the ends of the earth. And again, Better is the sight of the eye than the wand'ring of the mind: the one shows settledness in judgement, the other diversions of a weak mind. Thus do all those who fly on the Wings of Humane desires, who do interpret the meaning of that Fable; while they either come too nigh the Sun of Honour, are melted with the heat of ambition; or else flying over the Ocean of humane affairs, do meet with Clouds and Mists of disgrace, which do make slow their motion towards their intended desires. Reprove not the scorner, lest he hate thee: rebuke a wise man, and he will love thee. WE are taught, not to throw the precious Pearl of Wisdom before men of Swinish Condition. Give Council to a Scoffer, and he will corrupt thy wholesome advice by the infection of his poisonous breath; and what is spoke against their ways, they only think them to proceed out of an honest simplicicity, and an ignorance of their course. Therefore saith Solomon, Stultus non accipit verba prudentiae nisi ea dixeris quae sunt in cord ejus. A man of understanding shall attain unto wise Counsels, for he knows that they do but use the privilege of friendship, who do but rebuke them; and besides he is conscious that Mortal condition, how virtuous soever, is capable of error; according to that of the Comedian Homo sum a me nil alienum expecta. Wise men lay up knowledge, but the mouth of fools is mere destruction. IN this is reprehended the Futile Loquacity of of those who have not so much knowledge as to conceal their ignorance; but by untimely discourse do forfeit the opinion of their wisdom, who lets the stock of their knowledge run into the Channel of watery discourse, before their breasts, the fountain, be full. The other husbands well his talk, and to that end lays up the fruit of knowledge, and ut sapiens semper in se reconditur: Wisdom resteth in the heart of him that hath understanding, but that which is amongst fools shall be made known. The ways of a fool are right in his own eyes: but he that harkeneth unto Council is wise. HE that doth not acknowledge that he is weak, is but weak in knowledge. A man had need view himself oft in the glass of Divinity, to see what Habits & forms his soul wears; not in the flattering glass of his own thoughts: neither must he too much trust to his own heart; for he is wise that knoweth the deceitfulness thereof. The opinion of being virtuous, is reckoned amongst the causes of vice: it's a safer rule for one to say, I'll avoid this, because judgement tells me it is nought, than to say, I love and follow this, because I affect and think it good: for the receit of wisdom and instruction will give subtlety to the simple, to the wise man knowledge & discretion. A fool's wrath is presently known: but a prudent man covereth shame. THere is no passion so soon betrayeth the secrets of the heart as anger, and none discovers this passion so much as the heart of a fool. The Poet calls it a torture, to tyrannize a man to confession: ubi vino tortus & irâ: By these two we come to see a man's nakedness; they betray the tower of reason to the fury of the assaulting passions. Here is the difference betwixt patience, which is the covering of a man's shame; and anger which is the discovering of his folly: the one upon every occasion grows loud with insolency, the other upon every occasion draws the curtain of Prudence before him, which is Silence, to make him walk unseen. There is that maketh himself rich, yet hath nothing: there is that maketh himself poor, yet hath great riches. THere are some, who are not of an ordinary composition of understanding, can enjoy the riches of Content in the midst of an honest poverty. It is the faculty of the imagination that can turn itself, and make every thing appear to itself, as it will itself, saith Antoninus. It is not the outward things, but the mind which is capable of Content: non est beatus nisi qui beatum se esse putat. The other, whose riches are larger than the extent of their knowledge, loses the use of them, by an unruly desire of having more, when as David saith, Man walketh in a vain shadow, he heapeth up riches and knows not who shall gather them: a desire of Wealth still shows the poorness of a man's mind: (or thus) there are some who vainly glories in the opinion of being held rich, advancing in Fame that, which he really finds the want of; others who through a narrowness of understanding, would be thought to have nothing, because they will reserve a power of having more. The back-slider in heart shall be filled with their own ways, and a good man shall be satisfied from himself. THere can arise no greater grief, or anxiety of Spirit, then from the following the desires of the heart. This Solomon pronounceth as a curse against those that hating knowledge, did not choose the fear of the Lord, therefore shall they eat of the fruit of their own ways, and be filled with their own devices. There is difference betwixt the prospect, which was solomon's, who pronounced all the works of his hands to be vanity and vexation of spirit: And when God beheld all that was done; Lo it was very good. Wise men, whose breasts are sacred Treasuries of good counsel, though they meet with obliquity and crossness in business, yet they can presently descend into themselves, and there find special preservatives and good precepts against the distasters of outward loss. The simple believe every word; but the prudent doth look well to his going. THere is still a privation of Judgement, where there is a too great facility of believing. Our Saviour warneth us of the deficiency of Faith: Cum venerit filius hominis non inveniet sidem super terram: Distrust is the chief Antidote against the poison of deceit. It is a Character of Wisdom: The prudent man is ever suspicious to his own credulity, caring rather that he should do what he ought, than to hear others talk of what he ought not to do. The heart of him that hath Understanding seeketh knowledge, but the mouth of fools feeds on foolishness. ALL men's minds either feed on their own virtues, or the detraction of another's vice; for in all knowledge which is but the food of the mind: there is a kind of assimilation: they who have drunk a more full draught of wisdom, do still desire to preserve it by the same nourishment, by which it first took Life: the other like a prodigal child feeds not clean, but amongst his base lusts, and pleasures which prove but Husks, which may provoke the appetite, but cannot fill it. Excellent speech becometh not a fool; much less do lying lips a Prince. IN the wisdom of Speech, there is to be observed a decorum, what words should fit the Speaker. Great words become not a servant, nor wise the fool. A Prince should use Majesty of Speech, befitting the state of his person; and truth of speech befitting the divinity of his Commission: the one in way of his person, as Tacitus notes: Augusto profluens & que principem decerit fuit oratio: For the variety of his words, the Scripture teacheth him an heavenly attribute, Dij sicut eritis. It is naught, it is naught, saith the buyer, but when he is gone, than he boasteth. THis shows the ordinary deceit, and the formulays of buying; when many times that which men praise is not good, nor that ill which men dispraise: therefore it will be useful to observe in common Language, to see how many colours you can reprehend in them. An inheritance may be gotten hastily at the beginning, but the end thereof shall not be blessed. THis reprehends the immature access to abundancy of wealth: qui festinat ad divitias non erit insons; its true many have made a shorter cut to riches, having some knowledge, and not too much honesty: who though they may keep a great noise in men's mouths, yet a prosperous success scarce favours them: illis vix gaudet tertius haeres: and besides Solomon tells us, that they take Wings like the Eagle and fly away: quae ad breve durant, brevi parantur. A goodname is to be chosen rather than great riches. A Good name is the best heir of a man's virtues: No men bonum est instar unguenti fragrantis: praise in life time is virtue's spur; in death it is his ornament; nemo laudes contemnit, nisi qui prius laudanda facere desuevit. Repair thy work without, and make it sit for thyself in the field, and afterward build thine house. IN the framing of a man's own fortune, he must have a special care to fashion the materials of his speech, and intentions in private and solitary meditations, before he come to the action of performance, or the building of the Fabric. If you do not first cast your purpose in the mould of prudence and wisdom; your actions will be cast on the unconstancy of Fortune, if you conceive not honest intentions, and noble ends, you are but Theomachi, you do build a Babel or things of confusion, quae tolluntur in altum ut lapsu graviore ruant: If the Archetype be not good which is in the understanding, the imitation of it will hardly prove capable of perpetuity. Action without forecast; speech without consideration, controversies in the Pulpit, are like stones hewn in the Temple, which are there only made fit, whereas they should build up. For men to search their own glory, is not glory. LEt another praise thee, and not thy own mouth; a stranger and not thy own lips. Poor men often dig in the richest Mines, and search the precious vein of that glorious mettle, when it belongs to the owners. Men who are poor in worth & virtue may talk of the honoured ways of Fame and Credit, which they do not owe: for they belong to virtue and godliness. It was said to be the cause of jugurths' glory, plurimum faciendo & nihil de seipso loquendo; by which means he grew greater than envy, and fruitful in acts of worth. Da'mihi neque paupertatem, nec divitias. THis determines a grave question in Moral Philosophy, whether it were a great happiness to enjoy wealth, or to contemn it: this cuts out a fair course betwixt the deformity of foul extremes; and yields a good calling-card for the hot game of ambition: to desire that state only wherein we might best serve God: There aught to be a limitation of the care of getting wealth: our Saviour teacheth it, Primum quaerite regnum Dei, etc. The Ethnics tells us, Primo quaere animi bona, & caetera vel aderunt, vel non oberunt. The kingdom of Christ was not of this world; (therefore saith one) if this were his Kingdom, he would not let the evil be amongst the good; nor the lascivious with the chaste: surely he had no such thing in this world which we call greatness. They say nullum magnum ingenium sine mixturâ dementiae; but it may be very well verified of great fortunes, and with the Satirist, Raro fortuna sensus communis in illa; & the same gave occasion to Solomon, after he had repeated a catalogue of his pleasures, and works of magnanimity, to note that in the midst of all these, that still his wisdom remained with him, to show the difficulty of the conjunction of wealth and wisdom. Of making many books there is no end. THis is caution, which extends itself as well to the reading, as writing of Books: a multiplicity in either, is both distraction & trouble; for as in reading it is a great part of a scholar, to know what he ought to read, sitting & suiting with the knowledge of that which he desires: so in writing its a great care to be had in the choice of the subject, that it be fited to the strength of his own ability: Quid valeant humeri quid non, saith the Poet: Most books that are writ, do rather increase learning in the bulk and bigness, than in virtue & spirit. It is no small distemper in the labours of the learned, when they turn the ends of their labours for estimation, which destroyeth the estimation of their labours, when they rather taste of the spirit of vanity, then are undertaken, through a desire of the information of others. They choose a subject rather to vaunt their own wit, than those whereby they may advance piety: which is that which Solomon adds as a corollary to his discourse, and a perfection to all humane actions: for if they look not towards the Temple or some profit of man, me thinks Sir Walter Raleigh hath well pronounced them fools in print. FINIS. Errata. PAge 3. line penul. read honorante. P. 14. L. 16. read deserve for discern. P. 16. L. 12. del. in. P. 27. L. 2. for imitation read imagination: & L. ultim. read Politic. P. 28. L. 4. del. to. P. 75. L. 12. read forward for froward.